I’ve just finished recording a talk – ‘Metaontological impasse in social ontology: how do we move forward?’ – for the upcoming Social Ontology 2020 – The 12th Biennial Collective Intentionality Conference. I’m also in the finishing stages of preparing another – ‘A framework for player engagement with games: formal reliefs and representation checks’ – which will be part of the 2020 Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association.

Both conferences are now online – I was looking forward to travelling this summer to talk philosophy, but the format change has been interesting. If nothing else, it has made me reflect on what I need to say and what I don’t, given strict time limits that are much easier to abide by when one can go back and re-record. It’s very common for talks to overrun, stifling the chance for debate, so cutting out opportunities for such missteps is an unexpected silver lining!

I’m sure we’ll all want to hold at least some events in person again once it’s not a genuine public health risk to do so, but all the same, it’s good to have a chance to reflect on what we ought to do, and what we actually do, when we speak about our ideas…