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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Aug 16

It's amazing!

Reposted by amandagefter

Mélanie @deepinthepaint.bsky.social · Aug 15

Just a first quick little graphite sketch of Peter Putnam (@nautil.us knows who I’m talking about 🤩)

#sketch #portrait #sketchbook #peterputnam #graphite #drawing #fanart #philosophy

Graphite rendition of Peter Putnam. First portrait I made in a little while. The likeness is not 100%, but the next one will be better

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Reposted by amandagefter

Love & Philosophy @lovephilosophy.substack.com · Aug 11

📹 Philosopher Ezquiel Di Paolo discusses the idea that individuality is formed through, not against, the collective. #loveandphilosophy #philosophy #power
youtube.com/shorts/LViHD...

How the Collective Shapes Individuality

YouTube video by Love & Philosophy

youtube.com

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Reposted by amandagefter

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Aug 8

In the summer of 1925, Werner Heisenberg retreated to Helgoland in the North Sea and reemerged with the first full-fledged version of quantum mechanics. A century later, physicists returned to Helgoland to take stock. @walkingthedot.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/its-a-mess-a...

‘It’s a Mess’: A Brain-Bending Trip to Quantum Theory’s 100th Birthday Party | Quanta Magazine

Hundreds of physicists (and a few journalists) journeyed to Helgoland, the birthplace of quantum mechanics, and grappled with what they have and haven’t learned about reality.

www.quantamagazine.org

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 26

You can read about Putnam's story in @nautil.us here: nautil.us/finding-pete...

Finding Peter Putnam

The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind

nautil.us

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 26

The LGBTQ+ Archives Project of Louisiana has just placed a historic marker near Peter Putnam's former home on East Main St. in Houma. From dying anonymously on that stretch of road 4 decades ago to being publicly honored there for his radical life and brilliant work...what a beautiful thing.

A historic marker that reads: Near this site lived Peter Putnam, a Princeton-trained physicist, who worked as a publisher, philosopher, philanthropist, and janitor. In 1979, he conceived, commissioned and funded the Gay Liberation Monument, which is now a centerpiece of The Stonewall Historic Site in NYC. He also donated his family's fortune to the Nature Conservancy leading to the preservation of Louisiana's Little Pecan Island.

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Reposted by amandagefter

Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Jul 23

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEe5...

The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 8: What is the World Made Of? A Brief History of Ontology

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast

www.youtube.com

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

I've come to believe that, if we're lucky, we are tasked and entrusted with stories - stories that confound us, that elude us, that are bigger than us, that change us and then outlive us, that we have to fight to keep them alive by telling them, living them, and sharing them while we can.

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

This obituary gives a wonderful account of Bob's life and values. I hope you'll read it, and Putnam's story, as well, which Bob guarded and preserved and continues to keep alive today.

www.berkeleyside.org/2025/07/22/r...

Remembering Robert W. Fuller, physicist, president of Oberlin College, citizen diplomat, author, dignity advocate

Fuller studied with John Wheeler. Then, age 33, became president of Oberlin. Then fought against hunger and the nuclear arms race.

www.berkeleyside.org

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

When the article came out last month, I sent Fuller the link. He was elated. Overjoyed. Relieved. Shortly after, he suffered a stroke, and last week, he passed away.

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

I needed to get Putnam's ideas out there because otherwise they would simply be lost, and I needed to do it for people like Fuller who'd kept the flame alive. "This is the last second chance there will ever be," Fuller told me. It was a feeling that shook him (and me in turn) to the core.

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

Fuller was never able to convince the world to look at Putnam's work. And it haunted him. “My basic upset is, I feel somehow I failed to get his stuff out there,” Fuller said. As I wrote in the piece, his regret was my inheritance.

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

...I have never in my life met anyone who would feel out and give themselves to the power in other people’s ideas, with no egotistic block…They are extraordinary qualities that made you able to do that for me. I would have done nothing at all had it not been for you.” But despite his best efforts,

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

He championed Putnam's work when no one else could understand it, when Putnam himself could barely explain it. Putnam wrote to Fuller: “There is the very real miracle of yours being able to realize I was not just a mad crackpot and that this chatter had a core...

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

People like Robert Works Fuller, who was the first person to whom Putnam ever explained his theory. Fuller was a physicist who had worked out the mathematics of wormholes with John Wheeler. He immediately recognized the genius in Putnam and became Putnam's apprentice and sounding board.

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

I recently wrote a story about Peter Putnam, a forgotten physicist-turned-janitor with a groundbreaking theory of the mind, for @nautil.us. I was able to piece together Putnam's incredible story thanks to a few people who kept the ember of his work glowing for decades after his tragic death.

Finding Peter Putnam

The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind

nautil.us

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

I think a lot these days about the ways in which we are the keepers of other people's stories - the weight of that, the privilege, the responsibility. Which is why I want to tell you about Bob Fuller. 🧵

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 23

Great book.

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Reposted by amandagefter

Nautilus Magazine @nautil.us · May 7

You have never read a science book like The Body Has a Head by Gustav Eckstein. His descriptions of biological mechanisms take flight on metaphoric reveries that compare what’s going on inside our bodies to the carnival of life outside them. 🧪

The Body Has a Head

You have never read a science book like this

nautil.us

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 18

Thank you so much!

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Reposted by amandagefter

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · Jul 16

Look, speaking as a physicist, it is hard for me to put into words how batshit crazy this is.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Jul 15

"I’ll go down this thread with GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” said Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber.

gizmodo.com/billionaires...

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Reposted by amandagefter

Marcus @marcusjmerritt.com · Jul 14

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 12

Wonderful interview with Ezequiel Di Paolo on the enactive approach to cognition, tracing the line from single cells all the way to language.

Dialectical Systems @dialecticalsys.bsky.social · Jul 10

Since its beginnings, the enactive approach has shown how autonomy is scaffolded across biological, sensorimotor, and social dimensions.

This new video interview with Ezequiel Di Paolo tells the story in an accessible way:

youtube.com/watch?v=y4Dz...

Originals | Ezequiel Di Paolo: Linguistic Bodies and Sensorimotor Agency

YouTube video by Originals

youtube.com

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 12

Yes! 😊

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amandagefter @amandagefter.bsky.social · Jul 12

You might enjoy this piece I recently wrote about Wheeler's least known student (but one with whom he had a lifelong friendship and correspondence). nautil.us/finding-pete...

Finding Peter Putnam

The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind

nautil.us

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