Rot, Rinse, Repeat
Brain Rot, Feedback Loops, and the Shared Costs of Social Media Optimization
In last month’s post, I introduced the idea of linguistic feedback loops in...
I, Large Language Model: Could Large Language Models Really Be Conscious?
The city I live in has many green-billed toucans. Besides their stunning looks, toucans also produce a conspicuous cry. One day, after hearing one...
Philosophy as Resistance: Polarization, Narratives and the Evaluative
As a philosopher working on interdisciplinary issues such as the polarization of public opinion, I’m often asked two things: what role philosophy plays in...
The Ascent of the Machine: Desire and Transcendence in Ex Machina and Her
A lonely man falls in love with an artificially intelligent machine, one that appears at first to return his affection. But the relationship ends...
The Thief of Virtue: “AI slop” is more than just bad content
The Macquarie Dictionary has selected its Word of the Year for 2025: “AI slop.” It refers to the deluge of low-quality, algorithmically generated content...
The Future of Disabilities: Responsibility, Equality, and Value
I have been interested in disability ever since my younger sister was born with Down’s Syndrome. As a child, I remember wondering whether there...
Justice in the Labor Market: The Empowerment Model
There’s a great deal of anxiety about the current state of the labor market, and the direction in which we are heading. For many...
Otto Neurath and the Migration of Ideas
The study of logical empiricism is now having another peak after its initial phase during the 1980s and 90s, when the works of Rudolf...
Combating Canada’s Notwithstanding Clause
In recent years, provincial parliaments in Canada have increasingly used a legal mechanism known as the notwithstanding clause to suspend the constitutionally protected rights...
Democratic Self-Defense: Militant and Social
Globally, democracy is on a downward curve. According to the latest V‑Dem Institute report, the world has fewer democracies than autocracies for the first...