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UTwente PSTS Master's Program

@utwentepsts.bsky.social

📚 MSc Philosophy of Science, Technology & Society 🤖 Human/Technology Relations 🧪 Philosophy of Science 👀 Ethics of Technology #Philsky #PhilTech #PhilSci #AIEthics https://www.utwente.nl/en/education/master/programmes/philosophy-science-technology-society/

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Nolen Gertz @ethicistforhire.bsky.social · 3d ago

Sneak preview...

Automating Away Ambiguity: Freedom and Technology in Beauvoir

Nolen Gertz

Abstract: The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are
making it possible for us to realize our fantasies but in exchange for having to ac-
cept that such technologies will interfere in our lives in various and often unforeseen
ways. Because we do not seem as bothered by technological interference as we are
by human interference, academics have argued that we should take advantage of
technological interference in order to achieve social and political goals. Such tech-
nological paternalism has been justified by arguing that combating climate change is
more important than protecting individual human freedom. By turning to the work of
Simone de Beauvoir we can see why this argument is both dangerous and doomed to
failure. Beauvoir’s views on freedom and on technology can help us to recognize that
technological paternalism cannot resolve crises but only perpetuate them.

Key words: behavior change, design ethics, Simone de Beauvoir, freedom, existentialism

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 6d ago

University of Twente Philosophy Lectures 2026-2027 22 October 2026, 15:45-17:30, RA4237 Jason Branford Research Associate, University of Hamburg "Beyond Better Benchmarks? AI Evaluation, Exclusion, and the Conditions of a Well-Ordered Science" www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Philosophy Colloquium Lecture - 22 October 1545-1730 - Jason Branford

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UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 7d ago

Our next Tech Values Colloquium will take place on Thursday 8 October from 15:45 to 17:00. Candida F. Sánchez Burmester (Maastricht) will present a paper titled "Clouded by systemic ignorance: The dispute about a nanoparticle across a web of communication venues" www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our next Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium will take place on Thursday October 1, 2026, from 15:45 till 17:00 hrs. Our speaker is dr. Anna van Oosterzee. She will present a paper titled: "Causality and the Network Theory of Psychopathology" www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Our next Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium will take place on Thursday October 1, 2026, in room RA4231 from 15:45 till 17:00 hrs. Our speaker is dr. Anna van Oosterzee. She will present… ...

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UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 2w ago

New poster for the event created by our Ideefiks Student Association:

Spellbound Philofilm poster made by Ideefiks

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our next Philofilm screening will be Hitchcock's Spellbound with UT philosophy PhD candidate Maaike van der Horst on Monday 5 October 2026 from 19:30-22:15 at the Concordia Film Theatre: www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Philofilm screening of Hitchcock's Spellbound with UT philosophy PhD candidate Maaike van der Horst

The next Philofilm at Concordia Film Theatre will be UT philosophy PhD candidate Maaike van der Horst presenting the classic Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller Spellbound: About Philofilm This m...

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Sandra Timmermann @stmrmn.bsky.social · 3w ago

And sometimes, being a PSTS (@utwentepsts.bsky.social) student means to speak about injustice in The Hague next to your studies. 😮⚖️🇳🇱 Yesterday, I had the honour to present the first, ontological part of my project exploring the role of LLM-based chatbots in Affective Injustice at the PHTR 26. 🤖⚡️🤍

PHTR sign guiding the way to the conference rooms

Title slide of my presentation “How LLM-based chatbots can contribute to affective injustice”

Shortly before my presentation as first speaker of the Justice panel

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 3w ago

Our next Human-Technology Relations colloquium will take place Thursday September 24th, 15h45-17h00. Dr. Julia Hermann and Dr. Benedict Lane will be presenting their work on "Clocks, cables, and the community: Wittgenstein’s relevance for philosophy of technology" www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Our next Human-Technology Relations colloquium will take place on Thursday September 24th, 15h45-17h00, in RA 4231. Dr. Julia Hermann and Dr. Benedict Lane will be presenting their work on "Cloc...

Our next Human-Technology Relations colloquium will take place on Thursday September 24th, 15h45-17h00, in RA 4231. Dr. Julia Hermann and Dr. Benedict Lane will be presenting their work on "Clocks, c...

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UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · last mo.

UT Philosophy Colloquium Lecture Thursday, 17 September 2026, 15:45 - 17:30 Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Co-Founder, Noumenal Labs; Honorary Research Fellow University College London "What is the Free-Energy Principle?" www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Philosophy Colloquium Lecture - 17 September 1545-1730 - Maxwell J. D. Ramstead

University of Twente Philosophy Lectures 2026-2027 17 September 2026, 15:45-17:30, RA2503 (Reception to follow, hosted by Ideefiks, in LA 2507) Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Co-Founder, Noumenal Labs; Honora...

