Fenner Tanswell
@fennert.bsky.social
Philosopher of Mathematics and Logic working at TU Berlin. Also into epistemology, science, Xphi and the philosophy of extinction. Flightfree and carfree fennertanswell.com
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Fenner Tanswell
@fennert.bsky.social
· Jun 29
Dr. Fenner Tanswell | Can Mathematics Be Hacked? Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, and the...
YouTube video by INI Seminar Room 1
www.youtube.com
The video of my talk at the Isaac Newton Institute a few weeks ago is now online: "Can Mathematics Be Hacked? Infrastructure, "Artificial Intelligence" and the Cybersecurity of Mathematical Knowledge" www.youtube.com/watch?v=O11k...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
I've been trying to get deskilling into AI ethics for probably five years, and this Appiah essay trying to do this is a total mess www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Age of De-Skilling
Will AI stretch our minds—or stunt them?
www.theatlantic.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:29 AM
I've been trying to get deskilling into AI ethics for probably five years, and this Appiah essay trying to do this is a total mess www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
New paper! 🥳
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
Trust in Mathematics
Abstract. In this paper we develop a systematic account of trust in mathematics based on Katherine Hawley’s commitment account of trust. We focus on two re
academic.oup.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
New paper! 🥳
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Happy Halloween! Don’t forget, the first translation of the Communist Manifesto into English began with “A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe”.
October 31, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Happy Halloween! Don’t forget, the first translation of the Communist Manifesto into English began with “A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe”.
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Haunted Elevator (ft. David S. Pumpkins) - SNL
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Despite writing about the details of LLMs, and how they cannot be trusted, I recently got bamboozled by some elaborate hallucinations. 🧵
October 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Despite writing about the details of LLMs, and how they cannot be trusted, I recently got bamboozled by some elaborate hallucinations. 🧵
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
A lady should feel safe in a castle, but a lady in a castle that has survived repeated assaults from well-provisioned armies should feel much safer. #falsifiability
October 29, 2025 at 5:50 PM
A lady should feel safe in a castle, but a lady in a castle that has survived repeated assaults from well-provisioned armies should feel much safer. #falsifiability
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
New paper! 🥳
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
Trust in Mathematics
Abstract. In this paper we develop a systematic account of trust in mathematics based on Katherine Hawley’s commitment account of trust. We focus on two re
academic.oup.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
New paper! 🥳
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
"Trust in Mathematics", coauthored with Silvia De Toffoli is out now in Philosophia Mathematica.
A thread on what it is about. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
academic.oup.com/philmat/adva...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Thinking about starting a reading group but not sure where to begin? Check out our post and head on over to our website for more! #philosophy #diversityreadinglist #DRL #readinggroup
October 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Thinking about starting a reading group but not sure where to begin? Check out our post and head on over to our website for more! #philosophy #diversityreadinglist #DRL #readinggroup
This is a write-up of the talk Alex gave in Cambridge in June. There's a fair bit I disagree with, but it is super interesting.
Alex Kontorovich: The Shape of Math To Come https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.15924 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.15924 https://arxiv.org/html/2510.15924
October 28, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This is a write-up of the talk Alex gave in Cambridge in June. There's a fair bit I disagree with, but it is super interesting.
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Okay, this slide may not be very useful.
Artist: Jack Stetter
Artist: Jack Stetter
October 22, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Okay, this slide may not be very useful.
Artist: Jack Stetter
Artist: Jack Stetter
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay
October 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
As a bit of shameless self-shilling, I've written at least one good paper about this:
1) Is it a tastytaste or a greedgrab? The importance of label choice in language design www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
2) Conceptual Engineering Should be Empirical link.springer.com/article/10.1...
1) Is it a tastytaste or a greedgrab? The importance of label choice in language design www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
2) Conceptual Engineering Should be Empirical link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Is it a tastytaste or a greedgrab? The importance of label choice in language design
Everyone who has come up with a new idea or concept faces the same problem: they need to call it something. This choice is simultaneously arbitrary and important. The new idea could have any name, ...
www.tandfonline.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
As a bit of shameless self-shilling, I've written at least one good paper about this:
1) Is it a tastytaste or a greedgrab? The importance of label choice in language design www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
2) Conceptual Engineering Should be Empirical link.springer.com/article/10.1...
