News 2024
The news page was discontinued in mid 2023
NEWS - 2023
25 MAY
Nick Munn and I presented 'Can we be friends with AI?' at CEPE 2023 (International Conference on Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry 2023) Virtual Conference. We even managed to convince most of the audience that human-AI is possible this time! Watch it here
7 MARCH
I joined the School of Social Sciences Undergraduate Committee at the University of Waikato today.
24 FEBRUARY
I was quoted in a Washington Post article about the FDA's ruling on almond and other non-diary milks use of "milk". link
5 JANUARY
My chapter with Nick Munn on "Friendship, love, and sex with droids in Solo: "How would that work?" "It works"" is now available in the book "Star Wars and Philosophy Strikes back: This is the Way. Wiley Blackwell. (Edited by Eberl, J.T. & Decker, K.S.). Link
NEWS - 2022
5 DECEMBER
I presented "The real ethical problem with artificially intelligent friends" (based on my research with Nick Munn) at the New Zealand Association of Philosophers Conference in Palmerston North.
30 NOVEMBER
I presented "Experimental philosophy and intellectual humility" at the Australasian Experimental Philosophy Retreat, Tongariro, New Zealand.
28 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER
I co-organised the Australasian Experimental philosophy Retreat with Justin Sytsma, Mark Alfano, and Nick Munn.
23 NOVEMBER
I presented 'Programmatic Pākeha Paralysis' at the LearnFest 2022 conference held at the University of Waikato (Hamilton) and online (in conjunction with Cardiff University).
15 NOVEMBER
My chapter with Nick Munn on "Human-AI Friendship: Rejecting the Appropriate Sentimentality Criterion" is now published in the Springer book: Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence 2021 (edited by Vincent C. Müller). Link
9 NOVEMBER
As an expert consultant for PWC-Dubai, I presented at and ran a stream of break-out sessions at the second wellbeing and public policy workshop for the city government of Dubai.
15 SEPTEMBER
Alongside my fellow ākonga (learners), Suzette and Dwayne, I presented at the Kīngitanga Day event at the University of Waikato on "Integrating kaupapa Māori in a pākeha philosophy programme". You can see the progamme here.
26 AUGUST
I presented on 'Putting quizzes in lecture videos is easy - and students love it!' as part of the CeTTL Online Assessment Strategies Series at the University of Waikato.
6 JULY
Interviewed about the relationship between income and happiness by Rob Stock for Stuff.co.nz. See the story here.
4-5 JULY
As an expert consultant for PWC-Dubai, I presented at and helped facilitate a wellbeing and public policy workshop for the city government of Dubai.
28 JUNE
Interviewed about happiness by Virginia Fallon for the Sunday Star Times and Stuff.co.nz. You can read the article here.
13 JUNE
We made a short encyclopedia entry for "Life satisfaction in New Zealand" (based off our paper "Predictors of Life Satisfaction in New Zealand: Analysis of a National Dataset") that was published today. Open access link.
10 JUNE
My long form interview, conducted by Ricardo Lopez for his amazing YouTube channel and podcast, was published today. Watch it here.
5 MAY
My paper with several colleagues on "Predictors of Life Satisfaction in New Zealand: Analysis of a National Dataset" was published today. Open access link.
2 FEBRUARY
My interview about open access publishing by Sally Murray-Walsh for the Practical OA module of Open Access Australasia’s Open Access 101 course is now published. You can access it here.
23 JANUARY
Interviewed about hedonism by Janet Stone for MindFood Magazine. (Article appeared on p43 of the 1/04/2022 issue).
7 JANUARY
My paper with Nick Munn on "Corporate responsibility for the termination of digital friends" is now published online first in AI & Society. Link
NEWS - 2021
23 DECEMBER
My invited article for the Frontiers in Psychology research topic on Future Perspectives on Positive Psychology: A Research Agenda was published today. It's entitled: Don't Miss the Well-Being Train: A Radical Proposal for Revolution in Positive Psychology. See it here.
14 DECEMBER
I gave a "Guest of Honour" address at the International Conference on “Water, Food and Nutrition Security for Health and Wellbeing”, held at the University of Delhi. My talk was on Nutritious Food and Water: The best goods for wellbeing?
31 OCTOBER
I presented a paper my brother, H. Joseph Turton, and I wrote that proposes a new technology to solve the moral-prudential dilemma facing artists considering using NFTs. The paper was presented at the 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS, Conference held at Waterloo (Canada). See the paper here.
21 OCTOBER
I was invited to take part in a panel of presentations, chaired by Martine Durand, on "Policy uses of multidimensional metrics", which was part of the LACEA-LAMES annual meeting, held this year in Bogotá, Colombia. My talk was entitled Living Standards, Wellbeing, and Public Policy.
12 OCTOBER
Nick Munn and I presented at the Changing Values, Changing Technologies conference (held in Delft, The Netherlands) on how we should revisit how to define friendship because of the possibility of digital friends. Our talk was entitled Friendship will never be the same again.
