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grotron

@grotron.bsky.social

35 followers 25 following 60 posts

A Japanese expat in the PNW. I write critical essays on cinema and lit @ https://grotron.ghost.io; I am working on my first fiction;I have been working on literary translations from Japanese into English. Currently translating Motojirō Kajii's work.

grotron.ghost.io;

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grotron @grotron.bsky.social · Apr 22

My take on the use of commodified artificial intelligence is available now.

grotron.ghost.io/kappa-gpt/

Kappa GPT

Japanese writer, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, envisioned the world wherein thoughtful reflections and their aesthetic expressions, artistic or otherwise, ceased to exist. In the world of creature, Kappa, all ...

grotron.ghost.io

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grotron @grotron.bsky.social · 12h

I suppose my determination not to rely on school education is a well-founded one. I supplement what I think is necessary for my daughter at home, including some video courses in evenings and reading time together.

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 19h

The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books

To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school | By Rose Horowitch www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc... #academia #reading #philsky

The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books

To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.

www.theatlantic.com

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 1d

How the Public Sees Philosophy:
Insights from a National Survey in the Czech Republic | by Vít Gvoždiak & Martin Zach dailynous.com/2025/09/03/h... #philosophy #public #philsky

How the Public Sees Philosophy: Insights from a National Survey in the Czech Republic (guest post) - Daily Nous

What do ordinary people think philosophy is for? That's one of the questions a pair of philosophers, Vít Gvoždiak and Martin Zach (Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences) aimed to answer. ...

dailynous.com

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Gabriel Finkelstein @gabrielfinkelstein.bsky.social · 2d

Citizens Kane: Alfred Krupp and William Randolph Hearst. They build gigantic, tasteless houses and died unloved.

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 3d

Amen. I tell my students that I'm not willing to outsource the activities that I can do with my organic portable. 🧠

MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 4d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

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grotron @grotron.bsky.social · 5d

This is just about my favourite musical moment from the 90s. I went to their live in Tokyo once, and she carried the entire evening with improvisation. No recorded songs. The living moment of creation to witness.

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 5d

This Mortal Coil | Song To The Siren (Official Video) youtu.be/HFWKJ2FUiAQ #music

This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren (Official Video)

YouTube video by 4AD

youtu.be

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 6d

Exciting news! #Covid

Denis - The COVID Info Guy @thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social · 6d

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog.

Patients with brain fog may have disrupted AMPA receptor (AMPAR) expression—key molecules for memory and learning. Imaging of Long COVID patients showed elevated AMPAR density tied to more severe cognitive impairment.

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog

Researchers employed a specialized brain imaging technique to identify a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for Long COVID. More than four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scien...

scitechdaily.com

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 9d

"Science is actually an inspirational, incontrovertibly human enterprise requiring enormous amounts of creativity, lateral thinking and intuition."
open.substack.com/pub/ideasroa... #science #humanities #philsky

The False Divide - Part 1

The successful artist as problem solver

open.substack.com

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Gabriel Finkelstein @gabrielfinkelstein.bsky.social · 9d

What we always order after we go for a hike

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 10d

Society needs hope

Youths around the world are in a profound crisis of despair. Adults must help them to believe that the future will be better | by Carol Graham aeon.co/essays/mento... #hope #philsky

Mentorship and hope can solve the youth mental health crisis | Aeon Essays

Youths around the world are in a profound crisis of despair. Adults must help them to believe that the future will be better

aeon.co

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 12d

There is no good and evil, only better and worse

What Peter Singer gets wrong about morality iai.tv/articles/the... #ethics #moral #Singer #philosophy #philsky

There is no good and evil, only better and worse | Alastair Norcross

iai.tv

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 13d

Review of Philosophy and Psychology Article

Epistemic Challenges Faced by Non-native English Speakers in Philosophy: Evidence from dailynous.com/2025/09/24/t... #philsky

The Hidden Costs of Being a Non-Native English Speaker in Philosophy (guest post) - Daily Nous

Last year, a group of scholars launched an international survey of philosophers on the dominant language of philosophy today---"academic English"---and the challenges faced by native and non-native sp...

dailynous.com

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grotron @grotron.bsky.social · 12d

Actually, my Beats Solo Buds survived washer and dryer on one occasion. One year on, still no issue. I am impressed that they survived it all. They only offer passive noise cancellation, but I trust them now.

grotron @grotron.bsky.social · 12d

That is an impressive durability. My Beats Studio Pro has a minor aesthetic issue, but after 2 years, still holding up. In warmer weathers and in transit, I do prefer ear buds to keep my head cooler, and to keep the device footprint minimal.

