Latest links… “He wants scholars to get real and acknowledge the field’s genuine strengths, which don’t necessarily lie in direct response to today’s political issues” — the “he” is John Guillory (NYU) and “the field” is literature, but he’s addressing problems relevant to philosophy, too “There is a popular picture of Socrates as someone inviting us to think for ourselves… [That] popular picture is severely incomplete” — Alex Pruss (Baylor) on Socrates’ conservatism What to say to a friend whose book you haven’t read — some suggestions “[The spider] tenses the threads of the web so that she can filter information that is coming to her brain… This is almost the same thing as if she was filtering things in her own brain” — extended cognition in the animal world How do ChatGPT and other large language models work? — philosopher Ben Levinstein (Illinois) provides a “conceptual guide” to them. Here’s Part 1. “Free Will?” — a documentary featuring philosophers and others, released this month — watch the trailer here A reflexive puzzle — (via The Browser) Discussion welcome. Mini-Heap posts usually appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, a collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers. The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thanks!