Sebastian Watzl
@sebastianwatzl.bsky.social
Philosophy Prof at University of Oslo. Writes all things attention - from psychology to politics and back. Author of "Structuring Mind" (OUP). PI of GoodAttention. He/His
https://www.sebastianwatzl.com/
https://www.sebastianwatzl.com/
Pinned
The attention market—and what is wrong with it - Philosophical Studies
Attention is described as a “scarce commodity” that is traded in “a marketplace.” This, it is further claimed, contributes to a “widespread sense of attentional crisis.” But is there really an attenti...
link.springer.com
What is this ‘attention economy’? Is there really a market where people buy and sell human attention? If so, what’s wrong with that? New paper by Katharine Browne and me that argues: yes, there is an attention market and yes, there is something wrong with it. 🧵
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
Do you ever wish you had a tool that would allow you to combine your mind with others? In this *just published* paper @mainomenous.bsky.social and I argue that AI is a tool that enables collective attention, rejecting the idea that it is a standalone agent + philosophymindscience.org/index.php/ph...
View of Attention and collective interests in artificial intelligence: In search of a regulatory framework
| Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci) focuses on the interface between philosophy of mind, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. PhiMiSci is a peer-reviewed, not-for-profit open-access journal...
philosophymindscience.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Do you ever wish you had a tool that would allow you to combine your mind with others? In this *just published* paper @mainomenous.bsky.social and I argue that AI is a tool that enables collective attention, rejecting the idea that it is a standalone agent + philosophymindscience.org/index.php/ph...
Yes. And ... has anyone looked at this for other countries? There was, for example, a deluge of content broadly aligned with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) before the last federal election...
Although the scale of this is still to be assessed, this is the inevitable outcome of the monetization of the algorithm. Rage-bait becomes a personal revenue model. Nothing about this should be a surprise.
NEWS: I spent the past 24 hours going through major MAGA accounts on Twitter, and a bombshell development has become clear: most of the right-wing ecosphere is being fed propaganda from foreign actors.
This impacts elections. This impacts discourse. This is major. Subscribe to support my work:
This impacts elections. This impacts discourse. This is major. Subscribe to support my work:
November 24, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Yes. And ... has anyone looked at this for other countries? There was, for example, a deluge of content broadly aligned with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) before the last federal election...
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
Although the scale of this is still to be assessed, this is the inevitable outcome of the monetization of the algorithm. Rage-bait becomes a personal revenue model. Nothing about this should be a surprise.
NEWS: I spent the past 24 hours going through major MAGA accounts on Twitter, and a bombshell development has become clear: most of the right-wing ecosphere is being fed propaganda from foreign actors.
This impacts elections. This impacts discourse. This is major. Subscribe to support my work:
This impacts elections. This impacts discourse. This is major. Subscribe to support my work:
NEWS: Major MAGA Accounts on Twitter Exposed as Foreign Actors
A stunning development over the past 24 hours.
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Although the scale of this is still to be assessed, this is the inevitable outcome of the monetization of the algorithm. Rage-bait becomes a personal revenue model. Nothing about this should be a surprise.
Kvikklunsj is to kitkat what pølse and lumper is to hotdogs. What the latter always really wanted to be (and yes, after that you don't really have to know many more Norwegian foods).
#KvikkLunsj is basically a Norwegian KitKat, but tastes better and comes with the rules of the outdoors printed on the inside of the wrapper. Quintessentially Norwegian! 🇳🇴 🥾 www.bbc.com/travel/artic...
The controversial sweet that fuels Norwegians
Known as 'the trip chocolate', Kvikk Lunsj has fuelled outdoor adventures for generations. So, what makes this chocolate so controversial?
www.bbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Kvikklunsj is to kitkat what pølse and lumper is to hotdogs. What the latter always really wanted to be (and yes, after that you don't really have to know many more Norwegian foods).
and don't make the attention market problems about social media. It's a lot deeper than that.
To add to this - it's not like the public is being well served by broadcast news moving at the pace of 24 hour scrolling and the politically obsessed - it just means every election large numbers of people end up googling 'what is austerity?' 'What is brownfield?' etc. etc.
This is bizarre. Like the editor of the guardian or mail or any other paper complaining repeatedly about the front page lead they decided to run with.
Very good example of what's wrong with broadcast news - they've given up deciding for themselves what is or isn't news and what the priorities are
Very good example of what's wrong with broadcast news - they've given up deciding for themselves what is or isn't news and what the priorities are
November 24, 2025 at 12:03 AM
and don't make the attention market problems about social media. It's a lot deeper than that.
