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May 30 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
@balazskegl @drmichaellevin @ThouArtThat I don't know what @drmichaellevin posted above since he blocked me. But just to make sure: we are *not* part of the same family. And the differences between our philosophies are fundamental, not "minuscule." Neither is @drmichaellevin a revolutionary. Indeed, he is a reactionary.
@balazskegl @drmichaellevin @ThouArtThat I explain why @drmichaellevin's "philosophy" is vacuous, just a PR stunt, here: . TAME is an attempt at disguising that his approach is, in fact, utterly reductionist, the culmination of modernist thinking, not the beginning of a metamodern science.johannesjaeger.eu/blog/why-tame-…
Jan 22 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I traveled to Paris to give my philosophy crash course for scientists () to a wonderful group of @lpiparis_ @FIREPhD students, as I do every year.
Contact me if you want to bring this course to your own institute! It's not only fun, but also useful...johannesjaeger.eu/philosophy.html
... allowing you to become a better researcher through philosophy. The course has an interactive, discussion-based format that is based on an online series of lecture which are freely available: .
Oct 10, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
New blog post just dropped!
"Assembly theory is cool... but doesn't quite do what its inventors say it does."
reviewing this recent Nature paper:
TL:DR: potentially interesting model, wrapped in utterly misleading packaging.johannesjaeger.eu/blog/assembly-… nature.com/articles/s4158…
"I think assembly theory has lots of merit and potential, but this particular paper frames its argument in a way which is unfortunate and, frankly, more than just a bit misleading. My personal suspicion is that this has two reasons: (1) the authors hyped up their claims ...
Sep 9, 2023 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
Just received my expected rejection from @elife (after appeal).
The way I was rejected reflects the atrocious attitude of the journal & the whole field of biology towards conceptual work.
It also showcases a lack of intellectual integrity on behalf of the journal editors. 🧵
I submitted the paper knowing full well that @eLife usually restricts its scope to empirical work. The idea was to challenge that restriction, since (in my opinion) biology urgently needs a revival of serious conceptual efforts to prevent the descent of the field into pointless..
Jan 19, 2022 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
The current #COVID19 media coverage around me seems to agree on three things: (1) there is nothing we can do against #omicron, (2) this variant is mild & the wave will be over soon, (3) we're soon going "endemic," to "live with the virus," & back to normality. /1
There seems to be very little push-back against this narrative, which is something that really surprises me. But worse than that: it does *not* bode well for the next pandemic (whether the next #COVID19 variant or something altogether more worrisome). /2
Feb 19, 2021 • 16 tweets • 7 min read
Our second paper on dynamical modularity, "Dynamical Modules in Metabolism, Cell and Developmental Biology" by @NickMonk14 & myself is now available as a preprint: osf.io/rydbn via @OSFramework /1
It complements our earlier evolutionary perspective on the subject (osf.io/vfz4t) with its more regulation-based approach and a long list of practical examples that illustrate our novel conceptual framework for the dynamical decomposition of complex systems. /2
Dec 13, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Darwinian Gaia: the persister perspective on evolution. aeon.co/essays/the-gai… via @aeonmag@aeonmag I think this an amazingly refreshing and interesting new view on evolution. For several reasons. What’s even more amazing is that one of the best evolutionary biologists today has completely transformed his view of evolution in light of new evidence. How rarely does this happen?
