Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Keith Raymond Harris

@kraymondh.bsky.social

840 followers 740 following 110 posts

Philosopher (social and applied epistemology, social media, misinformation, conspiracy theories) Dog poster Yoga guy

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Jan 10

New paper out today in the APQ special issue on AI Ethics:

scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/apq/arti...

#philsky
#philtech

Abstract with the following text:
Emotive artificial intelligences are physically or virtually embodied entities whose behavior is driven by artificial intelligence, and which use expressions usually associated with emotion to enhance communication. These entities are sometimes thought to be deceptive, insofar as their emotive expressions are not connected to genuine underlying emotions. In this paper, I argue that such entities are indeed deceptive, at least given a sufficiently broad construal of deception. But, while philosophers and other commentators have drawn attention to the deceptive threat of emotive artificial intelligences, I argue that such entities also pose an overlooked skeptical threat. In short, the widespread existence of emotive signals disconnected from underlying emotions threatens to encourage skepticism of such signals more generally, including emotive signals used by human persons. Thus, while designing artificially intelligent entities to use emotive signals is thought to facilitate human-AI interaction, this practice runs the risk of compromising human-human interaction.

1 10

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 12h

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

72 1.2K 2.8K

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 1d

war, war never changes.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 1d

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

57 500 3.2K

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 5d

I am prepared to bet any amount of money that this is complete bullshit: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

1 in 3 Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

More than half of those surveyed (54 percent) said that they had some sort of relationship with an artificial intelligence platform

www.independent.co.uk

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 11d

The president promoting an absurd medical conspiracy theory by posting a deepfake video of himself is about the most depressing convergence of my research interests imaginable.

Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 11d

Trump tonight appears to have pushed the false "medbed" conspiracy theory, which has spread in the far-right internet over the years. www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-c...

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Jason Read @jasonread.bsky.social · 14d

The combination of extremely online stochastic nihilist meme brain violence and a government looking for its daily Reichstag fire to justify political suppression just seems really bad.
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-ice-sh...

The ICE Shooter’s Motive

Joshua Jahn's friends speak

www.kenklippenstein.com

1 3 15

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 19d

Every time I pack

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 23d

www.wsj.com/science/phys...

Essay | The Rise of ‘Conspiracy Physics’

Streamers are building huge audiences by attacking academic physics as just another corrupt establishment. Scientists are starting to worry about the consequences.

www.wsj.com

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 29d

"A conspiratorial crowd is getting the kind of evidence it craves, on an internet that supercharges conspiratorial speculating. At the same time, this is happening in a media ecosystem that makes it easier than ever for people to ignore, dismiss, or spin evidence to justify their prior viewpoints."

Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 29d

I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.

You Really Need to See Epstein’s Birthday Book for Yourself

This time, the conspiracy theorists were right.

www.theatlantic.com

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Sep 1

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Now with page numbers!

#philsky

Where conspiracy theories come from, what they do, and what to do about them

Philosophers who study conspiracy theories have increasingly addressed the questions of where conspiracy theories come from, what such theories do, and what to do about them. This essay serves as a...

www.tandfonline.com

1 4

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 26

Sure! Happy to look at a draft too in case it's helpful

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 26

Pardon the shameless self-promotion but I have a paper arguing something similar: doi.org/10.1007/s106...

Beyond Belief: On Disinformation and Manipulation - Erkenntnis

Existing analyses of disinformation tend to embrace the view that disinformation is intended or otherwise functions to mislead its audience, that is, to produce false beliefs. I argue that this view i...

doi.org

1 2

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 25

www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

In the end, the top 400 Americans paid an estimated 23.8 percent of their income to Uncle Sam from 2018 to 2020—down from roughly 30 percent before the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in 2017. They paid 1.3 percent of their total wealth to the IRS in those years, down from 2.7 percent from 2010 to 2013. Their tax rates were lower than the average paid by all American households.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump’s signature first-term domestic-policy package, helped these billionaires keep more of their money. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed this summer, extends the TCJA’s tax cuts, creates new business loopholes, and lowers taxes on estates. To help offset the revenue losses, the Trump administration is stripping health coverage from millions of low-income Americans and shrinking the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The rich, including Trump, will keep getting richer. The poor will pay for it.