So, should we maybe not leave all attention direction to the market?
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 24, 2025 at 12:01 AM
So, should we maybe not leave all attention direction to the market?
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The only thing I have found Chatbots to be somewhat useful for is as brainstorming devices, to get me to expand and focus what to think about. But if that is what those makers of the chatbots in a position of a lot of power - you know I have a thing about that...
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The only thing I have found Chatbots to be somewhat useful for is as brainstorming devices, to get me to expand and focus what to think about. But if that is what those makers of the chatbots in a position of a lot of power - you know I have a thing about that...
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
I just think Trump understands Mamdani is not someone he wants to tangle with. Too smart, too charismatic, too New York, too straightforward, too young. Easier targets elsewhere, like everyone who works for him and most of Congress. (1/2)
November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I just think Trump understands Mamdani is not someone he wants to tangle with. Too smart, too charismatic, too New York, too straightforward, too young. Easier targets elsewhere, like everyone who works for him and most of Congress. (1/2)
Trump is really good at attentional landscaping (sorry to pluck our term again) and so is Mandami. It is very interesting that Trump is, I think, very conscious of the power of this capacity, and admires it also in others. (not sure what follows)
When Trump saw Mamdani, he didn't see a fellow politician; he saw a fellow charismatic celebrity.
Donald respects people who can get praise and attention, as he values those things far above politics.
Donald respects people who can get praise and attention, as he values those things far above politics.
November 21, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Trump is really good at attentional landscaping (sorry to pluck our term again) and so is Mandami. It is very interesting that Trump is, I think, very conscious of the power of this capacity, and admires it also in others. (not sure what follows)
It's world philosophy day: talked already to people in Portugal about why distraction need not be such a bad thing. Soon speaking with @floresophize.bsky.social and her group about the attention market. I do like our philosophy world sometimes!
November 20, 2025 at 7:20 PM
It's world philosophy day: talked already to people in Portugal about why distraction need not be such a bad thing. Soon speaking with @floresophize.bsky.social and her group about the attention market. I do like our philosophy world sometimes!
There is no man made climate change. There is rich made climate change. „The richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year“
Now reflect on why we are not thinking more about how the rich are destroying the world
policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/cl...
Now reflect on why we are not thinking more about how the rich are destroying the world
policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/cl...
Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster - Oxfam Policy & Practice
Ahead of the major international climate conference COP30 in Belem, Brazil, new Oxfam research finds that the high-carbon lifestyles of the super-rich are blowing through the world’s remaining carbon ...
policy-practice.oxfam.org
November 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
There is no man made climate change. There is rich made climate change. „The richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year“
Now reflect on why we are not thinking more about how the rich are destroying the world
policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/cl...
Now reflect on why we are not thinking more about how the rich are destroying the world
policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/cl...
Seltsam: die angeführten Studien handeln eigentlich davon wie die Bildschirmzeit **der Eltern** den Kindern schadet - weil das Sozialverhalten **der Eltern** gestört ist. Vielleicht handelt das Problem nicht von Kindern sondern von 'Technoference" in unserem **Leben**? www.zeit.de/2025/48/bild...
Bildschirmzeit von Kindern • Z+ Empfehlung: Tut ihnen das nicht an!
Studien zeigen: Bildschirmzeit schadet kleinen Kindern. Und trotzdem geben Eltern schon Ein- und Zweijährigen regelmäßig das Handy – mit drastischen Konsequenzen.
www.zeit.de
November 18, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Seltsam: die angeführten Studien handeln eigentlich davon wie die Bildschirmzeit **der Eltern** den Kindern schadet - weil das Sozialverhalten **der Eltern** gestört ist. Vielleicht handelt das Problem nicht von Kindern sondern von 'Technoference" in unserem **Leben**? www.zeit.de/2025/48/bild...
What is this ‘attention economy’? Is there really a market where people buy and sell human attention? If so, what’s wrong with that? New paper by Katharine Browne and me that argues: yes, there is an attention market and yes, there is something wrong with it. 🧵
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The attention market—and what is wrong with it - Philosophical Studies
Attention is described as a “scarce commodity” that is traded in “a marketplace.” This, it is further claimed, contributes to a “widespread sense of attentional crisis.” But is there really an attenti...
link.springer.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:40 PM
What is this ‘attention economy’? Is there really a market where people buy and sell human attention? If so, what’s wrong with that? New paper by Katharine Browne and me that argues: yes, there is an attention market and yes, there is something wrong with it. 🧵
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I've been invited by a national HR organization to talk to them about attention in the workplace. I have ethical/political views on this (the workplace is a main place where people are subject to undue power over their attention). Pretty sure this is not what they want to hear. Should I do it?
