David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad) header
David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad) profile picture

Philosopher (Vanderbilt). I like bounded rationality, inquiry, and dogs. Seriously, DM me your dogs.

Oxford, UK
Joined October 2018
Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)Photo by David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad)
David Thorstad retweeted
Announcing the Call for Papers for Oxford Studies in Philosophy of AI and Computing! Rapid AI progress is raising *so many* philosophical questions; but philosophers aren't as involved in the conversation as they should be, for many different reasons. One is that, aside from some work in logic and philosophy of mind, philosophy of AI and computing has often sat on the margins of the discipline. One reason for *that* is that so many philosophers working on AI have had to do so basically on their own, figuring things out for themselves as they go along, without a real community around them. OSPAIC is going to help fix this! We're going to have an annual conference and volume. The conference (in DC! where much of the future of AI will be decided) is especially important as we think about the nature of intellectual life in a world where AI systems can one-shot a superficially-plausible philosophy paper. OSPAIC sees philosophical progress as being about more than just the accumulation of true claims. The conference is a big part of our vision for how we contribute to philosophical progress. And our aim is also to help philosophers be part of the broader public conversation! To that end we're also going to be launching, soon, a subcode on arXiv for philosophical foundations of AI (cs.pfai), and encouraging everyone who submits to OSPAIC to also upload their draft to arXiv (at present, use keyword PFAI). We're also partnering with @cosmos_inst, who will be sponsoring an annual prize for the best paper on philosophy and AI, as well as helping fund the first round of the conference and Open Access publication for the volume. And with Cosmos we'll be highlighting some of the most interesting submissions to cs.pfai as they come in. I'm the executive editor; Jeff Howard (UCL) and Rachael Sterken (University of Hong Kong) are associate editors; Ned Howells-Whitaker (JHU and Pittsburgh) is the assistant editor. We're grateful for the support of a wonderful advisory editorial board, including brilliant philosophers and computer scientists from academia, industry, and civil society. The deadline for submissions is 11.59pm Feb 14, 2027, anywhere on earth. All details are at ospaic.org.
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David Thorstad retweeted
I've teased this before, but it's coming soon: Oxford Studies in Philosophy of AI and Computing. Call for papers out in a couple of weeks. It's going to be awesome. Tell your (philosophy) friends.
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David Thorstad retweeted
Curious about the ideal and non-ideal theory debate? My book, Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory, is now out open access with Cambridge Elements in Political Philosophy! Read the book that David Estlund has called "easily the best full treatment of the topic that we have." (link below)
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David Thorstad retweeted
It’s extremely good that Anthropic has not backed down, and it’s siginficant that OpenAI has taken a similar stance. In the future, there will be much more challenging situations of this nature, and it will be critical for the relevant leaders to rise up to the occasion, for fierce competitors to put their differences aside. Good to see that happen today.
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Discover @DavidThorstad's theory of rational inquiry in "Inquiry Under Bounds." This book connects recent research in epistemology with traditional debates on bounded rationality. Read now: oxford.ly/3XtdGat
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David Thorstad retweeted
New @biounethical is out! @DavidThorstad: Evidence, uncertainty, and existential risk We discuss longtermism, how we should reason about existential risks under significant uncertainty, the role of speculation in philosophy, and much more. Links ⬇️
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Many philosophy departments are replacing their logic requirements with broader requirements in ‘formal methods’ (logic, probability, stats, decision theory, causal modeling, etc.) I thought it might be helpful for us to try sharing syllabi some of these broader courses 1/2
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David Thorstad retweeted
Coming soon: @EthicsInAI in association with @BalliolOxford will be advertising a 3 year postdoctoral fellowship in Ethics in AI for candidates with a background in theoretical philosophy (phil of mind, epistemology, phil of logic and language, metaphysics). Stay tuned.
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A new OUPblog post by @DavidThorstad on "Bounded rationality: Being rational while also being human", argues that we need an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents. Read now: oxford.ly/3SmmwUX
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On the blog today, David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad) discusses his new book, 'Inquiry under Bounds'. imperfectcognitions.blogspot…
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“…the program may be much less revisionary than feared.” – @DavidThorstad on the 3 main components of the "reason-responsive consequentialist theory of rational inquiry for bounded agents" in his #free #book, Inquiry Under Bounds (@OUPPhilosophy 2024). philosophyofbrains.com/2024/…
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David Thorstad retweeted
New BJPS Short Read! David Thorstad (@DavidThorstad) on institutional decision-making heuristics. What lies beyond simple rules? Read (or listen) here: thebsps.org/short-reads/thor… #philsci
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A summary of @DavidThorstad's paper, Against the singularity hypothesis, is now available to read here: globalprioritiesinstitute.or… Many thanks to Riley Harris for writing this summary!
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This was a very high-effort interview that was really worth the time: I spoke with @DavidThorstad about - his work on bounded rationality (he has a book on it coming out!) - his academic work looking at flaws in longtermist thinking
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