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2 months ago | 
scientificamerican.com | Marcus Arvan
In late 2022 large-language-model AI arrived in public, and within months they began misbehaving. Most famously, Microsoft’s “Sydney” chatbot threatened to kill an Australian philosophy professor, unleash a deadly virus and steal nuclear codes.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
I love philosophy, and I love doing it at an academic level, but lately, after seeing all the struggles people go through to get (and keep) professional philosophy jobs at universities, I've been wondering what people find so attractive about the tenured philosophy lecturer role that makes people think it's worth all the trouble.
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Jan 20, 2025 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
Mike Titelbaum (UW Madison) writes in:
This summer, UW-Madison is offering a two-week seminar for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty designed to introduce philosophers to Bayesian Epistemology from the ground up. We are especially interested in folks who don't have the opportunity to learn this material in their home institutions, but would find it useful in their research and/or teaching.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
Ever wonder why large language model AI (LLMs) keep threatening people or otherwise violating their 'guardrails' despite vast resources being spent on AI safety research?
My new paper, "‘Interpretability’ and ‘Alignment’ are Fool’s Errands: A Proof that Controlling Misaligned Large Language Models is the Best Anyone Can Hope For" shows that it is because AI safety researchers are trying to solve empirically unsolvable problems.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Marcus Arvan
Conflicts of Interest The author declares no conflicts of interest. References 2020. “Do We Live in a Simulation? Chances Are About 50–50.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/. 2013. “A New Theory of Free Will.” Philosophical Forum 44, no. 1: 1–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/phil.12000. 2014. “A Unified Explanation of Quantum Phenomena?
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Jul 30, 2024 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
Call for Abstracts!
90s Alternative and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Heart-Shaped Box
Edited by Joshua Heter and Richard Greene
Abstracts are sought for a collection of essays on any philosophical topic related to 90s alternative rock which may also include a number of subgenres (e.g., grunge, indie rock, emo, 3rd wave punk & ska, pop punk, nu metal & rap-rock, brit-pop, shoegaze, industrial, neo-psychedelia, etc.).
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
newworkinphilosophy.substack.com | Heather Stewart |Lauren Freeman |Marcus Arvan
By Heather Stewart and Lauren FreemanIf anything, the COVI9-19 pandemic laid bare in rather striking ways how grossly unequal and inequitable healthcare opportunities and outcomes are for patents who are members of marginalized groups.
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Jun 27, 2024 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
Heather Battaly (Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the American Philosophical Association) writes in:
The Editorial Team of JAPA is delighted to announce that all articles accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Philosophical Association from July 9 onwards will be Open Access, published with a Creative Commons license and freely available to read online.
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Jun 21, 2024 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
At least once a week, I have an idea that I think could be developed into a publishable paper. But ninety-five percent of the time, the relevant idea has been published already, usually within the last four years. Is this a common experience? Am I doomed to accidentally reproduce others' work on an almost daily basis for the rest of my academic career?
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Jun 19, 2024 | 
philosopherscocoon.typepad.com | Marcus Arvan
In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
I suppose I have a meta question. On the one hand, the Cocoon is an inclusive and supportive space. On the other hand, much of what goes on here is job market advice. However, the job market is inherently competitive, and so it seems to me that virtually none of the advice can truly scale: if everyone does x, then doing x doesn't give you the edge anymore.