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Sandra Timmermann @stmrmn.bsky.social · last mo.

Pretty cool to be part of the PSTS (@utwentepsts.bsky.social) study association Ideefiks, whose members organise such amazing events as the monthly PhiloFilm series in cooperation with Concordia where our professors show and discuss movies. Tonight with @ethicistforhire.bsky.social & Playtime.

Nolen Gertz on stage of Concordia cinema introducing Playtime.

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · last mo.

Our next Tech Values Colloquium will take place on Thursday 10 September in room RA4336 from 15:45 till 17:00 hrs. Maren Behrensen will present a paper titled "Criticizing Transhumanism without the Transphobia: An Unexpected Ally (It’s the Pope)": www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Our next Tech Values Colloquium will take place on Thursday 10 September in room RA4336 from 15:45 till 17:00 hrs. Maren Behrensen will present a paper titled "Criticizing Transhumanism without...

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Nolen Gertz @ethicistforhire.bsky.social · last mo.

Updating my Philosophy of Technology syllabus (or at least the recommended movies part)...

Week 1: Terminator 2 event
Week 2: Playtime Philofilm
Week 3: Desk Set
Week 4: Modern Times
Week 5: Ghost in the Shell 2
Week 6: Silent Running
Week 7: Colossus: The Forbin Project
Week 8: The Matrix

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · last mo.

Philofilm screening of Jacques Tati's classic film Playtime with UT philosophy professor Nolen Gertz on 7 September: www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Philofilm screening of Playtime with UT philosophy professor Nolen Gertz

The next Philofilm at Concordia Film Theatre will be UT philosophy professor Nolen Gertz presenting Jacques Tati's film Playtime: About Philofilm This movie is part of our monthly Philofilm series, i...

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · last mo.

Ideefiks Outing to see Terminator 2: Judgment Day on 3 September: www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Ideefiks Outing to see Terminator 2: Judgment Day on 3 September

On 3 September, the Vue Cinema in Enschede will be screening the classic sci-fi action film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. To celebrate, the PSTS Study Association Ideefiks has organized an outing to wat...

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UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · last mo.

Our next Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium will take place on September 3, in room RA4231 from 15:45 to 17:00. Miles MacLeod and Y. J. Erden will be presenting a paper titled "Exploring Scientific Bubbles": www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

NanoBubbles | University of Twente Philosophy Section

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UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · last mo.

UT philosophy professor Ciano Aydin has published a new book (available open access!) entitled Engineering Desire: www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

UT philosophy professor Ciano Aydin publishes new book on Engineering Desire

Ciano Aydin, Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology at the University of Twente, has published a new book entitled Engineering Desire: Algorithmic Environments and the Promise of Wholeness (Routle...

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 4mo ago

PSTS graduate Laura Lamers is defending her PhD today at UT on "What algorithms cannot manage: Understanding and promoting human dignity in algorithmic management": www.utwente.nl/en/news-even...

PhD Defence Laura Lamers | What algorithms cannot manage - Understanding and promoting human dignity in algorithmic management

What algorithms cannot manage - Understanding and promoting human dignity in algorithmic management

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 4mo ago

PSTS graduate Melis Bas will be giving the final UT Philosophy Lecture of the academic year tomorrow!

UTwente Philosophy@utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 4mo ago

University of Twente Philosophy Lectures 2025-2026 18 June 2026, 15:45-17:30, RA4237 Melis Bas Lecturer in New Media and Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam "Technopolitical Mediation: An Arendtian Approach to Political Philosophy of Technology" www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 4mo ago

PSTS graduate Bouke van Balen presenting his PhD research on brain-computer interfaces at the ESDiT Away Days in Den Haag:

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Our next Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium will be tomorrow, 4 June, 15:45-17:30, in LA1212. Speaker: Prof. dr. Cyrus C. M. Mody Title: Bubble Science: Some Thoughts on Why and How Some Fields Rapidly Grow and Fade www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

NanoBubbles | University of Twente Philosophy Section

Our next Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium will be tomorrow, 4 June, 15:45-17:30, in LA1212. Speaker: Prof. dr. Cyrus C. M. Mody Title: Bubble Science: Some Thoughts on Why and How Som...

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Today our 2nd year PSTS students are presenting their work-in-progress of their Master's theses:

PSTS students at the University of Twente

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

UT philosophy professor Nolen Gertz to keynote Romanian conference on nihilism and technology: www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

UT philosophy professor Nolen Gertz to keynote Romanian conference on nihilism and technology

Nolen Gertz, Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Twente, will be the keynote speaker at a conference on Gertz's book Nihilism and Technology that will be held at West Univer...

