Ethan Landes
@ethanlandes.bsky.social
Philosopher, broadly construed | Video games | Expat malaise | Linguistic stuff | ethanlandes.com
Since it looks like it might be happening, it's time to pre-register your AI bubble burst predictions. Like: - Who will go bust? - Will a government nationalize or bailout someone? - What will the price of SpaceX stock be in 6 months? - What will be the fate of Sam Altman?
I feel the downstream effects of papers being written for peer review. Arguments are defensive, good faith is lost, and it all becomes rhetoric. Joy of exploration, honest appraisal & appreciation of uncertainty disappear from scientific discourse, leaving an illusion of certainty & inevitability.
In my experience one of the BIG downsides of peer review in philosophy is that it engenders an adversarial approach to writing, encouraging writing revisions into the paper that aim to win instead of aiming to be right.
What if you were paying over £1000 per family member per year to start a better life in the UK and the government said "Just Kidding"
Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️@chenchenzhang.net · 4d agoa little browsing on skilledworkersUK subreddit tells you that people's lives are upended for no reason. it's hard to imagine anyone who's not limited by family or relationships is not gonna leave. "I'm going home, so I guess the reform voters won".
Is an academic coming across as rude over email? It's time to play everyone's favorite game, Is It Intentional or Is It Neurodivergence?
If I could make one structural change to American politics, it would be a constitutional amendment that caps campaign spending at $1 million per candidate per campaign and also bans PACs/outside spending.
Me: trying to search across multiple email accounts Outlook:
Since it looks like it might be happening, it's time to pre-register your AI bubble burst predictions. Like: - Who will go bust? - Will a government nationalize or bailout someone? - What will the price of SpaceX stock be in 6 months? - What will be the fate of Sam Altman?
UK academics: it's not ok to ask someone to list their former institution as your affiliation because the work was done there is it?
"It reminds me of the time I spent an hour fighting my way up an English hill through thick, knee-high heather, only to discover at the top that there had been an unmarked path 20 meters to my right the whole time."
When Philosophers Reinvent The Wheel - Daily Nous
You may not believe this, but philosophers sometimes work in ignorance of research programs, bodies of literature, methodologies, and findings outside of philosophy that could […]
dailynous.com
This is an embarrassing lack of scholarship on our part (myself included!) Very interesting post.
Ethan Landes@ethanlandes.bsky.social · last wk.Today I discovered a literature that beat conceptual engineering to a punch by 40 years. I crashed out about it. ethanlandes.com/posts/2026/0...
POV: you're reading the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, have finished the introduction, and are starting Section 1
At @metaror.bsky.social, where we review metascience preprints that are submitted to us, we've been using the Publish-Review-Curate model since our launch a few years ago. Great to see the various publishers and platforms who use PRC coming together. publish-review-curate.org/2026/10/28/l...
Launch of Publish, Review, Curate (PRC) Alliance: A coalition of stakeholders to foster a researcher-centred model for scholarly publishing
The scholarly publishing system is under intense pressure. Researchers face increasing demands to publish, peer review is strained and often invisible, and recognition for scholarly contributions b…
publish-review-curate.org
Today I discovered a literature that beat conceptual engineering to a punch by 40 years. I crashed out about it. ethanlandes.com/posts/2026/0...
No New Ideas in Philosophy: Conceptual Engineering Edition
The first time I heard “there are no new ideas in philosophy”, I thought it was risably absurd. I’ve since come around to appreciating its wisdom, but it’s easy to forget. And today I discovered a who...
ethanlandes.com
VINDICATION! www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwgC...
Do English speakers really put an L in BOLTH?
YouTube video by Dr Geoff Lindsey
youtube.com
Ethan Landes@ethanlandes.bsky.social · 2mo agoI grew up saying "both" with a soft l like in "colt" or "cold" - "bolth". My parents don't do it and thought I was crazy when I mentioned it, so I assumed it was just a quirk of mine. Last week I heard one of the midwest hosts do it on @lionsledbydonkeys.bsky.social and I felt so. vindicated.
Today I discovered a literature that beat conceptual engineering to a punch by 40 years. I crashed out about it. ethanlandes.com/posts/2026/0...
No New Ideas in Philosophy: Conceptual Engineering Edition
The first time I heard “there are no new ideas in philosophy”, I thought it was risably absurd. I’ve since come around to appreciating its wisdom, but it’s easy to forget. And today I discovered a who...
ethanlandes.com
Philosophers you are welcome to apply to this post doc the ad says. #philsdi #philsky
Charlotte Cavaille@ccavaille.bsky.social · last wk.Has this post-doc ad been circulating among political scientists? If not, please share! It is an amazing 2 year post doc. I was a fellow and my life was changed forever (I even work in Toulouse now!). It is the French version of the Nuffield post-doc ! www.tse-fr.eu/iast-researc...
Very resentful that the EU has made life more convenient
Ethan Landes@ethanlandes.bsky.social · last wk.My candidates for best improvements in computer UX during my lifetime: - Yanking out a usb drive no longer BSODs - Everything has own connector type -> everything is USB-C - Device drivers install automatically (no CDs/floppys) - No more DOS
My candidates for best improvements in computer UX during my lifetime: - Yanking out a usb drive no longer BSODs - Everything has own connector type -> everything is USB-C - Device drivers install automatically (no CDs/floppys) - No more DOS
I'm not exactly secure in my academic career, but it is very very very difficult watching a newly-minted PhD I know - who has made important, criminally underrated, and timely contributions to a popular literature - struggle to get employment.
Writing some Shiny code that might end up getting published. Partly out of a challenge and partly out of dedication to not have an AI-use disclaimer, I'm writing it 100% organic LLM-free. What a completely different experience. Way more fun. Glacially slow.
Just got my first obviously AI-generated referee request (to their credit, they cop to it). For a paper about AI, naturally.
Ran into my third instance of linkrot of the day and it's not even lunchtime. All on university websites.
Tips for informal academic mentorship beyond offering advice when one sees the chance?
Last month I started a survey paper with a clear frame in mind. As the reality of the scope has set in, I'm now, for the third time, rethinking the frame. Meaning I'm averaging a new frame for the paper every 2 weeks.
Relearning the basics of the cogsci of polysemy for the ~30th time, I was struck by how closely mental content is associated with lexical items. Is there discussion on whether this is an artifact of experiments using words to elicit content or instead a deep feature of human cognition?
Apologies for the LinkedIn-ese, but I'm glad that I finally managed to write something in my new job! Revised versions of works in progress (comments welcome!): one on technical rulemaking under EU law, and the other on regulatory learning and innovation law #HowTheOtterRequisitionedHisGrooveBack