David Spurrett
@doctorspurt.bsky.social
Philosopher, working on evolution of mechanisms of action selection, and their variously situated subversion. https://davidspurrett.com/
Pinned
David Spurrett
@doctorspurt.bsky.social
· Oct 20
Hello new followers. I'm a philosopher of cognitive science working on a book called 'Engines of Hostility'. Recent papers that inform the book are:
(1) "Hostile Scaffolding" (Timms & Spurrett)
(2) "Fashioning Affordances" (Spurrett & Brancazio)
(3) "On Hostile and Oppressive Affective Technology."
(1) "Hostile Scaffolding" (Timms & Spurrett)
(2) "Fashioning Affordances" (Spurrett & Brancazio)
(3) "On Hostile and Oppressive Affective Technology."
I have sometimes recommended accept without revisions as a reviewer. I can't remember any as author...
January 16, 2026 at 11:23 AM
I have sometimes recommended accept without revisions as a reviewer. I can't remember any as author...
Reposted by David Spurrett
Again it is something that people in previous eras have commented on but I still find it just astonishing to witness in my own: fascism is somehow the natural ideology of loser men, just all of our most pathetic and contemptible instincts rendered into a worldview.
imagine letting these people run anything more consequential than a lemonade stand
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Elon Musk admits cheating at video games, chat transcript appears to show
Video posted by top gamer shows what he says is X conversation in which billionaire admits ‘account boosting’
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Again it is something that people in previous eras have commented on but I still find it just astonishing to witness in my own: fascism is somehow the natural ideology of loser men, just all of our most pathetic and contemptible instincts rendered into a worldview.
Reposted by David Spurrett
ICE officers are publicly stating that Renee Good was killed not because an officer was threatened but because they were made at her for not instantly following every order issued.
The new ICE threat to protestors is:
"Have you not learned? This is why we killed that lesbian bitch."
The new ICE threat to protestors is:
"Have you not learned? This is why we killed that lesbian bitch."
“We Killed That Lesbian B*tch”: ICE Uses Renee Good’s Death as Threat
Protesters are recounting federal agents using Good’s death to warn them off.
newrepublic.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:27 PM
ICE officers are publicly stating that Renee Good was killed not because an officer was threatened but because they were made at her for not instantly following every order issued.
The new ICE threat to protestors is:
"Have you not learned? This is why we killed that lesbian bitch."
The new ICE threat to protestors is:
"Have you not learned? This is why we killed that lesbian bitch."
Reposted by David Spurrett
Trump’s EPA just announced they are no longer going to factor in the economic benefit of saving lives when setting air pollution standards—only the cost to industry. This goes directly against their own mandate to protect public health.
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Trump’s EPA just announced they are no longer going to factor in the economic benefit of saving lives when setting air pollution standards—only the cost to industry. This goes directly against their own mandate to protect public health.
Reposted by David Spurrett
We're no longer posting on twitter. Since we wanted to ensure our authors continue to receive as much coverage as possible for their work, we can now also be found on linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/company/brit...
www.linkedin.com/company/brit...
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | LinkedIn
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | 4 followers on LinkedIn. Journal of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, published by University of Chicago Press | Founded in 1950, the B...
www.linkedin.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:39 PM
We're no longer posting on twitter. Since we wanted to ensure our authors continue to receive as much coverage as possible for their work, we can now also be found on linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/company/brit...
www.linkedin.com/company/brit...
Good to hear it. 👏
January 12, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Good to hear it. 👏
Reposted by David Spurrett
Please tell your commissioning friends I'd love to start writing for some new publications! Irish-American film, book and art critic based in London; when I'm not at the theatre I'm at a film festival. More about me and some work samples: www.sarahsnewideas.com grma x
Sarah's New Ideas
By Sarah Manvel: movies, books, art, fiction and other delights
www.sarahsnewideas.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Please tell your commissioning friends I'd love to start writing for some new publications! Irish-American film, book and art critic based in London; when I'm not at the theatre I'm at a film festival. More about me and some work samples: www.sarahsnewideas.com grma x
No, I don't. (Same goes for "Get Out", etc.) But they may be trying to optimise something other than rigor.
January 12, 2026 at 11:08 AM
No, I don't. (Same goes for "Get Out", etc.) But they may be trying to optimise something other than rigor.
Full disclosure - I'm pretty sure I laughed a lot more than anyone else in the cinema at "One Battle After Another".
January 12, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Full disclosure - I'm pretty sure I laughed a lot more than anyone else in the cinema at "One Battle After Another".
It was regularly hilarious, but also often scary and thrilling. The category itself is an oddity. ("Get Out" was nominated in the same category, BTW. Looking at a list, I see that "The Apartment" won it in 1960, and "The Graduate" in '67. All had humour, none 'merely' comedy...)
January 12, 2026 at 10:47 AM
It was regularly hilarious, but also often scary and thrilling. The category itself is an oddity. ("Get Out" was nominated in the same category, BTW. Looking at a list, I see that "The Apartment" won it in 1960, and "The Graduate" in '67. All had humour, none 'merely' comedy...)
This is why philosophers get paid so much.
January 11, 2026 at 10:43 AM
This is why philosophers get paid so much.
Reposted by David Spurrett
MINNEAPOLIS, United States -- Paramilitary forces under the command of President Trump expanded their campaign of terrorism to a new major American city, attacking a school and killing an unarmed civilian attempting to flee the violence.