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 22

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

COVID Revisionism Has Gone Too Far

If the center and left succumb to the view that “nothing worked,” no one will remain to defend sensible public-health measures the next time a pandemic comes around.

www.theatlantic.com

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 14

I wouldn't have minded living in Iowa so much in the possible world in which it's on the Missisipipi Ocean

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 14

Always reassuring to find tasks that AI is terrible at:

An AI-generated "map of the American midwest" with states and other features mislabeled

1 9

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Aug 7

Probably an issue that the heroes of so many stories are kooks who ignore all the experts.

1 1

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Caro Flores @floresophize.bsky.social · Jul 29

We all know beliefs can stubbornly resist evidence. Flat Earthers, climate deniers, our own political convictions—facts often seem totally incapable of changing minds.

But here’s the puzzle: Philosophy usually defines belief as *responsive to evidence*. So is the orthodox view just… wrong? 1/

1 8 36

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Gordon Hodson @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social · Jul 30

#AcademicSky

Academics in the summer, when asked to review manuscripts.

"He was called away on an urgent matter" an admin staff tells a man, while the urgent-matter man is running to an ice cream truck

1 3 35

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Knowledge in Crisis @knowledgecrisis.bsky.social · Jul 28

Call for Game Developers!
Join the Truth, Lies & Democracy 2025 game jam (Sept 26–28, Vienna) to create interactive video games addressing a big challenge for democracies today — disinformation.
Apply by Aug 15
👉 More info:

Call for Applications: Truth, Lies & Democracy 2025

Call for Experienced Game Developers

buff.ly

2 3

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Paulina Sliwa @pasliwa.bsky.social · Jul 28

Great review of Tuomo Tiisala's book "Power and Freedom in the Space of Reasons: Elaborating Foucault’s Pragmatism" by David Owen @artsofdenial.bsky.social in Political Theory, which came out as part of @knowledgecrisis.bsky.social. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

2 3 5

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Jul 11

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...

Opinion | Why Hiring Professors With Conservative Views Could Backfire on Conservatives

www.nytimes.com

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Jul 1

Looking forward to this!

Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy @wfap.bsky.social · Jun 20

🚨 We are very pleased to invite you to our upcoming GRADUATE CONFERENCE:

🗓️ Dates: July 3–5, 2025
📍 Venue: Lecture Hall 3D, Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG)
University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, 3rd Floor, 1010 Vienna

For more infos, please take a look at our website (link in bio!) 💻

1 3

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Jul 1

Are you interested in the history of the apraxia objection? This might be helpful: www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

Can the sceptic live his scepticism? (Chapter 8) - Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy

Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy - June 2012

www.cambridge.org

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · Jun 30

Good opportunity to tee off on my views!

link.springer.com/collections/...

Book Symposium: Misinformation, Content Moderation, and Epistemology (Keith Harris)

Misinformation, Content Moderation, and Epistemology by Keith Harris, Routledge, 2024.This book argues that misinformation poses a multifaceted threat to ...

link.springer.com

Reposted by Keith Raymond Harris

Robin McKenna @rbnmckenna.bsky.social · Jun 19

New paper arguing that sometimes rational persuasion is a bad thing. It's available open access here:

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Abstract: What is persuasion and how does it differ from coercion, indoctrination, and manipulation? Which persuasive strategies are effective, and which contexts are they effective in? The aim of persuasion is attitude change, but when does a persuasive strategy yield a rational change of attitude? When is it permissible to engage in rational persuasion? In this paper, I address these questions, both in general and with reference to particular examples. The overall aims are (i) to sketch an integrated picture of the psychology, epistemology, and ethics of persuasion and (ii) to argue that there is often a tension between the aim we typically have as would-be persuaders, which is bringing about a rational change of mind, and the ethical constraints which partly distinguish persuasion from coercion, indoctrination, and manipulation.

4 14 60