Summer reading recommendation! This new book by Elana Shever is fantastic. It's an ethnography of dinosaur science in the spirit of Latour and Woolgar's Laboratory Life. Historians and philosophers of paleo, this is a must read. #Philpaleo #philsci www.ucpress.edu/books/making...

Making Our Beasts by Elana Shever - Hardcover

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

ucpress.edu

Excited to visit Ostrava for this upcoming conference! (Philosophers working on issues in the historical sciences might consider submitting.) #philsci

Centre for the Philosophy of Historiography@centrephilohistory.bsky.social · 2mo ago

There's now also a poster for our November conference Learning from History: The Philosophies of Historiography and the Historical Sciences. The submission deadline is in the end of August. Please spread the word, and come to Ostrava to discuss the historical sciences and their philosophy with us!

I'm giving a talk next Thursday on the aesthetic dimensions of narrative scientific explanation. It is on Zoom -- see below.

Centre for Philosophical Studies of History@cpshoulu.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Today in a week (28.05, 16/17h, Central-European/Finnish time), Derek Turner will give the talk “Narrative Explanation as Aesthetic Scaffolding” in our joint research seminar over Zoom. For more info and the Zoom link, please see here: www.oulu.fi/en/events/na.... All welcome!

ACTION ALERT⚠️ Dept. of Interior is trying to rush through a revocation of Biden’s public law protecting lands around Chaco Canyon from new oil/gas leases. They’ve given only 7 day for public comment, during Easter/Passover. Thread 🧵 below on why you should care, but here’s a link to comment! 🏺

If you are in the area, we have an exciting interdisciplinary conference coming up at Connecticut College! @alisabokulich.bsky.social is one of our speakers. This is free and open to the public.

Sea Level Rise: Measurement, Understanding, Adaptation

Explore sea level rise & climate change with national experts as they examine the human and ecological challenges our coastlines face.

eventbrite.com

My friend and colleague Simon Feldman has a new book out! It develops a rigorous response to the conservative allegation that liberal arts college professors like us are indoctrinating our students. This is an awesome book. www.bloomsbury.com/us/in-defens...

In Defense of Indoctrination

Considering charges that liberal arts institutions indoctrinate their students, this book investigates the conceptual connections between critical thinking and…

bloomsbury.com

My friend and colleague Ross Morin has just finished recording season 2 of his podcast, Filmmaking Unpacked. Season 1 was awesome (and very philosophical). Philosophers and anyone interested in creative work might find this worth listening to! www.rossmorinfilm.com/unpacked.html

Book recommendation! Over winter break, I've been reading Robert McFarlane's Is a River Alive? It is beautiful writing, and it has an undercurrent of serious philosophical argument. An awesome book. wwnorton.com/books/978039...

Is a River Alive?

A <em>New York Times</em> Bestseller<br />A #1 <em>Sunday Times</em> (UK) Bestseller<br /><br />Finalist for the 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition in Environmental Literature<br />Longlisted for th...

wwnorton.com

Here's a short piece on de-extinction that just came out in Ethics, Policy, & Environment: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DKVRV...

Game of Clones: Why the Best Argument for De-Extinction Does Not Support Colossal Biosciences’ Dire Wolf Project

Beth Shapiro, the lead researcher on Colossal Biosciences’ dire wolf project, has argued that the goal of de-extinction research should be to restore lost ecological interactions. But the recent cr...

tandfonline.com

Years ago I published a short review of an environmental ethics anthology. Just jot a notice that my old book review has been cited in a paper in the journal *AI & Ethics.* So I looked up that paper. The authors clearly thought they were citing the book I was reviewing. I'm guessing they used AI 😂

A few of us philosophers with hot takes on the news about "dire wolves." (I didn't come up with the "Game of Clones" title, but I kind of like it.)

Philosophers On The Science & Ethics of Resurrecting Extinct Species - Daily Nous

"The Return of the Dire Wolf" announced Time magazine---not quite correctly, it turns out---in its article on the creation of three creatures genetically engineered into existence by the firm Colossal...

dailynous.com

Am I the only one who still writes their own recommendation letters for students? Is everyone else using AI?

Meta has apparently used 18 of my publications, without permission, to train its AI. This is theft of intellectual property.

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

theatlantic.com

Recently I Zoomed in to participate in one of Adrian Currie's seminars at Exeter and one of the seminar participants followed up with some wonderful interview questions on aesthetics and science #HPS #Philsci exeternotion.press/2025/03/14/5...

Need something to watch today that *isn't* the U.S. presidential inauguration? Try these hidden YouTube gems! Featuring Alfred Wegener, J. Tuzo Wilson, Fred Vine, Stephen Jay Gould, Adolf Seilacher, and the Venus-was-once-a-comet guy, Immanuel Velikovsky www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

More Hidden Gems from YouTube — Extinct

In which Max compiles another set of YouTube videos for your enjoyment. Featuring Alfred Wegener, J. Tuzo Wilson, Immanuel Velikovsky, Adolf Seilacher, and more!

extinctblog.org

I've been on the lookout for interesting examples of challenging environmental art, and someone shared this one: "The Black Gold Tapestry," by Sandra Sawatzky. And it's got dinosaurs! www.theblackgoldtapestry.com

The Black Gold Tapestry

Sandra Sawatzky's contemporary work of art dramatizing the saga of oil through 220 feet of hand embroidery.

theblackgoldtapestry.com

Another book recommendation for #HPS ers: I learned some new stuff from Caroline Winterer's fantastic book, "How the New World Became Old." Anyone who likes to geek out on 19th century geology will love this & It's got beautiful images and plates. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

How the New World Became Old

How the idea of deep time transformed how Americans see their country and themselves

press.princeton.edu

Book Recommendation: Lulu Miller's "Why Fish Don't Exist." It's got interesting history of science, some philosophy of biology, some memoir, and some murder mystery, all woven together. HPS folks might enjoy it! www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Fi...

In case you missed it: here is Kelle Dhein's wonderful discussion of George Gaylord Simpson's posthumously published sci-fi/time travel/dinosaur novella, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder. Or: the umwelt of a paleontologist... www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2024...

From the Archive: Rugged Individualism in the Cretaceous — Extinct

Once more to the archive: in which Kelle Dhein analyzes George Simpson’s sci-fi novella, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder

extinctblog.org