Nov 6, 2020 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
@dav_robbe I didn’t leave academia voluntarily. And I tried to get a traditional academic job back for quite a while. Stockholm syndrome, I guess. I’m also still trying to get funding for my projects. Short-term fellowships work, but no luck with bigger projects so far. /1@dav_robbe I survive on the odd teaching job and giving workshops (e.g. a primer in philosophy for scientists). In years since I’ve left, I’ve done my best intellectual work. The lack of career constraints is unbelievably liberating. And the lack of bullshit work in committees etc. too… /2
Nov 5, 2020 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
I made the mistake of taking on a grant review in my old field of research. The first this year. Much has happened since January. And many of my priorities have changed. A few reflections. /1
After reading the grant proposal, I had to decline the review, because of an intellectual conflict of interest. The proposal was well-written, certainly not uninteresting in terms of proposals in its field, and the applicant was well qualified. /2
Sep 17, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I just read another one of those “how I overcame writing anxiety and became a more productive writer” threads on #AcademicTwitter. They are a frighteningly frequent thing. A few thoughts. #StockholmSyndrome /1
This latest thread was full of very reasonable advice on how to boost your writing productivity by a researcher who published something like a dozen and a half articles and book chapters over the past year. The implicit claim is that this made them a better writer. /2
Sep 16, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
A business idea for these times, in which higher education is seen as a commodity, and students are treated like customers: a university modelled on #CrossFit. (And no, this is *not* about Greg Glassman’s idiotic views on COVID or racism.) #HigherEducation /1
From the point of this university “your education is just our warm-up.” Students will have to suffer (every single day) to increase their depth of thinking. Daily existential crises are part of the programme. Only this kind of learning builds sustainable cognitive muscle. /2
We had our last discussion with the Uni Vienna MSc students today.
A little reflection… 👇🏻 /1
It’s been an incredible journey. Very wide-ranging, but also very compressed & intense. Deadlines are the only thing that forces me to overcome eternal procrastination due to excessive perfectionism. I’m still a bit dizzy (and exhausted) from the experience. /2
Jun 20, 2020 • 21 tweets • 3 min read
A little thread on maybe *the* false dichotomy in evolutionary biology: self-organisation vs. natural selection… 👇🏻
Let’s start with Lewontin’s minimal conditions for Darwinian evolution: (1) phenotypic variation, (2) inheritance, (3) differential fitness. To get evolution, these conditions must be met. /1
Jun 19, 2020 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Wow. Science by Twitter is one up from science by press release. Progress can’t be stopped, I guess.
Since you publish your science on Twitter now, I guess you won’t mind if I do a Twitter peer review of it?
First of all: I love the direction in which this is going! You identify a number of the most profound misrepresentations & challenges in biology today. And I think the way you go about describing them is pretty spot on. Thank you for posting this and popularising this view! /1
Jun 18, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
There seems to be a surprising amount of confusion regarding the question “which side are you on?” in the extended evolutionary synthesis #EES debate.
Consider the #EES debate in our field to be something like the last UEFA Champions League final, played between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Unless you are a big fan of either team, it was a terrible game to watch. And I really couldn’t care less who was going to win it. /1
Jun 17, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Over the last few days, I have encountered three types of ideological influence on scientists: (1) hidden ideology, (2) open ideology, (3) determining ideology (see thread 👇🏻 ).
Hivemind: any other recommended readings?
(1) Hidden ideology: the traditional “I have no ideology, just facts” neo-positivist. Well, that’s an ideology too! /1
Jun 5, 2020 • 16 tweets • 7 min read
A little thread on the causal role of genes in complex regulatory systems, the subject of my recent paper in #BioEssays with philosopher James DiFrisco.
This is part of a collection of papers initiated by @drmichaellevin.
@drmichaellevin Our paper introduces different views on causality to biologists. Physical notions based on law-like regularity of phenomena, or transfer of matter & energy are not really suitable in biology, where general laws are rare & the transfer of information often more important. /1
May 29, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This is a fucking telecommunications company! But they don’t do telecommunication, apparently.
This is from an annual lecture I give for the Wellcome PhD programme in Developmental Biology at Cambridge.
See thread for info & links to individual lectures. 👇🏻
These lectures aim to convey a basic understanding of the purpose and potential of computational and mathematical modelling in developmental biology, and to familiarise the viewer with the basic concepts required for such understanding. /1
Apr 8, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"Philosophy of science is alive and kicking, and in many aspects, of huge relevance to science today. The poor perception of the discipline means, however, that the potential benefits of collaboration between philosophers and scientists are largely being squandered.” #philsci /1
Agree that this is due to a large extent to institutional barriers & a lack of education & appreciation on part of the scientists. But also due to the idiotic productivity-centred academic funding & publishing system we have set up. Philosophical work no longer worth our time. /2