1) Is it a tastytaste or a greedgrab? The importance of label choice in language design www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
2) Conceptual Engineering Should be Empirical link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
My paper defending nominalism about mathematical objects is out in Synthese: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
How the laws of logic lie about mathematical objects - Synthese
In ontological debates on the existence of mathematical objects, it has long been taken for granted that if we take our mathematical discourse at face value, it follows from the fact that our true mathematical statements refer to mathematical objects that mathematical objects exists; reference in true statements entails existence. In this paper, I argue that there are positions available in the philosophy of logic that allow us to dislodge this assumption, allowing for a nominalist position according to which statements such as ‘there are four prime numbers between 1 and 10’ are true and genuinely refer to numbers, without a corresponding statement asserting the existence of numbers following from it. Consequently, there is an overlooked nominalist position according to which objects just are what singular terms refer to and that reference is successful when those singular terms figure in true statements, with corresponding existence statements being literally false. I argue that this view is not only coherent, but that it does not entail that there are objects that do not exist.
link.springer.com
October 7, 2025 at 8:18 PM
My paper defending nominalism about mathematical objects is out in Synthese: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Live footage of the UK government meeting AI consultants:
a cartoon of homer simpson standing in front of a crowd of people with monorail written on the bottom
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson standing in front of a crowd of people with monorail written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Live footage of the UK government meeting AI consultants:
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
This passage appears in a book by Bill Lycan, but I can't be bothered to tell you which book or where
October 2, 2025 at 8:59 AM
This passage appears in a book by Bill Lycan, but I can't be bothered to tell you which book or where
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
Just deleted my academia.edu account after 17 (!) years -- the company's exploitative new terms of use are outrageous, and it's a shame such a blatant commercial sell-out is able to operate under the .edu top-level domain. If you are still on academia.edu, please consider deleting your account too.
September 19, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Just deleted my academia.edu account after 17 (!) years -- the company's exploitative new terms of use are outrageous, and it's a shame such a blatant commercial sell-out is able to operate under the .edu top-level domain. If you are still on academia.edu, please consider deleting your account too.
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
[disappointed tone but maintaining the chant's cadence] oh, jeremy corbyn
September 19, 2025 at 8:16 AM
[disappointed tone but maintaining the chant's cadence] oh, jeremy corbyn
Alex's philosophical manifesto is a must-read.
September 16, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Alex's philosophical manifesto is a must-read.
The new issue of Synthese emails bizarrely always load the first image from each article. Today, finally, this paid off.
August 28, 2025 at 8:11 PM
The new issue of Synthese emails bizarrely always load the first image from each article. Today, finally, this paid off.
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
CUP have written to all their authors asking for permission to include their work in deals for LLM training data. I'm sort of on the fence. Opinions and advice welcome. Thoughts below.
August 27, 2025 at 11:27 AM
CUP have written to all their authors asking for permission to include their work in deals for LLM training data. I'm sort of on the fence. Opinions and advice welcome. Thoughts below.
CUP have written to all their authors asking for permission to include their work in deals for LLM training data. I'm sort of on the fence. Opinions and advice welcome. Thoughts below.
August 27, 2025 at 11:27 AM
CUP have written to all their authors asking for permission to include their work in deals for LLM training data. I'm sort of on the fence. Opinions and advice welcome. Thoughts below.
Top tip: thank the "helpful referees for their insightful comments" in your acknowledgements section. A sneaky way not to thank to the unhelpful ones.
August 19, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Top tip: thank the "helpful referees for their insightful comments" in your acknowledgements section. A sneaky way not to thank to the unhelpful ones.
Reposted by Fenner Tanswell
In the spirit of syllabus season, here’s a link to an extinction studies course of the #envhist #envhum variety. From the dodo to dire wolves...Please borrow, adapt, share!
drive.google.com/file/d/1SzKp...
cc: @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social!
drive.google.com/file/d/1SzKp...
cc: @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social!
August 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
In the spirit of syllabus season, here’s a link to an extinction studies course of the #envhist #envhum variety. From the dodo to dire wolves...Please borrow, adapt, share!
drive.google.com/file/d/1SzKp...
cc: @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social!
drive.google.com/file/d/1SzKp...
cc: @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social!