My postdoc is coming to an end, so I'm looking for work! Let me know if you, or anyone you know, wants to hire a philosopher of biology/cognition with a knack for cross-disciplinary work, a focus on autonomy + agency, and experience writing for the broader public (10+ yrs in sci/tech journalism).

"Ironically, scientists have abandoned the idea that living organisms have been designed by God, only to adopt of model of the living based on artifacts made by an engineer." Ch 1 of "The Brain, in Theory" Romain Brette Princeton U. Press 2026. Ch 1 is a tour de force take down of computationalism.

“Computers can be conscious because living organisms are not special”: complete nonsense. Of course, living organisms are special: they are organized in such a way that they live; computers are not. Liquid water and ice are made of the same molecules, yet they have completely different properties.

Why large language models are not conscious. romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...

Notes on consciousness. (XI) Why large language models are not conscious

The current discussions about AI are plagued with anthropomorphism. Of course, the name “artificial intelligence” has probably something to do with the matter. A conscious artificial intelligence m…

romainbrette.fr

#ESR Le programme du Colloque de lancement des Assises pour l'Université et pour la Recherche, conçu par un Conseil Scientifique issu des sociétés savantes, a été mis en ligne, ainsi que le livret des abstracts. agorasur.fr/assises-pour...

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon discussion now online. Lively debate on @romainbrette.bsky.social 's position. #neuroskyence youtu.be/XV6kCsiq0g0?...

Romain Brette discusses brains and computations

YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon

youtu.be

Anticipating a signal without a model of the signal. It's in the physics literature (Voss): arxiv.org/pdf/1508.01088 It's a simple (linear!) dynamical system dy/dt entrained by an input x(t). Surprisingly, it relaxes to y(t) = a*x(t+d) for some delay d.

One issue with computespeak is the constant confusion between capacity and mechanism, explanans and explanandum. Sometimes computing just means solving a problem, sometimes it's a particular way of solving a problem. Sometimes to represent is just to know, sometimes it's to encode.

My take on global workspaces and J-spaces, and the possibility of consciousness in Claude www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts | Anil Seth

Despite Anthropic’s claims, Claude is no more likely to achieve sentience than a simulation of a weather system is likely to generate a real hurricane, says Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and compu...

theguardian.com

In this episode of @braininspired.bsky.social, @kathrynnave.eurosky.social argues that the free energy principle falls short as a unifying framework for living systems and cognition. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...

Is our intelligence rooted in how living organisms are organized?

Kathryn Nave explains how a concept called constraint closure may be fundamental to understanding brains, minds and cognition.

thetransmitter.org

One of us, @kathrynnave.eurosky.social, has a gift for communicating thorny ideas, like active inference and the free energy principle. The question is, how do we tell the story from single cell metabolism to multicellular organism extraordinaire Kate Nave? braininspired.co/podcast/242/

Presentation of some topics of "The Brain, In Theory" and discussion on the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV6k...

Romain Brette discusses brains and computations

YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon

youtube.com

Hi all We are starting to post the videos of the "Beyond Computationalism" event on Youtube. You can find them here www.youtube.com/@faridzahnoun1 #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence

Marco Facchin@marcofacchin.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Still two weeks to submit your abstract for our Beyond Neurocomputationalism workshop (Antwerp 4-5 June). Keynote Speakers include Kate Nave, Romain Brette, Vicente Raja, Matteo Mossio, Mazviita Chirimuuta & Alicia Juarrero! Info below! #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence

You also don't have to do an editor's job of deciding if a paper "fits" or is "impactful enough" for their journal, because you're a scientist and not a marketing agent for the publisher.

Timothy O'Leary@timothyoleary.bsky.social · 4w ago

Dear peer reviewers everywhere: sometimes we feel pressure to find issues with a submission as a demonstration of diligence. But we have to recognise this is a mistake: picking random and sometimes incoherent holes in research add confusion, generates unnecessary work and encourages defensive

Collègues: à voir pour comprendre la logique des réformes de l'ESR des 20 dernières années, et ce qui nous attend.

Aliènor Bertrand@alienorbertrand.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Si, comme moi, vous l'aviez raté le zoom , la vidéo est maintenant en ligne. Elle aurait pu s'appeler "chronique de 20 ans de destruction de l'ESR". Par dogmatisme idéologique ? Par autoritarisme bureaucratique ? Il est en tout cas l'heure de tout reconstruire. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIZ6...

