Sean Carroll

A gray shorthair cat at the moment of release upside down, with its tongue out looking derpy

A new paper on falling cat science came out and I just have to draw people's attention to this image

Congrats!

Yay!

DAY TWO of an experiment where I wake up and do a take/video without paying “the woman tax” of doing my hair and make-up. Like/follow/comment/subscribe if you’re into normalizing women looking unkept while doing political commentary.

It's okay!

uhhh, this is a thing people have proposed??

Will try to fix it!

What platform were you using?

Baltimore is here for you, artistic exiles!

Title card for Mindscape AMA podcast episode.

Mindscape Ask Me Anything | March 2026. We talk about quantum gravity and the early universe, the Umwelt of a cat, junky AI-written papers, and whether public debates serve a useful purpose. #MindscapePodcast

www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...

Laws of Nature and Chances: What Breathes Fire into the Equations This book’s subtitle is based on a question the physicist Stephen Hawking once asked: “What breathes fire into the equations…?”...

Craig Callender, the unreformable Humean, reviews Loewer’s book with lots of cooking and home improvement metaphors. Both delightful and informative #philsci #philsky

That's right. Worse than Pointless
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

Back in the 1980s-2000s, there was an organization called
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility that worked to oppose irresponsible and dangerous uses of computers in warfare. Maybe it needs a reboot, in our new age of AI.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute...

I like it when a math professor is shown with shelves of sumptuously leather-bound volumes.

I am!

Ariel: “I am not pleased.”

Ariel: “Life is a journey and we must adapt to circumstances.”

Ariel: “I am cute and you should pet me now.”

Ariel should open an acting studio. Three emotional states, each one second after the other. #Caturday

Well, it wasn't only that the administration was demanding that they be able to use the AI models to autonomously kill people; they also want to use AI to assemble and deploy a comprehensive surveillance database on the behavior of all Americans. What's to worry about?

A real black eye to the FIFA peace prize selection committee

Reminiscent of the many times someone has asked an LLM “did our government really just do this?” and the LLM replied “haha, of course not, there’s no way,” only to come back after prodding with “oh, apparently they did.”

Hyperion author Dan Simmons dies from stroke at 77 I went into Hyperion blind, decades ago, knowing almost nothing about it. I was never the same.

rip dan simmons arstechnica.com/culture/2026...

Really good talk by Doug, who thinks like a physicist but gives valuable insight into how people in the AI world are thinking.

Look at these cool philosophy of physics postdocs we're advertising here at LSE!

philjobs.org/job/show/30977 and philjobs.org/job/show/30981

Tyrese Maxey.

"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee... as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability. As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people. The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not. As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that. Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes. It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade. Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government's handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein's crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide. You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions. You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition. This institutio…

as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf. I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better. In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others - with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder. If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he's far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal. It's a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll. My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers. As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses. The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete…

Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House. That is a tragedy. It's a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight. A committee endeavoring to stopping human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008. A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files. It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies. It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes. It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the "wildest party" on Epstein's island. It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated. It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers. It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need. It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act. But that's not happening.

Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers. If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files. If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up? My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein's crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking."

Here is Hillary Clinton’s opening statement to House Oversight on Epstein.

Clinton says she does not recall ever encountering Epstein and says she knew nothing about his crimes.

She also says that Trump should testify under oath and criticizes the committee for not holding any public hearings.

Could a vaccine prevent dementia? Shingles shot data only getting stronger. Latest data hints that benefits seen so far could be underestimates.

Could a vaccine prevent dementia? Shingles shot data only getting stronger. arstechnica.com/health/2026/...

Most of the universe is far away, and looking at it carefully is hard. Looking at how it *changes over time*, at a swift and regular cadence, is harder still. Rubin Observatory is up and running now, and it's going to teach us so much.

David Wallace on How to Start Your Own Academic Journal. In this case, Philosophy of Physics.

qspace.fqxi.org/articles/283...

instantly assumed this was a kaiju situation

After watching the men’s team celebration with Patel I am not surprised they will go to the White House for Burgers while the women’s team is not invited. Looks like a Happy ending though!

Important reminder of the devastation wrought by the Musk/DOGE dismantling of USAID. Hundreds of thousands dead, many more to come. The greatest crime of the 21st century (so far).