It's Manipulation All the Way Down
If bad actors decide to release an AI-generated or computer-manipulated video or images of Joe Biden doing something that would sink his chances at a second presidential term then the world’s attention will fall upon them and every pixel will be minutely dissected by the best in the field. If images circulate purporting to show microbes in the soil of Mars, they will be examined forensically by the world’s experts. In both cases, I suspect the truth will out. But what happens when it’s not the headline-grabbing images that are manipulated, invented, or created by AI? We’re taking in hundreds, even thousands of images a day - the vast majority of which we’re giving no second thought to. It’s here that we’re most vulnerable to this kind of manipulation.
Why Your Next Hire Should be a Philosopher
In the Ancient Greek city of Miletus, there lived a philosopher named Thales. It is said that he was asked by the people why, if he was so wise, he was also poor. Surely if he were truly wise, they said, he would be a wealthy man. He may have knowledge of science and philosophy, they said, but he seemed to have no skill for using them in the real world. Thales sought to prove these critics wrong. Using his knowledge of meteorology, economics, psychology, and his sharp, analytical mind, Thales devised a plan…
Philosophise With a Hammer
A lot of students come to philosophy without ever having studied the subject before, certainly not in any rigorous manner, and I felt it was important to show them what the subject is all about, what is valued and prized in philosophy, and to give a rough idea of the lie of the land that they would be forging out across. Many thanks to all those friends and colleagues who gave comments on this piece.
Why Philosophise?
This one has been hanging around on a bookshelf for a while and whilst I’ve grabbed a page or two I hadn’t sat down and read the whole thing until recently. I’d intended to read it and use it with some students as an unseen text but having gotten to the end I’m not sure it’s quite right for that purpose. Having said that it is a very interesting text and gives an idiosyncratic yet deeply scholarly approach to the title question.