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 5mo ago

In case you were wondering what you learn as a PSTS Master's student:

Nolen Gertz@ethicistforhire.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today's lecture...

Slide from my lecture in which (in the style of Mortal Kombat) I pitted Mill's Utilitarianism vs Mill's On Liberty in "Moral Kombat"

UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Great to see that our PSTS students see their lecturers as superheroes!

Nolen Gertz@ethicistforhire.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Found this today in our @utwentepsts.bsky.social students' office...

The Avengers with the heads of the UT PSTS faculty superimposed

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

University of Twente Philosophy Lectures 2025-2026 21 May 2026, 15:45-17:30, RA3237 Ciano Aydin Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology, University of Twente "Engineering Desire" www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Philosophy Colloquium Lecture - 21 May 1545-1730 - Ciano Aydin

21 May 2026, 15:45-17:30, RA3237 (Reception to follow, hosted by Ideefiks, in LA 2507)

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Nolen Gertz @ethicistforhire.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New article by Siri Beerends, me, and Ciano Aydin on "AI and the machinization of humans: an escape from the burdens of existence"... rdcu.be/figCE

AI and the machinization of humans: an escape from the burdens of existence
Siri Beerends · Nolen Gertz · Ciano Aydin

Abstract
Rather than creating human-like intelligence in AI, the AI field is re-defining the human in mechanistic terms, causing usto overlook a crucial inverse question: in what ways are humans and societies becoming more machine-like? In this paperwe discuss three examples of how humans are becoming more machine-like: (1) the replacement of human thought withcomputation, (2) the subjugation of art and culture to computation, and (3) the replacement of active decision-makingwith statistics-driven passive decision-making. We situate these examples in two contexts. Firstly, the cultural-historicalcontext of the machinization of humanity as described by Joseph Weizenbaum and Lewis Mumford. And secondly theexistential context of (not) coping with the burdens of the human condition as described by Nietzsche, Sartre, and Lacan.Traditionally, religion helped alleviate existential uncertainty by offering fixed notions of human nature and shiftingresponsibility for who we are to a higher power. Today, AI seems to take on a similar role by relieving us of the burdenof self-determination and not knowing what it means to be human. We end this paper by arguing why trying to overcomethe burdens of the human condition with AI is undesirable.Keywords: Artificial intelligence · Machine-like humans · Philosophy of technology · ExistentialismReceived: 1 December 2025 / Accepted: 2 April 2026© The Author(s) 2026

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today there will be an online panel on the role of GenAI in open access publishing! Peter-Paul Verbeek, Michael Nagenborg, Nolen Gertz and Olya Kudina will meet at 15:30-17.00 CET to discuss editorial experiences from JHTR and related questions with the audience: teams.microsoft.com/meet/3477177...

Online public discussion invite Generative AI in open access publishing: What should the editors do? Join the editorial team of the diamond open-access Journal of Human-Technology Relations (JHTR) in navigating the age of Generative AI and shaping sustainable publication practices. Nolen Gertz (UTwente), Michael Nagenborg (UTwente), Peter-Paul Verbeek (UvA), and Olya Kudina (TU Delft) will share their emerging experiences as editors at JHTR and solicit input from the (prospective) authors and readers on their ideas about GenAI in open-access publishing. JHTR is hosted by TU Delft OPEN Publishing. When: May 11, 15:30-17:00 Where: online, GenAI in open access publishing: What should the editors do? Public panel, organized by the Journal of Human-Technology Relations | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams Join us and spread the word!

UTwente Philosophy @utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

UT Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium, 4 June, 15:45-17:30, LA1212 Prof. dr. Cyrus C. M. Mody Title: Bubble Science: Some Thoughts on Why and How Some Fields Rapidly Grow and Fade www.linkedin.com/posts/univer...

Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium, 4 June, 15:45-17:30, LA1212 Prof. dr. Cyrus C. M. Mody Title: Bubble Science: Some Thoughts on Why and How Some Fields Rapidly Grow and… | University ...

Philosophy of Science in Practice colloquium, 4 June, 15:45-17:30, LA1212 Prof. dr. Cyrus C. M. Mody Title: Bubble Science: Some Thoughts on Why and How Some Fields Rapidly Grow and Fade Abstrac...

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UTwente PSTS Master's Program @utwentepsts.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Q: "What can you do with a PSTS degree?" A:

UTwente Philosophy@utwentephilosophy.bsky.social · 6mo ago

UT Philosophy PhD candidate Maaike van der Horst co-authors new article on "queering sex robots": www.utwente.nl/en/bms/phil/...

Nolen Gertz @ethicistforhire.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Always fun to see what my former students are up to...