Michel Foucault: Technologies of the Self // 254

Chinese Room LLM // 257 (preview)

This week we evaluate a paper written by a Google DeepMind engineer which, in effect updates the Chinese Room Thought Experiment (Searle, 1980) to modern LLMs. Get this episode and hundreds more https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

AI Will Fail Because Heidegger // 256

Join for ad-free and more episodes https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills Hubert Dreyfus loved recounting how he was maligned for his AI skepticism, which was informed by applications of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology and turned out to be correct as of 2007. Is he still correct in the age of LLMs and self-driving cars? Link to article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004370207001452

POPE vs. AI // 255

All episodes are ad-free at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills While many had hoped for a Butlerian Crusade against the thinking machines, the Pope has instead released a lukewarm encyclical asking the mean machine men making automated murder drones to please be nice to us. This episode we evaluate whether Christian Humanism has any juice left. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Michel Foucault: Technologies of the Self // 254

More where this came from at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills [https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills] People have not always had a self, our selves were invented. According to Foucault, our concept of self emerged from religious technologies, genres of writing, and the institutions that perpetuated them. https://amzn.to/4uWyVAg [https://amzn.to/4uWyVAg]   https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Christopher Lasch: The Culture of Narcissism // 253 (preview)

Hear our Lasch series at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills After three episodes reading Culture of Narcissism [https://amzn.to/43O1zHA] we conclude that despite a unique perspective, it's way overrated.