30 SEPTEMBER
Mick Munn and I presented Love and sex with droids: "How would that work?" "It works." to the Philosophy Programme Seminar Series at the University of Waikato.
28 SEPTEMBER
Nick Munn and I presented Human-AI friendship: Rejecting the ‘appropriate sentimentality’ criterion at PT-AI 2021 - 4th Conference on “Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence”, held in Gothenburg, Sweden. See the presentation PPT here.
27 SEPTEMBER
Today Suzy Fourie (from the UW Wellbeing Hub) and I ran a wellbeing workshop for IT staff at the University of Waikato.
13 SEPTEMBER
The article in Vice that quotes me about the paradox of hedonism is now available. See it here.
27 AUGUST
Lorenzo Buscicchi, the first PhD student I have been the chief supervisor of, flew through his PhD oral exam today with the top result: no changes required. Congratulations Lorenzo!
24 AUGUST
Convened a PhD oral exam for Michele Melchior.
15 JULY
I was awarded NZ$8200 for an interdisciplinary grant project with Oleg Medvedev. The funding is from the ALPSS Interdisciplinary Collaboration Research Grant from the University of Waikato.
9 JULY
The 3rd Annual Philosophy Programme Mini-Conference on Tertiary Teaching and Learning, which I organise, was held today. The topic was 'The value and process of making our Programme, teaching, and course design more Māori-friendly'. Many thanks to our special guest, Tom Ryan.
7 JULY
Lorenzo Buscicchi and I presented 'What is pleasure? From feeling to attitude and back' at the 2021 Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference.
6 JULY
Today I very much enjoyed giving two talks to three classes of advanced students at St peter's College in Auckland. I presented on "Does my morality apply to you?" and "Philosophy and AI-proof thinking skills".
2 JULY
Today I was interviewed by Shayla Love from VICE Magazine for an article on the paradox of hedonism and the post-COVID-lockdown desire for lots of fun. VICE Magazine has a physical distribution of 1million and a greater reach online.
30 JUNE
Nick Munn and I presented our paper arguing that we can be friends with AI at the Society for Philosophy and Technology Conference: SPT 2021 - Technological Imaginaries
23 JUNE
Seventh funny article published at Daily Philosophy today: Happy Endings: Does size or shape matter most? See it here.
16 JUNE
6th funny article published at Daily Philosophy today: Selling Happiness, One Chump at a Time. See it here.
9 JUNE
Fifth funny article published at Daily Philosophy today: The Utility Monster is... other people! See it here.
2 JUNE
Fourth funny article published at Daily Philosophy today: Enlightened Self-interest: Friends with Benefits. See it here.
28 MAY
I presented 'Good excuses for killing people (and other things philosophy can do for you)' with Nick Munn to prospective students at the Tauranga campus of the University of Waikato
27 MAY
Nick Munn and I presented 'Technology as cause of and solution to the empathy problem' at the Sherry Turkle Miracle, a workshop organised by the Committee for Communication and Media Theory, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. You can read the papers here.
26 MAY
The third funny article, 'Psychological hedonism: You know you want it', was published at Daily Philosophy today. Read it here.
21 MAY
I presented 'Good excuses for killing people (and other things philosophy can do for you)' with Nick Munn to prospective students at the Hamilton campus of the University of Waikato
19 MAY
The second (see below) short funny article is out. See 'Simulating pleasure' here.
12 MAY
My first of seven short articles on happiness and hedonism with Lorenzo Buscicchi and Nick Munn is now available on the Daily Philosophy blog. We tried our best to make the short articles funny. See whether we achieved it here.
30 APRIL
My chapter "Wellbeing and the four qualities of life" is now available with the publishing of The Pope of Happiness: A Festschrift for Ruut Veenhoven, edited by A.C. Michalos and published by Springer. See it here.
9 APRIL
I accepted an invitation from the National Science Center of Poland to review a major grant application on relationships.
8 APRIL
My paper with Nick Munn, "Technology as cause of and solution to the empathy problem", was accepted for a workshop on The Oeuvre of Sherry Turkle, organised by the Committee for Communication and Media Theory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The workshop is on May 27, 2021. The paper will be published shortly after the workshop.
31 MARCH
I presented Philosophy of wellbeing (and how it applies to student life) today. It was part of Wellbeing Week at Waikato University.
31 MARCH
My paper with Mohsen Joshanloo and Michael Bond was accepted by Personality and Individual Differences. It's titled: Cultural Religiosity Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived Societal Injustice and Satisfaction with One’s Life.
25 MARCH
I was invited to review a book proposal for Palgrave Macmillan on wellbeing.
25 MARCH
My paper with Nick Munn was accepted for the ICT, society, and human beings 2021 conference, which is part of the Multi conference on computer science and information systems 2021. It will appear in the published proceedings. It's titled: Good friendships improve our lives. But can virtual friendships be good?
31 JANUARY
I wrote an editorial with Aaron Jarden celebrating the first ten years of the International Journal of Wellbeing. See it here.