Minneapolis public schools canceled classes officials after Roosevelt High School said armed Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt
Minneapolis schools closed for the week citing safety concerns after an encounter involving armed Border Patrol agents near Roosevelt High School.
www.mprnews.org
January 8, 2026 at 3:47 PM
MINNEAPOLIS, United States -- Paramilitary forces under the command of President Trump expanded their campaign of terrorism to a new major American city, attacking a school and killing an unarmed civilian attempting to flee the violence.
Thank you - I wasn't aware of that!
January 10, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Thank you - I wasn't aware of that!
Those conversations were so useful to me too! You'll hopefully see some of the impact of them in the discussion of interests in my final chapter.
January 10, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Those conversations were so useful to me too! You'll hopefully see some of the impact of them in the discussion of interests in my final chapter.
Reposted by David Spurrett
"We are very well aware of the fact that X for Grok is now offering a spicy mode showing explicit sexual content.
This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.
I can confirm we are very seriously looking into this matter."
— Spokesperson @thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu
This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.
I can confirm we are very seriously looking into this matter."
— Spokesperson @thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu
January 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
"We are very well aware of the fact that X for Grok is now offering a spicy mode showing explicit sexual content.
This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.
I can confirm we are very seriously looking into this matter."
— Spokesperson @thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu
This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.
I can confirm we are very seriously looking into this matter."
— Spokesperson @thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu
Reposted by David Spurrett
Modeled reconstruction of December #Arctic sea ice volume since the year 1901 - comparison between PIOMAS-20C and PIOMAS data sets now updated through 2025 (new record low)...
Data information available at doi.org/10.1175/JCLI...
Data information available at doi.org/10.1175/JCLI...
January 9, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Modeled reconstruction of December #Arctic sea ice volume since the year 1901 - comparison between PIOMAS-20C and PIOMAS data sets now updated through 2025 (new record low)...
Data information available at doi.org/10.1175/JCLI...
Data information available at doi.org/10.1175/JCLI...
I'm no expert but my understanding is his political thought is largely in other texts. He was political editor of 'Les Temps Modernes' for c7 years, regular political essays, and the books 'Humanism and Terror' and 'Adventures of the Dialectic'. (He was just the first example that came to mind.)
January 9, 2026 at 1:06 PM
I'm no expert but my understanding is his political thought is largely in other texts. He was political editor of 'Les Temps Modernes' for c7 years, regular political essays, and the books 'Humanism and Terror' and 'Adventures of the Dialectic'. (He was just the first example that came to mind.)
I'm in no way disagreeing with the (absolutely correct) point that switching to selling harassment, hate and child porn is not an improvement, but a move to monetize. (Or the one made elsewhere that harassing women out of public forums is a feature not a bug.)
January 9, 2026 at 12:58 PM
I'm in no way disagreeing with the (absolutely correct) point that switching to selling harassment, hate and child porn is not an improvement, but a move to monetize. (Or the one made elsewhere that harassing women out of public forums is a feature not a bug.)
I'm guessing part of the plan is to be able to throw individual subscribers under the bus on a case by case basis if there are charges and lawsuits. (Hence the move to a 'users own their prompts and the outputs responding to them' TOS.) If I'm right, then maybe platform-premium user conflict looms?
January 9, 2026 at 12:58 PM
I'm guessing part of the plan is to be able to throw individual subscribers under the bus on a case by case basis if there are charges and lawsuits. (Hence the move to a 'users own their prompts and the outputs responding to them' TOS.) If I'm right, then maybe platform-premium user conflict looms?
e.g. Merleau-Ponty was seriously politically engaged, and (inter alia) argued phenomenologically against authoritarianism. But the textbook Merleau-Ponty of the 4E canon is often curiously apolitical. I like the idea that translational work enlarges discussion by including more colleagues. /6-fin
January 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
e.g. Merleau-Ponty was seriously politically engaged, and (inter alia) argued phenomenologically against authoritarianism. But the textbook Merleau-Ponty of the 4E canon is often curiously apolitical. I like the idea that translational work enlarges discussion by including more colleagues. /6-fin
Not only that, it is sometimes *ahead* of the canon it was outside. Liao and Brinner describe the 'translational' work as "expressing insights from one in the language
familiar to the other." This can include being less procrustean about important founding texts and thinkers. /5
familiar to the other." This can include being less procrustean about important founding texts and thinkers. /5
January 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Not only that, it is sometimes *ahead* of the canon it was outside. Liao and Brinner describe the 'translational' work as "expressing insights from one in the language
familiar to the other." This can include being less procrustean about important founding texts and thinkers. /5
familiar to the other." This can include being less procrustean about important founding texts and thinkers. /5
feminists on the effects of restrictive clothing, and asked myself something like 'how does this related to embodied cognitive science' as though some further step was needed. Then I switched to realising/accepting that the work (already) WAS embodied cogsci, just outside the canon. /4
January 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
feminists on the effects of restrictive clothing, and asked myself something like 'how does this related to embodied cognitive science' as though some further step was needed. Then I switched to realising/accepting that the work (already) WAS embodied cogsci, just outside the canon. /4
... sense that it expresses insights from people centrally concerned with cognition, yet outside cogsci (notably feminists, critical race theorists, disability theorists...). I wrestled with this myself for a while, often with the question posed in an unhelpful way. For example, I read early ... /3
January 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
... sense that it expresses insights from people centrally concerned with cognition, yet outside cogsci (notably feminists, critical race theorists, disability theorists...). I wrestled with this myself for a while, often with the question posed in an unhelpful way. For example, I read early ... /3