Public Philosophy

In the last post of this series, I introduced the issue of algorithmic bias. Inspired by the well-meaning but ultimately flawed efforts of Google’s chatbot, Gemini, towards inclusivity, I looked at the challenges of addressing bias—such as the conceptual ambiguity of terms like 'fairness' and the inherent subjectivity in correcting bias. This raised the fundamental question of how best to approach the issue: should we adopt a normative stance, based on how we think the world should be, or a descriptive one, reflecting how the world actually is? The former approach has subjectivity problems, risks distorting the truth, and importantly might deprive us of insights into inequality that we need to address. However, bias is damaging on so many levels and needs to be dealt with somehow.

The January 6th Insurrection is often framed as a direct assault on democracy. While there are certainly good reasons for doing so, casting the...

Ex Machina (2014) Arrival (2016) Annihilation (2018) I Am Mother (2019) I am a huge science fiction film buff. In my adolescence, I was a prolific reader of so...

My novel, A Beautiful Land, tells the story of a land that is physically beautiful but once was a place of terror. As I...

It sometimes seems that we approach the theory and practice of democracy with one hand clasped firmly behind our back. Although reams of ink...

I love the weird bends of our behavior that come about from taking our made-up rules too seriously. This phenomenon seems to me like...

In a world where AI’s reach continues to expand, the challenge of managing algorithm bias has become increasingly apparent. The recent missteps by Google's...

You can’t miss it. Turkish marksman, Yusuf Dikeç, has gone viral. People are praising his cool demeanor and ‘novel’ ‘effortless’ technique. What does this...

In 2016 the sociologist Arlie Hochschild published Strangers in Their Own Land. The book appeared in the final days of that year’s presidential election...

“It passed away, as most social systems do, in its sleep, leaving its citizens unaware that it was gone. No society more fully reflects...