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PODCAST

Machines & Meaning

Machines & Meaning examines artificial intelligence through the lens of different philosophers to understand how AI technology shapes human experience. Created for curious, thoughtful people who want to move beyond simplistic "AI is good" or "AI is bad" narratives, each episode takes a key concept from a philosopher and uses it to examine a specific aspect of AI technology and its impact on human life. While the show assumes listeners are familiar with current AI developments, it doesn"t require

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

12:01

Ibn Khaldun’s Warning: When Tools Become Purposes

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/12/22

Episode Description: Using Ibn Khaldun’s concept of asabiyyah (ah-sa-BEE-yah), a word derived from Arabic that roughly translates to tribal solidarity or social cohesion, we examine how AI is being rhetorically elevated to the status of collective purpose.

en

15:11

Credibility Deficits: Miranda Fricker and the...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/11/11

Using Miranda Fricker’s concept of testimonial injustice, we examine how AI creates new hierarchies of who gets taken seriously and how the credibility we assign (or don’t) affect people’s lives.

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15:23

AI’s Aesthetic Trap: Søren Kierkegaard’s Three...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/10/13

Exploring how Kierkegaard’s three spheres of existence reveal why AI might be creating the most sophisticated trap for authentic human development by appearing to create fulfillment while preventing genuine growth.

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12:57

Hannah Arendt and AI’s Collective Thoughtlessness

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/09/08

Exploring how Hannah Arendt’s concept of “thoughtlessness” reveals why AI systems create the perfect conditions for systematic harm that emerge from widespread non-engagement with consequences.

en

14:28

Aristotle’s Phronesis and the Wisdom to Judge Ourselves

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/08/04

Exploring how Aristotle’s concept of practical wisdom reveals the meta-cognitive skills professionals will need to remain valuable in an age when AI can perform most technical tasks.

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12:52

Permanent Intermediates: Martin Heidegger and AI’s...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/07/01

Exploring how artificial intelligence systematically undermines the conditions necessary for developing human expertise, creating what we might call “permanent intermediates,” people who achieve functional competence but never develop true mastery.

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14:23

The Accountability Threshold: Thomas Aquinas’...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/06/01

Exploring how Thomas Aquinas’ Doctrine of Double Effect helps us understand our complex relationship with AI’s unintended consequences.

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15:45

Universal Laws: Kant’s Categorical Imperative and...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/05/01

Exploring how Immanuel Kant’s concept of the categorical imperative parallels our current challenge of creating immutable ethical rules for artificial intelligence.

en

14:58

The Detriment of Constructs: Simone de Beauvoir and...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/04/01

Using Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophical framework on categorization, we examine how rigid binary thinking and over-compartmentalization limit our ability to understand and govern A.I.

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15:17

The Calculation Default: What René Descartes Teaches...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/03/02

Using Descartes’ framework for how we acquire knowledge, we examine what happens when AI reasoning models confront problems where mathematical certainty isn’t enough.

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11:59

Who’s Adapting to Whom? Lewis Mumford’s Warning for...

Machines & Meaning ·

2025/02/03

We explore Lewis Mumford’s concept of ‘technics’ to answer an essential question in AI: are we creating technologies that adapt to serve human needs, or are we increasingly adapting ourselves to serve theirs?

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12:15

The Narrative Machine: LLMs Through the Eyes of...

Machines & Meaning ·

2024/12/31

We explore Alisdair MacIntyre’s concept of narrative fragmentation and whether large language models (LLMs) contribute to it through their underlying architecture.

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12 results

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