Sebastian Watzl

Social-Media-Verbot: Aufmerksamkeit ist Macht. Und die müssen wir brechen Die Debatte um Social Media ist komplett falsch abgebogen. Wenn wir unsere Kinder und uns selbst schützen wollen, müssen wir zum Kern der Krise: unsere Aufmerksamkeit.

Sollten Social Media verboten werden? www.zeit.de/digital/inte...

Yes, it's a problem to live under the domination of our information spaces and attentional landscapes. Been trying to get people to talk about this for more than two years. Time for the Norwegian public and policy makers to wake up!
klassekampen.no/artikkel/202...

klassekampen.no/utgave/2025-...

Since I trust your expertise on such things. What's your view on findings like this: cepr.org/voxeu/column...
One way to think about it: politic ads on social media don't change attitudes, but the algorithmic infrastructure does.

This and Samir Okasha's Evolution and the Levels of Selection really clear up a very messy subject. (I sometimes point to those as examples of where philosophers really made a big difference)

I find this quite interesting. Saying someone has “good morals” expresses a basic positive attitude toward them—even if, say, you wouldn’t hang out with them. If many don’t feel that way about many others , that’s going to have big downstream effects, e.g. make cooperative action a lot harder

Novels have been horrible for teenagers since the 18th century. www.historytoday.com/archive/medi... (send off our OpEd on social media bans today)

About six years ago I told Dagfinn, with some excitement, that I’d taken up cross‑country skiing, a sport I knew he loved. In his typically understated way he said: “Yes, yes, I try to go every day for an hour.” Also works as a metaphor for him as a philosopher. I'll miss him.

Things that are not unconnected: (a) massive rises in inequality, (b) wars in Iran and Ukraine, (c) AI introduced everywhere, and (d) the occupation of our attentional world. Extraction of rent makes it sound a lot cuter than it is.

The issue is serious but the video is actually pretty funny

#AIHype

actually: more likely is probably a more fragmented scientific world with some inclusive corners as well

yes. exactly (at least, that is the most likely version of that development)

e.g. people start mistrusting what they have not personally witnessed or that has been produced by people in their informal network. Publications begin counting less: the beginning of the end of the publication idea that we have got used to. (not confident. But I think it's a live option)

Interesting and (to me) surprising (though, it it was I would intuitive do). What's you guess on why people do that? (I take it people probably do not make objectively *better* decisions (even as in: better for themselves) by relying mostly on themselves).

The Id of Conservatism Or, what Nick Fuentes’s patriarchal hysteria tells us about conservative shame today

Deep down they are terrified of women seeing how small they are katemanne.substack.com/p/the-id-of-...

In the early days, scientific experiments had to be conducted on a public square visible to all (well, some rich white dudes, but still). In some future scenario the onslaught of AI-science(slop) will push us back to viewing science as the activity of collective sense making it is (or should be),

Mafia boss warns that 80 % of windows might soon be broken. (c'mon, these marketing campaigns are so transparently obvious by now. Who falls for this anymore?)

what's an example?

yup.

Thanks, @seanmcarroll.bsky.social! And now we all need talk about (i) private funding in academia, (ii) the 'big men' conception of science and philosophy, and (iii) the sexist structures that are still everywhere (including much of academia) and not really showing a sign of going anywhere.

The Real Reason Jeff Bezos Killed the Washington Post The billionaire wanted the Post to die, because a vigorous, well-resourced newspaper does not help his bottom line.

Remember this the next time somebody says the country/university/whatever should be run like a corporation, and that we need people with corporate experience in leadership positions: slate.com/business/202...

Definitely a move in the right direction. I would quite strongly discourage the medicalizing talk, though. This is about the right to live an autonomous (self-determined) life and a life in solidarity with others. It's not a medical issue it is a justice issue. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thank you Jonathan Haidt, Stephen Pinker and others to also speaking loudly and publicly out against these forms of state-run cancellation. You really are the true beacons in the struggle for academic freedom.

The attentional landscape under our feet has shifted

they forgot to make clear: marry a wife who does all that unpaid household work.

The idea that you should run the state like company isn't new ...

THIS.

This is NOT the kind of #AILiteracy training we need… #CAIL #AIFail

-4 with whites and -9 with men would...explain why there were firings

1. From lung cancer to climate change, capitalist governments are notoriously slow to recognize and remedy the negative externalities generated by corporate activity.

Generative AI is no exception. Large language models are proving a disaster in numerous spheres of public life.