In @thetls.bsky.social's Summer Books Round-up, Tim Crane recommends The Brain, In Theory by @romainbrette.bsky.social, calling it "[a] beautifully lucid, accessible account of the various theoretical approaches to the human brain" (£):

Summer books 2026

Mary Beard I am a Booker prize judge this year. So most of my summer will be consumed by reading fiction (which obviously has its pleasures). But I shall be varying the diet with a drop or two of nonfiction....

the-tls.com

Two excellent books, one by Mazviita Chirimuuta, the other by @romainbrette.bsky.social, that should be read side by side.

Here is the invitation in case anyone is interested in participating in the discussion of the book on computationalism, the brain, and life: www.crowdcast.io/c/brain-in-t...

Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette

Register now for Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on September 23, 2026, 10:30 AM GMT+2.

crowdcast.io

Predictive coding is not a theory of anticipation www.frontiersin.org/journals/hum...

Frontiers | Predictive coding is not a theory of anticipation

Anticipation is a hallmark of all living phenomena, from bacteria to humans. If I notice a cloudy sky, I may take an umbrella to avoid getting wet. In cyanob...

frontiersin.org

Don't forget our Salon with Romain Brett discussing 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗼... July 9. Open to all but you need to register (personal-free/academic zoom account is necessary) #neuroskyence

PessoaBrain@pessoabrain.bsky.social · 2mo ago

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻?? Biological systems unlike computers, but what does that mean? Join us in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon discussion with Romain Brette of his great book. July 9, noon (USA-EST) Open to all; registration required. umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #neuroskyence

1/8 Two years ago I wrote a chapter for an MIT Press book "Designing an Intelligence", edited by George Konidaris, which looks like it will be published later this year. My chapter, "Intelligence without Intelligence", poses 12 provocative questions about implicit assumptions.

Hi, we are organizing a book presentation with Brette on September 23rd, 2026 and a reading club of the book. In case you wanna participate, let me know here or write me: julio.alcantara-carrera@pasteur.fr

No one thinks that Midjourney is alive--that's a huge problem for anyone who thinks that ChatGPT is My latest: plus.flux.community/p/large-lang...

No one thinks Midjourney is alive, that's a big problem for people who think that Claude is

Artificial intelligence and the textual nude

plus.flux.community

#ESR Les Assises pour l'Université et pour la Recherche auront lieu les 3 et 4 septembre, de 9h à 18h, dans l’amphithéâtre Farabeuf du Campus des Cordeliers, Sorbonne Université, 15 rue de l’école de médecine, 75006 PARIS. Informations mises à jour. agorasur.fr/assises-pour...

In this @braininspired.bsky.social episode, @yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy argues why neuroscience should ground concepts such as agency, intelligence and consciousness in principles fundamental to life, not as detached algorithms and computations. www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...

Johannes Jaeger explains why we should care that brains and AI are not the same

Living beings must continuously regenerate themselves and judge what’s important to continue living. Artificial intelligence does not and cannot.

thetransmitter.org

I talked to Paul Middlebrooks of #BrainInspired about cyborgs, functionalism, and agency. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/uzK0xcFYZW0 The brain is not a machine, not a computer, but metabolizes experiences into your personality.

A good rebuttal of computational functionalism, specifically of the thought experiment where you progressively replace each neuron by an electronic equivalent. (TLDR: the thought experiment assumes what it claims to demonstrate, ie, that a living cell is equivalent to some electronic component)

Yogi Jaeger@yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy · last mo.

RE: https://spore.social/@yoginho/116713305282040683 The Cyborg Myth: now also available on #LoveAndPhilosophy! https://lovephilosophy.substack.com/p/the-cyborg-myth Why you can't replace your neurons with artificial devices and still be you. Computational functionalism isn't logically […]

L'esprit humain est fascinant. M. Klein a apparemment réussi à se convaincre que plagier c'est ok tant que le texte plagié est bon.

Jean Abbiateci@jeanabbiateci.bsky.social · last mo.

Dans @philomag.com (mensuel dans lequel il tient une chronique), Etienne Klein répond sur le perte de son doctorat et les révélations de plagiat dans toute sa production. L’interview, menée par le directeur et le rédacteur en chef, est assez pugnace. À lire ici ⤵️ www.philomag.com/articles/eti...

Living organisms are not machines. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Collègues, regardez bien les nouvelles règles de l'ANR. Bonne chance pour faire de la recherche fondamentale!

Julien Gossa@juliengossa.cpesr.fr · last mo.

[ #VeilleESR #LPPR ] Durcissement des règles d'attribution pour l'appel à projets générique ANR. Notamment : réduction du nombre de dépôts et augmentation du délais de carence. L'argumentaire est : plus les scientifiques ont besoin de l'ANR, moins il faut que les scientifiques sollicitent l'ANR.