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Gabriel Finkelstein @gabrielfinkelstein.bsky.social · 16d

Grove

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Anna Ezekiel @annaezekiel.bsky.social · 16d

Karoline von Günderrode’s “Timur” and the Influence of Ossian

This post explores a strong stylistic and thematic influence on Günderrode’s work: the writings of legendary Scottish bard Ossian. For an English translation of Günderrode’s dramatic fragment “Mora” see Karoline von Günderrode:…

Karoline von Günderrode’s “Timur” and the Influence of Ossian

This post explores a strong stylistic and thematic influence on Günderrode’s work: the writings of legendary Scottish bard Ossian. For an English translation of Günderrode’s dramatic fragment “Mora” see Karoline von Günderrode: Philosophical Writings (OUP: forthcoming January-March 2026). A translation of the short story “Timur” is included at the end of this post. Versions of the original German texts for "Timur" and "Mora" can be found…

acezekiel.com

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Anna Ezekiel @annaezekiel.bsky.social · 20d

I deleted my academia.edu account, but you can find many of my papers on PhilPapers or ResearchGate (message me if you need anything you can't find). For more on my work (plus a blog and reading list on Romantic writer Karoline von Günderrode) check out my website: acezekiel.com

acezekiel.com

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Anna Ezekiel @annaezekiel.bsky.social · 23d

The copy edits have started coming in for this! Online publication is scheduled for January-March 2026

Cover for the book "Karoline von Günderrode: Philosophical Writings" edited and translated by Anna Ezekiel for the Oxford New Histories of Philosophy series. A black cover with text in gold and white, and a black and white portrait of a young woman's upper torso, looking to the right.

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 21d

A new paper shows that although AI does not currently have practical judgment, it has a functionally equivalent mechanism — transformer models — which can allow it to form maxims that consider morally salient facts. news.ku.edu/news/article... #AI #moral #judgement #philosophy #philsky

AI can imitate morality without actually having it, new philosophy study finds

news.ku.edu

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 22d

The best books on Aphorisms |
recommended by Andrew Hui
fivebooks.com/best-books/a... #aphorisms #philosophy #philsky

Aphorisms

The best books on aphorisms and the aphorism from ancient philosopher Heraclitus to Blaise Pascal to Friedrich Nietzsche, recommended by Andrew Hui.

fivebooks.com

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Gabriel Finkelstein @gabrielfinkelstein.bsky.social · 25d

Gordon Craig

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 27d

Philosophy majors rank higher than all other majors on verbal & logical reasoning, according to our new study published in the J of the American Philosophical Assoc. They also tend to display more intellectual virtues such as curiosity & open-mindedness theconversation.com/studying-phi... #philsky

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads

Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.

theconversation.com

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · Sep 8

What Can a Cell Remember?

A small but enthusiastic group of neuroscientists is exhuming overlooked experiments and performing new ones to explore whether cells record past experiences — fundamentally challenging what memory is. www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-a-c... #science #philsky

What Can a Cell Remember? | Quanta Magazine

A small but enthusiastic group of neuroscientists is exhuming overlooked experiments and performing new ones to explore whether cells record past experiences — fundamentally challenging what memory is...

www.quantamagazine.org

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Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · Sep 8

"Students will miss the excitement and inspiration that I have seen them experience as they interact with the physical embodiment of thoughts and ideas voiced by a person long since silenced by death. Handwriting can make the past seem almost alive in the present” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Gen Z Never Learned to Read Cursive

How will they interpret the past?

www.theatlantic.com

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