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Tim Brown, PhD

@keyofnight.bsky.social

Assistant Professor of Bioethics & Humanities at the University of Washington 🐺 | bioethics 🧬, technology 🦾, neuroethics 🧠, aesthetics 🎨 , nerdiness 🤓.

45 Posts350 Follower132 Folgt
Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started@gothamgirlblue.com · 2y ago

I think there’s something special about Black Americans both being aware of the worst this country is and nonetheless working for its improvement because we also know how special it can be. There are forms of patriotism that aren’t built on ignorance.

Julian Sanchez@normative.bsky.social · 2y ago

I’m convinced American exceptionalism is a big part of what made us vulnerable to Trump. We’re so used to thinking of ourselves as the Special Freedom Country that a lot of people find it inconceivable we could rapidly collapse into shabby despotism even as they watch it happen.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 2y ago

abundantly clear that this administration takes “discrimination” to mean “any regard for minority communities” and treats “merit” as a synonym for “white (and preferably male)”

Victor Ray@victorerikray.bsky.social · 2y ago

I’m struck by the Trump administration’s attempt to redefine equality as discrimination against white people. This is a deeply racist idea that *equal outcomes* must be unfair, assuming white people are naturally at the top of the hierarchy. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/c...

In a statement, Mr. Zeldin suggested that environmental justice — which the agency defined in 2013 as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income” with respect to environmental laws — was tantamount to discrimination. “President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people,” Mr. Zeldin said. “Part of this mandate includes the elimination of forced discrimination programs.”
Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Let's go back to basics. Elon Musk has de facto control of FDA, and is threatening to fire people there. He runs Neuralink, but Neuralink needs FDA approval. Okay. Pause. If you aren't screaming "🗣️CONFLICT OF INTEREST🗣️" at the top of your lungs right now, you need to recalibrate your ethics.

International Neuroethics Society@neuroethics.bsky.social · 2y ago

📢 Call for Book Chapters – Public Engagement & Ethics Communication in Brain Research, Innovation, and Health This edition will explore ethical and responsible science communication in bioethics and neuroethics 🧠 We invite scholars/researchers/professionals to contribute! See more details below👇

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Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Unpopular opinion, I think some folks spend way too much time complaining about the dems in leadership. Most of the folks complaining are the same kind of milquetoast liberals that dems in office are, making the same kinds of mistakes, impacting my life just as much.

Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Algorithmic gaslighting has always been a thing, it's just automated now. Our brains are on a conveyor belt that feeds a meat grinder of procedurally-generated discourse, only to be fried and consumed by marketing firms and their clients. Jane, stop this crazy thing.

Ryan Mac 🙃@rmac.bsky.social · 2y ago

Earlier today the LA Times had AI-generated counterpoints to a column from @gustavoarellano.bsky.social. His piece argued that Anaheim, the city he grew up in, should not forget its KKK past. The AI "well, actually"-ed the KKK. It has since been taken off the piece. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

If anything comes of this, watch adolescent suicide rates skyrocket. (Also, does anybody remember when the Republican Party wanted *fewer* regulations? Why are they trying to regulate this?)

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 2y ago

Trump’s latest executive order (that was no doubt written by psychopath RFK Jr.) goes after antidepressants. As someone whose life was saved by them, you will pry my prozac from my cold dead hands. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Sec. 5. Initial Assessment and Strategy from the Make America Healthy Again Commission. (a) Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment. Within 100 days of the date of this order, the Commission shall submit to the President, through the Chair and the Executive Director, the Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment, which shall: (i) identify and describe childhood chronic disease in America compared to other countries; (ii) assess the threat that potential over-utilization of medication, certain food ingredients, certain chemicals, and certain other exposures pose to children with respect to chronic inflammation or other established mechanisms of disease, using rigorous and transparent data, including international comparisons; (iii) assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs; (iv) identify and report on best practices for preventing childhood health issues, including through proper nutrition and the promotion of healthy lifestyles;
Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Like clockwork, the brain-drain begins. All any country has to do is fund a program recruiting researchers. Many countries already have these programs in place. This country was built on the backs of my ancestors, so I have no intentions of leaving right now. That could change, but I hope not.

Leigh Turner@leighturner.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Senior scientists warned that researchers might leave the U.S. in search of more stable opportunities abroad — and STAT spoke with scientists who are considering doing exactly that." www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/t...

Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

I've been part of reviews for DoD, NIH, and NSF that have gone the extra mile to listen to veterans and people in active duty so that we can make healthcare better for them. But, yeah, sure, treating soldiers and vets with respect is "woke." Okay. Sure. Got it.

Amy Maxmen, PhD@amymaxmen.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Military families protesting the Defense Department's anti-DEI push heckled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth...One of the protesters held an umbrella covered in a rainbow pattern." www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Have y'all actually looked at the NSF DEI hit-list? It's an excel spreadsheet that sorts NSF projects into the categories: "social justice," "race," "gender," and "environmental justice." Wow. If your scientific project mentions "women" or "gender" at all, it's "inefficient," woke, DEI, etc. 🤷🏾‍♂️

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Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

I often explain to non-philosophers why we can't just appeal to dictionary definitions, but when philosophers do this, it raises red flags. It's easier to dismiss accusations of racism if your concept of racism is limited.

Shen-yi Liao 廖顯禕@liao.shen-yi.org · 2y ago

No philosopher, not even the non-epistemologists, would think to cite a dictionary definition of “knowledge” and argue from there. Why do some philosophers think it’s ok to make claims about “racism” from dictionary definitions as if there weren’t a philosophy literature on this concept?

Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

Kendrick Lamar is a Pulitzer Prize winning rapper the first one to have earned that distinction. To say there was no "larger statement" within his performance when that statement was so patently obvious? That's epistemic violence. "40 acres and a mule this is bigger than the music," anyone? 💀

Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 2y ago

I have wondered if the New York Times has been acting as handmaidens of fascism because the paper's leaders find it appealing, but now I'm wondering how many people with prominent positions there are just genuinely stupid.

New York Times saying Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl half time show focused on a rap beef "at the expense of a larger statement."
Tim Brown, PhD@keyofnight.bsky.social · 2y ago

AI systems are largely just bundles of statistical models and procedural logic arranged in ways that accomplish work. They lack positionality, identity, motivation, experience— the very things that are required for having a voice. If/when AI truly learns to speak, we'll be in a different world.

Anita Leirfall@anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 2y ago

Today’s AI systems do not share consciousness or sentience w/humans—the related capacity to feel things like pain, joy, fear & love. They can answer the q. we choose to ask, paint us pretty pictures, generate deepfake videos and more. But an AI tool is dark inside. www.noemamag.com/the-danger-o...