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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater
@drjoeslater.bsky.social
1.2K followers 720 following 180 posts
Lecturer in moral/political philosophy at @uofglasgow.bsky.social. Likes drinking tea and board games. Does research on myriad topics, including philosophy of sport, AI, and normative ethics. [He/him]
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jan 20
Re-posting this now that one of them is a heart attack away from being the most powerful person in the world... Awkward...
#PhilSky
David Mitchell, wearing a Nazi uniform, labelled "philosophers", saying to Robert Webb, "Hans, are we the baddies?". Text underneath: When you realise that J. D. Vance, David Cameron, Rishi Sunak and Aung San Suu Kyi all studied philosophy...
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 16h
Been saying this for a while. Nice to see the BoE catching on.
I've you've got investments in or related to AI (which is a lot of things right now...), you should probably get it out. #AIBubble
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst
Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee
www.theguardian.com
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 6d
It has been a draining and mostly miserable week. But was just informed that a blog post about LLM problems (sculpted from leftovers from another research project) will soon be published by @justiceeverywhere.bsky.social
Huzzah!
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Reposted by Joe Slater
ersatzdoctor.bsky.social
Ersatz Doctor @ersatzdoctor.bsky.social · 7d
As someone trained in epistemology, my professional take is: we’re so fucking cooked as a society
drewharwell.com
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 7d
I spent some time with OpenAI's new AI video app Sora. Not just slop but ragebait, fake crimes and women splattered with white goo. The implications of all of this are horrifying.
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 7d
In response to student wellbeing concerns, my uni has overhauled its procedures re extenuating circumstances affecting assessment. But it's butchered the process, causing endless stress to staff and students. Ugh.
#Irony #AcademicProblems
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edzitron.com
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 9d
Newsletter: This is The Case Against Generative AI, a comprehensive analysis of a financial collapse built on myths I’ll dispel, the markets’ unhealthy obsession with NVIDIA's growth, and the fact that there is not enough money in the world to fund OpenAI.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...
The Case Against Generative AI
Soundtrack: Queens of the Stone Age - First It Giveth Before we go any further: This is, for the third time this year, the longest newsletter I've ever written, weighing in somewhere around 18,500 wo...
www.wheresyoured.at
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 15d
To be slightly more specific: this is in seminars, after setting a group discussion task. I (probably?) wouldn't recommend this in a lecture! :p
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impractknow.bsky.social
Josh Habgood-Coote @impractknow.bsky.social · 19d
“Get yourself into my navel”, the journals effectively say, “and then I will gaze at you” www.contralytic.co.uk/conversation...
Conversation with Contralytic: Against Identity – Interview with Alexander Douglas
Conversations with Contralytic is a digital series of conversations between the editorial of Contralytic Journal and international academic philosophers on the present, past and future of philosophy. ...
www.contralytic.co.uk
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emilymbender.bsky.social
Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 27d
The aesthetics here are so spot on that I almost didn't read it --- not wanting to deal with any doomerish crap so early in the morning. But this is hilarious and it keeps on going.
louisbarclay.bsky.social
Louis Barclay @louisbarclay.bsky.social · 27d
Q. Who aligns the aligners?
A. alignmentalignment.ai

Today I’m humbled to announce an epoch-defining event: the launch of the 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.
Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers
We align the aligners
alignmentalignment.ai
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 29d
My friend Courtney hanging out on a picket line with @richardleonardmsp.bsky.social !
#Solidarity!
richardleonardmsp.bsky.social
Richard Leonard @richardleonardmsp.bsky.social · 29d
I joined the @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social picket line this morning to show solidarity and hear first-hand about the devastating plan for £140 million of cuts to jobs and courses

They are asking people to email the university principal to oppose it
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eraldo.bsky.social
eraldo.bsky.social @eraldo.bsky.social · Sep 5
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Sep 2
Is there something in the water? I've had three prospective PhD students enquire about working under me in the last week. If this continues, I'll have to create a template "No, sorry, I'm fixed term and can't supervise you" email.
#PrecariousProblems
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Aug 27
On Sunday, I broke my wrist. This was a bummer.
Today, to cheer up, I'm bunking off work to see Chappell Roan in Edinburgh. If you're also going, look out for a muppet in a cast!
#ChappellRoan #PinkPonyClub
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brkeogh.bsky.social
Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · Aug 26
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Aug 13
Just turned on the TV. Why is this loser talking about the Apprentice? What a tool.
Donald Trump being an absolute arsehole (normal picture of Trump).
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Reposted by Joe Slater
jowolff.bsky.social
Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · Aug 13
Preparing slides for a talk on Marxism in the 21st century I asked an AI programme to give Marx a contemporary hairstyle.

I’m sure he served me once at a craft beer place in Shoreditch.
Marx with a fashionable haircut, shaved at the sides, but still with a huge beard.
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 27
Finally putting the big screen in the Philosophy Department to good use! Come on England!
#Euro2025 #Lionesses
Build-up for the Euros final on a big screen.
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 25
Like philosophy of linguistics and free stuff? Then boy do I have an opportunity for you!
This book - by my friend @ryannefdt.bsky.social - is available for download for free for the next two weeks. Get on it!
#PhilSky #Linguistics
ryannefdt.bsky.social
Ryan M. Nefdt @ryannefdt.bsky.social · Jul 25
Get it while it's hot (and free)! cup.org/46WiElu This book tells a story of what if the philosophy of science didn't start with the study of atoms or the cosmos but human language. #philsky #booksky
The Philosophy of Linguistics
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - The Philosophy of Linguistics
cup.org
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 25
Oops. My bad. You're publishing too much. I'll delete and repost, when I'm back my computer. Sorry!
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 24
People in Glasgow who like film and philosophy: this is tomorrow. The film will be introduced by one of my department's lovely PhD students (Michael Quinn), who will host a Q&A after, and the GFT is always great.
www.glasgowfilm.org/movie/mement...
#Philosophy #PhilFilm #Memento #ChristopherNolan
Memento + philosophy discussion
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form ...
www.glasgowfilm.org
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ethanlandes.bsky.social
Ethan Landes @ethanlandes.bsky.social · Jul 23
If anyone wants to hire me, I am soon to be unemployed and desperately want to run a series of studies exploring how teaching people about the architecture of LLMs changes the way they think and talk about LLMs
jfruh.bsky.social
Josh Fruhlinger @jfruh.bsky.social · Jul 23
i do think people don't realize that gen AI systems are not introspecting to explain their own behavior. they're giving you output based on their training data, which certainly includes information about how they work, but not why they took certain specific actions
parsnip.bsky.social
geoffrey, 💀 mode @parsnip.bsky.social · Jul 20
no it wasn’t and no it didn’t
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 22
Get in!! #Euro2025 #Lionesses
England 2-1 Italy, on the TV screen
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 22
God, this is tense again...
drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 22
Come on England! #Lionesses #Euro2025
England playing Italy on TV at the Euros. 5 seconds in.
drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 22
Come on England! #Lionesses #Euro2025
England playing Italy on TV at the Euros. 5 seconds in.
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drjoeslater.bsky.social
Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · Jul 21
And a bloopers reel, right?
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