November 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I've been invited by a national HR organization to talk to them about attention in the workplace. I have ethical/political views on this (the workplace is a main place where people are subject to undue power over their attention). Pretty sure this is not what they want to hear. Should I do it?
Knowledge last is starting to seem to me about as plausible as Knowledge First. Guess i should be happy not to be an epistemologist?
November 5, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Knowledge last is starting to seem to me about as plausible as Knowledge First. Guess i should be happy not to be an epistemologist?
I might use 6-7 in my paper on what it means to communicate. It's like the original coordination device.
October 31, 2025 at 7:15 AM
I might use 6-7 in my paper on what it means to communicate. It's like the original coordination device.
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
So it’s flown under the radar but Utah just went forward with forced labor interment camps for the homeless at the direction of the Trump administration.
We are seeing the construction of the infrastructure for industrialized death and forced enslavement for those seen as a drag on society.
We are seeing the construction of the infrastructure for industrialized death and forced enslavement for those seen as a drag on society.
October 29, 2025 at 12:25 AM
So it’s flown under the radar but Utah just went forward with forced labor interment camps for the homeless at the direction of the Trump administration.
We are seeing the construction of the infrastructure for industrialized death and forced enslavement for those seen as a drag on society.
We are seeing the construction of the infrastructure for industrialized death and forced enslavement for those seen as a drag on society.
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
This is what happened to my Grandfather in Frankfurt, Germany on 9th November 1938, commonly known as Kristallnacht.
In Portland, Oregon, masked ICE GOONS abducted and vanished US citizen Gonzalo Catalan last week. Tragically, his family remains unaware of his whereabouts and has not received any communication from him as of today.
October 29, 2025 at 4:13 AM
This is what happened to my Grandfather in Frankfurt, Germany on 9th November 1938, commonly known as Kristallnacht.
spend Sunday morning before the rest of the family is up to write a scathing review: Done. (and happy about it)
October 26, 2025 at 7:38 AM
spend Sunday morning before the rest of the family is up to write a scathing review: Done. (and happy about it)
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
Can AI simulations of human research participants advance cognitive science? In @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, @lmesseri.bsky.social & I analyze this vision. We show how “AI Surrogates” entrench practices that limit the generalizability of cognitive science while aspiring to do the opposite. 1/
AI Surrogates and illusions of generalizability in cognitive science
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated enthusiasm for using AI simulations of human research participants to generate new know…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Can AI simulations of human research participants advance cognitive science? In @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, @lmesseri.bsky.social & I analyze this vision. We show how “AI Surrogates” entrench practices that limit the generalizability of cognitive science while aspiring to do the opposite. 1/
Wikipedia is one of the most impressive aspect of the internet. I've started donating regularly.
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Wikipedia is one of the most impressive aspect of the internet. I've started donating regularly.
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
YES. It really is such a weird genre. Haven't looked, maybe there are also top-level science publications on physics in the engines of different car brands?
Psychologists running empirical studies to rediscover engineering design choices is such a strange genre of papers. By all means, run studies on LLM judgments -- but what else than lexical co-occurence and statistical priors would they be based on??
Evidence that even when LLMs produce similar results to humans, they “rely on lexical associations and statistical priors rather than contextual reasoning or normative criteria. We term this divergence epistemia: the illusion of knowledge emerging when surface plausibility replaces verification”
October 17, 2025 at 1:41 PM
YES. It really is such a weird genre. Haven't looked, maybe there are also top-level science publications on physics in the engines of different car brands?
Reposted by Sebastian Watzl
I see that OpenAI has pivoted from ‘Our mission is to supersede human intelligence for the greater good. We‘re going to cure cancer lads!‘ to ‘The Internet is for porn, give us a trillion dollars!‘. To be fair to them, the first claim was always a lie so at least they‘re being honest now.
October 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I see that OpenAI has pivoted from ‘Our mission is to supersede human intelligence for the greater good. We‘re going to cure cancer lads!‘ to ‘The Internet is for porn, give us a trillion dollars!‘. To be fair to them, the first claim was always a lie so at least they‘re being honest now.
I have an op-ed in my head called "Trump is a genius!" I think that is true, and important to know. (being a genius is quite compatible with being thoroughly evil)
Want to hear something frightening? Someone who has spent time with the Trump administration told me that Trump is much smarter than everyone around him.
October 13, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I have an op-ed in my head called "Trump is a genius!" I think that is true, and important to know. (being a genius is quite compatible with being thoroughly evil)