Michael Cholbi
@thatwhichischolbi.bsky.social
'No true Scotsman': US-ish philosopher HQ'd in Edinburgh. Death & dying, work & labor, Kantian ethics, paternalism, etc.. Unapologetic coffee snob. More at https://michael.cholbi.com/ and https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/michael-cholbi
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
You may be cool, but you'll never be as cool as these two cats wearing sunglasses in the window of an optician's Boulevard St Germain in 1925
November 26, 2025 at 10:43 AM
You may be cool, but you'll never be as cool as these two cats wearing sunglasses in the window of an optician's Boulevard St Germain in 1925
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
November 25, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
Been thinking a bit recently about the ethics of suicide prevention and our general overconfidence in our ability to predict and prevent it in ways that benefit its targets. Here's a sample of my latest thinking from the APA blog blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/21/f... @apaphilosophy.bsky.social
From Paternalism to Suicide Prevention: No Simple Path | Blog of the APA
This entry is based on my “Paternalism and the Ethics of Suicide Prevention,” forthcoming in M. Cholbi and P. Stellino, eds., Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Suicide. On its face, suicide prevent...
blog.apaonline.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Been thinking a bit recently about the ethics of suicide prevention and our general overconfidence in our ability to predict and prevent it in ways that benefit its targets. Here's a sample of my latest thinking from the APA blog blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/21/f... @apaphilosophy.bsky.social
Gotta say, if I were in my 20's, these research findings about how the brain matures would freak me the f**k out www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Gotta say, if I were in my 20's, these research findings about how the brain matures would freak me the f**k out www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
In the near future countries may be competing to attract immigrants and people will wonder why they once tried to make themselves unattractive to outsiders, writes @sarahoconnorft.ft.com
A shrinking world will turn our problems upside down
The political and economic priorities of a depopulating society could be very different from today’s
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:06 AM
In the near future countries may be competing to attract immigrants and people will wonder why they once tried to make themselves unattractive to outsiders, writes @sarahoconnorft.ft.com
So I'm going to be at McGill next week, talking up philosophy of grief, AI, griefbots, the whole bit! Hope those of you in and around Montreal can find the time to drop by...
November 24, 2025 at 2:42 PM
So I'm going to be at McGill next week, talking up philosophy of grief, AI, griefbots, the whole bit! Hope those of you in and around Montreal can find the time to drop by...
Indeed - only Mahmood's immigrant history lets her get away with peddling brazenly cruel immigration narratives www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik
‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straight, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Indeed - only Mahmood's immigrant history lets her get away with peddling brazenly cruel immigration narratives www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege - The Economic Times
Meta reportedly halted internal research into the mental health impacts of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence of harm. Internal documents revealed users reported lower depression and...
m.economictimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
There’s more. She reviews “Steffan Yabble” here.
November 22, 2025 at 7:43 PM
There’s more. She reviews “Steffan Yabble” here.
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
It is good to see that that some people a) actually have values/principles and b) do not abandon those when entering Parliament
November 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
It is good to see that that some people a) actually have values/principles and b) do not abandon those when entering Parliament
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
Few things bug me more than higher ed leaders saying that we lost our mission and lost the trust of the public, when we have actually been the target of a decades-long smear campaign by the right wing that worked. The moment we’re losing our mission is right now, in capitulation.
November 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Few things bug me more than higher ed leaders saying that we lost our mission and lost the trust of the public, when we have actually been the target of a decades-long smear campaign by the right wing that worked. The moment we’re losing our mission is right now, in capitulation.
Is it just me, or is no one else bothered by book reviewers where you know that the reviewer and author are chummy (and not just in the 'they work in the same subfield, so they know each other from conferences etc.' way)? It makes it hard to take review seriously when the parties are tight #philsky
November 17, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Is it just me, or is no one else bothered by book reviewers where you know that the reviewer and author are chummy (and not just in the 'they work in the same subfield, so they know each other from conferences etc.' way)? It makes it hard to take review seriously when the parties are tight #philsky
IQ is down, intelligence is derided, LLM's fed their own data devolve with each generation -- maybe digitech creates a dysfunctional form of universal solipsism? archive.is/WTY9m
November 17, 2025 at 1:06 PM
IQ is down, intelligence is derided, LLM's fed their own data devolve with each generation -- maybe digitech creates a dysfunctional form of universal solipsism? archive.is/WTY9m
Me and Mark Twain, University of California Berkeley 2022
November 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Me and Mark Twain, University of California Berkeley 2022
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
sometimes it will just hit me that over a million americans died from covid in a short period of time and we never had a national mourning. we never collectively grieved. we never honored the dead. this feels like a failure
November 15, 2025 at 11:23 AM
sometimes it will just hit me that over a million americans died from covid in a short period of time and we never had a national mourning. we never collectively grieved. we never honored the dead. this feels like a failure
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
Ancient philosophy is 50% profound eternal wisdom and 50% that same exact guy declaring with supreme confidence two paragraphs later that pee is stored in the armpit.
Aristotle in his books on nature insisted men have more teeth than women.
November 15, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Ancient philosophy is 50% profound eternal wisdom and 50% that same exact guy declaring with supreme confidence two paragraphs later that pee is stored in the armpit.
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
What is this ‘attention economy’? Is there really a market where people buy and sell human attention? If so, what’s wrong with that? New paper by Katharine Browne and me that argues: yes, there is an attention market and yes, there is something wrong with it. 🧵
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The attention market—and what is wrong with it - Philosophical Studies
Attention is described as a “scarce commodity” that is traded in “a marketplace.” This, it is further claimed, contributes to a “widespread sense of attentional crisis.” But is there really an attenti...
link.springer.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:40 PM
What is this ‘attention economy’? Is there really a market where people buy and sell human attention? If so, what’s wrong with that? New paper by Katharine Browne and me that argues: yes, there is an attention market and yes, there is something wrong with it. 🧵
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
'It's the hottest place north of Havana'
November 14, 2025 at 12:34 PM
'It's the hottest place north of Havana'
Reposted by Michael Cholbi
The rise and fall of Pizza Hut in the waning days of the Cold War slate.com/news-and-pol...
One of America’s Most Beloved Restaurants Is on the Brink. People Forget About the Time It Almost Changed the World.
A delicious caper of vodka bribes and world-altering salad bars.
slate.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
The rise and fall of Pizza Hut in the waning days of the Cold War slate.com/news-and-pol...
Working class spectacle, working class substance -- maybe we shouldn't fall for the former? washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/12/t...
The Magical Thinking Behind Graham Platner’s Rise
Progressives are backing a Nazi-tattooed amateur over Gov. Janet Mills, a feminist who expanded Medicaid and made community college free.
washingtonmonthly.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Working class spectacle, working class substance -- maybe we shouldn't fall for the former? washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/12/t...
I grew up late 70's-early 80's in rural Oregon, now with fond memories of eating locally grown beans and handmade rhubarb crisp in my school cafeteria. 'Lunch ladies' were then (and still are) absolute everyday superheroes bittersoutherner.com/issue-no-12/...
All Praise to the Lunch Ladies — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
Blessed are the women who watch over America’s children.
bittersoutherner.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I grew up late 70's-early 80's in rural Oregon, now with fond memories of eating locally grown beans and handmade rhubarb crisp in my school cafeteria. 'Lunch ladies' were then (and still are) absolute everyday superheroes bittersoutherner.com/issue-no-12/...
