Chris

Christopher Register argues the body has "depth": some objects are too microphysically specific to count as genuine body parts. This matters for brain-computer interfaces. The software is part of your body, but the implementing hardware isn't.

journals.publishing.umich.edu/phimp/articl...

I've been excited about this paper, which considers how brain-computer interfaces increase the urgency of understanding the moral dimensions of extending the body artificially through tools.

This is really exciting!

O tempora, o mores!

I grew up in a small town where you just had to dial four digits. I get it, the world is indeed going to hell in a hand-basket. "Pas moins de dix chiffres"!

a man in a red shirt is standing in a doorway and the word tea is on the screen Alt: An animated GIF of Captain Picard standing in front of a replicator, saying, “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”

I’ve gone from a kid who was excited about the prospect of replicators in the future to a grown up who can fret with @peligrietzer.bsky.social about what it means that we might not cook in the AI-dominated future. Disappointing really.

I mean this as a 'what is Being/nature/thought really like' issue rather than a 'what's going to happen' issue. The pure modal fact itself would be reason for nihilism whether we build the machines or not

When I put it that way it still sounds bad obviously. My emphasis is more that we can save the human essence — we face decisions & actions that matter — but it will take real work to pivot. We already exert ourselves in “optional” exercise, sport, etc so it’s not impossible but not easy.

The danger of pervasive automation leading to WALL-E strikes me as very real.

My hopeful take is that humans can pivot to artisanal activities that are meaningful when not maxxed and perfected, but the stakes will be a bit lower. (In with crafting & philosophy, out with medicine & most cooking?)

This strikes me as just about right and also (hopefully wrong). We may pivot toward “artisanal” activities that have less danger if done artisanally and poorly. I already accept a lot of industrialized food prep so don’t see that as a distinguishing case, though the danger is real.

We might have to come by, go out for food / restless kids, and come back. But I will do my level best to make it over. So excited you're reading there, John keeps our girls supplied with great kids books!

A flyer with the background of a wintry landscapes in shades of blue and pine trees. On the foreground, the text reads: Bergstrom Press and Books presents: A Literary Lagniappe A Reading and Open Mic by friends of Bergstrom Books with Olga Zilberbourg, Katherine E Young, Ena Selimović, Roman Kostovski, & Greg Bernstein [ three book covers: LIKE WATER AND OTHER STORIES, PEOPLE AND TREES, UNDERGROUND BARBIE] Join us on December 16th at 6 pm for a reading and discussion about writing, and translation with a focus on Central/East Europe and beyond! Location: Kensington Row Bookshop 3786 Howard Eve, Kensington MD

I'm heading to DC to meet @bergstrombookstore.bsky.social in person!! If you're in the area, you will not want to miss this Central/Eastern/South Europe focused event next week! With @katherineeyoung.bsky.social Turkoslavia's Ena Selimović, Roman Kostovski of Plamen Press and Greg Bernstein?!

You’re going to be in my neighborhood! I’m solo parenting next week but will try to bring the clan and our copy of your book!

That said, Canva was able to use ML to recognize text, make it editable, clip elements so I could move them around. So "AI" is still super helpful in this domain, it's just not intelligence!

Spot on in my experience. I recently made a killer infographic that was about 96% there. Once we started fiddling, Nano Banana's image quality degraded. Wound up importing a good version into Canva and going from there.

"If you are a philosopher, you had better not mess about with machines anyhow."

Seems like sound advice! #philtech

A very human vision for going all-in on AI Podcast Episode · The Vergecast · 12/07/2025 · 53m

A world full of “for you” feeds is flat and boring. What do YOU want? Sari Azout talks with VergeCast about the slow and intentional use of technology. As the creator of Sublime, she thinks about technology as creative and non-deterministic.

This is absolutely not true, for the record, and I do not mean this as a defense of Heidegger but the record is crystal clear—he fucking HATED all the nazi pseudo-intellectuals, and even Oskar Becker (his own students and acolyte) he found intellectually beneath contempt.

I hate that Arsenal being top of the table is making me root for City to do well.

I changed jobs from think tank/education world exactly because of this. Definitely felt it for years and years.

...packaged answers or is a philosophical "hero". He needs to be read from a combative stance, not only because of his politics but because he frequently hides his influences, rejects similarities between him & others (e.g. Bergson), and burns bridges back to the tradition, esp w/ his terminology.

I'm clearly biased but I don't think there's a chronological cutoff. "On the Essence of Truth" is tinged with politics but also contains crucial insights. "Question Concerning Technology" is increasingly relevant. More important to take Heidegger as question-provoking but reject that he has...

There is indeed some great stuff out there.

I literally wrote a note for myself recently while reading Philip Pettit on trust that homo economicus is killing philosophy, especially ethics!

Got it. I think their work is positive as well. My point is more that other labs seem not to need us philosophers quite as badly as Anthropic thinks. I'm impressed with Gemini's sense of restraint, for instance. (Though Google has tons of philosophers as well.)

Anthropic's approach to responsibility is impressive, great profile of their team. Tim is not wrong below that they generate more papers than distinguishably different outcomes.

Most models seem to be getting better at this. Gemini is sometimes quite aggressive about what it can't do now. #aiethics

This is the niche of philosophy where I probably have the most bizarre and anti-social answers! I'd say the cat is not an object to be owned but a quasi-person, so he probably belongs snuggling with your cat where he wants to be. This may be a bad idea in actual human society, however. :-)

Parenting is getting distracted from the beauty of the snowy maples because the baby is crying, but only being there to see the beauty because the baby was crying. That little bit is just *chef’s kiss*.

pas à certain moment. Elle venait d’allumer les lampes et, comme il traînait encore un peu de jour, elle n’avait pas fermé les rideaux tout de suite. Elle s’était attardée à la fenêtre, à regarder les premiers flocons de neige qui tombaient d’un ciel presque aussi bas que la cime des érables. Puis, parce que le bébé criait dans son berceau, elle s’était retournée. L’homme l’avait vue, lui, de dos, dans la lumière dorée de la pièce. Avait-il deviné que c’était sur un berceau qu’elle était penchée ?

Simenon’s Un nouveau dans la ville is taking my breath away already. I’ve never been to Maine, but in my head it must be this beautiful. I love the image of snow starting to fall and just getting down to the tops of the maples.

Plus snowflakes in French are apparently “flocons”? New favorite word.

Awesome, looking forward to it!