What happens when an agent acts against their own interest?

In short, this would be described as “Akrasia” (weakness of will). An agent’s will is weak when they intentionally, counter to their better judgment, lack the willpower to choose the better of >1 options given that at least one of those options is better than the other, despite knowing that the option passed over was the better option for the agent.

Let’s introduce a new term for “akrasia,” and simply refer to this phenomenon as incontinence. For some philosophers, incontinence can be described as an agent undertaking an action despite…

Let’s first begin with what the singularity is: it is a hypothetical point in the unforeseeable future where computers will have evolved to develop consciousness (e.g., first-person, subjective point of view; “I think, therefore I am” Je pense donc je suis); one that not only rivals our own but one that surpasses it.

To make this brief, I will simply answer the question from the outset, then explain why I think this way. My answer as to whether AI will ever achieve the singularity (a Westworld-like reality) is, not exactly. …

A society is well-ordered when it is not only designed to advance the good of its members but when it is also effectively regulated by a public conception of justice.” — John Rawls (A Theory of Justice)

John Rawls was one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers who came into recognition during the release of his seminal book, A Theory of Justice.

In it, he details a society best constructed so as to form a well-ordered and just society. Topics like this, particularly in political philosophy, has been written on for quite some time. But Rawls presented a novel…

Theodor Adorno (1903–1969), born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund, was a leading critical theorist of the Frankfurt School in the 20th Century. Along with his social and cultural critiques — critiques substantiated through the class analysis of Marxism — he was also a musicologist, composer, and philosopher.

What interested him, as a musicologist and composer, was to juxtapose the creative rationalisms of the classical masters, those who approached their realities with confrontation (a struggle, of sorts), who also never avoided the strains of musical discourse, with the kitsch that looks for “short-cuts,” the atypical 1–4–5 chord progression. A kitsch which Adorno would…

Samuel Beckett and his partner, Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, were rebellious revolutionaries in their own right. As active members in the French Resistance cell, réseau Gloria, they sought to gather intel on the German occupiers of France. In August of 1942, these efforts came to a torrential end — a truncation caused by the betrayal of a rather iniquitous Catholic priest named, Robert Alesch.

The betrayal came in the form of Nazi collaboration; the cell had been infiltrated. This led to multiple arrests, including the arrest of Alfred Péron, an English professor at Lycée Buffon and a good friend to Beckett.

After…

Do Physical Laws Truly Conflict With Free Will?

Benjamin Libet, a psychologist who specialized in consciousness, famously showed that activity in the brain’s motor cortex can be detected at appropriately 300 milliseconds before a person feels, or is consciously aware of having decided to make a move.

What does this say about consciousness? And more specifically, what does this say about free will? Let us explore this a bit.

As a result of these findings, the expected position to take is that of a determinist one — being, whether a philosopher or scientist, that we are all constrained within the…

Evidently, if I am black, I must only write on racism. And so it seems that if you are a thinking black person looking to spread ideas through your writing, you will inevitably be constrained within the parochialism of race-related issues; never to explore other ideas or issues of society. Never to theorize on philosophical subjects outside issues of identity. And never to be heard; for if you are heard, or, I should say if you inspire a want to be heard by others; as a black person, racism is all you can contribute to the online landscape of ideas.

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