#philosophy

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Modernity likes to paint Nietzsche as a nutjob responsible for the rise of the Nazis, but he's always just been the messenger. Today, his message applies to Trump and America, who Carney out.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/01/21/mark-carney-explains-nietzsche/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.

These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.

As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."

If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are …

I critique top moral psychology and adjacent books. These books do an excellent job of explaining that humans are inherently irrational…
👉 https://philosophics.blog/2026/01/21/moral-psychology-critique/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

…then they dispense the advice: Be rational. 🧐

For those in the know, this is the fundamental problem with psychology, economics, politics, and a host of other disciplines that presume rationality.

Here, my first post introducing literature. I may do this more often ;-)

William James is not only one of the founding fathers of American pragmatism, but also, as this book illustrates, one of the biggest spiritual seekers of his time. His notions of freedom, habit, and stream of consciousness still speak to contemporary readers who have already encountered the absurd face of life while drifting through an autopilot mode of being.

Atoms and selves share an identity: They don't really exist. https://philosophics.blog/2026/01/17/the-useful-fiction-of-atoms-and-selves/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

I've discussed selves at length, but how do they relate to atoms? Wrong answers only.

"Intelligence and consciousness are different things. Intelligence is mainly about doing: solving a crossword puzzle, assembling some furniture, navigating a tricky family situation, walking to the shop — all involve intelligent behavior of some kind. A useful general definition of intelligence is the ability to achieve complex goals by flexible means. There are many other definitions out there, but they all emphasize the functional capacities of a system: the ability to transform inputs into outputs, to get things done.

An artificially intelligent system is measured by its ability to perform intelligent behavior of some kind, though not necessarily in a humanlike form. The concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI), by contrast, explicitly references human intelligence. It is supposed to match or exceed the cognitive competencies of human beings. (There’s also artificial superintelligence, ASI, which happens when AI bootstraps itself beyond our comprehension and control. ASI tends to crop up …

Was beschäftigt euch gerade?
Teilt Fragen, Themen oder offene Gedanken — ich greife sie auf, mit Namen oder anonym.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/was-beschaftigt-euch-gerade

What’s on your mind right now?
Share questions or unfinished thoughts — I’ll explore them, named or anonymous.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/whats-on-your-mind-right-now