Just Questions

1 Year of Just Questions!

It’s been a year since starting JQ, so to celebrate, we’re going to look back on two of my favorite questions. On today’s episode: * Tourism, from Japan to Hawaii * Elective cosmetic surgery and the illusion of choice Thanks again for a year of tuning in and over 2,500 downloads! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justquestionspod.substack.com [https://justquestionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

PART 2: Can AI and humans love each other?

Artificial intelligence is now everywhere. And with the ease of AI and the difficulties of human relationships, a growing population is forgoing human relationships to instead develop relationships with AI. What’s going on here, philosophically: Are these relationships legitimate? Is the love mutual? Can it ever be? Today’s episode, we consider the second half of these relationships—can humans love AI? Along the way, we talk about: * Degrees of love * To what degree we can love AI * The impacts of choosing an AI relationship over a human one Here’s Part 1 [https://open.substack.com/pub/justquestionspod/p/part-1-can-ai-and-humans-love-each?r=5bagv9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true]. Sources: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ai/#HumaRoboInte] Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications [https://archive.org/details/robotsexsocialet0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up] Symposium, by Plato [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600-h/1600-h.htm] Love [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/love/] Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships – A Provocative Study of AI, Companionship, and Desire [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sex-Robots-Human-Robot-Relationships/dp/0061359807] Climbing towards NLU: On Meaning, Form, and Understanding in the Age of Data [https://aclanthology.org/2020.acl-main.463.pdf] Why people are falling in love with A.I. companions | 60 Minutes Australia [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d08BZmdZu8] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justquestionspod.substack.com [https://justquestionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

PART 1: Can AI and humans love each other?

Artificial intelligence is now everywhere. And with the ease of AI and the difficulties of human relationships, a growing population is forgoing human relationships to instead develop relationships with AI. What’s going on here, philosophically: Are these relationships legitimate? Is the love mutual? Can it ever be? Today’s episode, we consider just one half of these relationships—can AI love humans? To do so, we evaluate: * Various definitions of love * Whether AI can meet the requirements of these different definitions * If AI can’t meet those requirements now, can it ever meet them? Stay tuned for Part 2! Sources: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ai/#HumaRoboInte] Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications [https://archive.org/details/robotsexsocialet0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up] Symposium, by Plato [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600-h/1600-h.htm] Love [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/love/] Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships – A Provocative Study of AI, Companionship, and Desire [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sex-Robots-Human-Robot-Relationships/dp/0061359807] Climbing towards NLU: On Meaning, Form, and Understanding in the Age of Data [https://aclanthology.org/2020.acl-main.463.pdf] Why people are falling in love with A.I. companions | 60 Minutes Australia [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d08BZmdZu8] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justquestionspod.substack.com [https://justquestionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Why does leisure matter?

In today’s hustle culture, taking a break can feel like a guilty pleasure. But leisure has its own valuable role to play in our mental and physical health. That’s why today, we’re talking about why leisure matters just as much as (and maybe a bit more than!) work. Today’s episode, we consider: * The benefits of work and leisure * Theories on why work is overvalued and leisure undervalued * What “good” leisure looks like Take a break and give it a listen! Sources: Employment is a critical mental health intervention - PMC [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7681163/] Association of Returning to Work With Better Health in Working-Aged Adults: A Systematic Review [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3487667/] Evidence-based supported employment for people with severe mental illness: Past, current, and future research [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3233/JVR-130666] How leisure activities affect health: a narrative review and multi-level theoretical framework of mechanisms of action [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7613155/] In Praise of Idleness, by Bertrand Russell [https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/] Paul Lafargue: The Right To Be Lazy (1883) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/] Philosophers on Laziness | Issue 154 | Philosophy Now [https://philosophynow.org/issues/154/Philosophers_on_Laziness] On Moral Duties (De Officiis) | Online Library of Liberty [https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/cicero-on-moral-duties-de-officiis] Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle Batoche Books [https://historyofeconomicthought.mcmaster.ca/aristotle/Ethics.pdf] Aristotle on Work vs. Leisure « The Noble Leisure Project [https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/nobleleisure/aristotle-on-work-vs-leisure/] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justquestionspod.substack.com [https://justquestionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Do you have a duty to take care of your health?

So many New Year’s resolutions are rooted in health goals. Healthy habits are so highly praised that trying to be healthy is practically seen as a moral obligation. Should it be? Today’s episode, we consider: * What’s at stake when we’re deciding whether being healthy should be a moral duty * The arguments in favor of health as a duty * Potential consequences of living in a world where health really does become a duty Sources: The Burden of Chronic Disease - PMC [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10830426/] Leading Causes of Death - FastStats [https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm] Trends in Multiple Chronic Conditions Among US Adults, By Life Stage, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013–2023 [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2025/24_0539.htm] Patients have an ethical obligation to their health [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/instance/1374981/pdf/jmedeth00250-0028.pdf] Personal responsibility within health policy: unethical and ineffective [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26879653?seq=1] On the person in personal health responsibility [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9233776/pdf/12910_2022_Article_802.pdf] A Philosophy of Health: Life as Reality, Health as a Universal Value [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0420-9.pdf] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justquestionspod.substack.com [https://justquestionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]