May 24, 2022Nudging, Big Data, And Well-BeingThis article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here. We often make bad choices. We eat sugary foods too often, we don’t save enough for retirement, and we don’t get enough exercise. Helpfully, the modern world presents us with a plethora of ways to overcome…Philosophy6 min readPhilosophy6 min read
May 11, 2022The ‘Soft’ Impacts of Emerging TechnologyThis article was originally published in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here. Getting a handle on the various ways that technology influences us is as important as it is difficult. The media is awash with claims of how this or that technology will either save us or…Philosophy6 min readPhilosophy6 min read
Apr 11, 2022Virtue Ethics, Technology, and the Situationist ChallengeThis article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here. In a previous article I argued that, when it comes to our moral appraisal of emerging technologies, the best normative framework to use is that of virtue ethics. The reasons for this were that virtue ethics…Philosophy7 min readPhilosophy7 min read
Published inScience and Philosophy·Mar 10, 2022Virtue Ethics and Emerging TechnologiesThis article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here In 2007 Wesley Autrey noticed a young man, Cameron Hollopeter, having a seizure on a subway station in Manhattan. Autrey borrowed a pen and used it to keep Hollopeter’s jaw open. After the seizure, Hollopeter stumbled…Virtue Ethics6 min readVirtue Ethics6 min read
Published inScience and Philosophy·Jan 4, 2022Does AI Need Free Will To Be Held Responsible?This article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here) We have always been a technological species. From the use of basic tools to advanced new forms of social media, we are creatures who do not just live in the world but actively seek to change…Philosophy7 min readPhilosophy7 min read
Nov 24, 2021A Neoliberal COP-out(This article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here) From a heat dome in North America, people drowning in their basements in New York, and a climate famine in Madagascar, you would think we would have started to take the climate crisis seriously. This is…Climate Crisis4 min readClimate Crisis4 min read
Published inScience and Philosophy·Nov 8, 2021Epistemic FreedomThis article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily, see here). An easy way to ruin any conversation is to start talking about philosophy. An easier way to do so is to mention free will. The issue of free will (whether we have it, if it is…Philosophy6 min readPhilosophy6 min read
Oct 5, 2021Justification And The Value-Free Ideal In ScienceThis article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily (see here). One of the cornerstones good of science is that its results furnish us with an objective understanding of the world. That is, science, when done correctly, tells us how the world is, independently of how we…Philosophy5 min readPhilosophy5 min read
Published inCodeX·Sep 15, 2021Irrationality, Artificial Intelligence, and the Climate CrisisThis article was originally published in the Monday Magazine of 3 Quarks Daily (see here). Human beings are rather silly creatures. Some of us cheer billionaires into space while our planet burns. Some of us think vaccines cause autism, that the earth is flat, that anthropogenic climate change is not…Artificial Intelligence8 min readArtificial Intelligence8 min read
Published inScience and Philosophy·Aug 9, 2021Should We Disregard The Norms Of Assertion In Inter-Scientific Discourse? A Response To A False Dilemmaby George Barimah, Ina Gawel, David Stoellger, and Fabio Tollon* This article originally appeared in the Monday Magazine at 3 Quarks Daily (see here). When thinking about the claims made by scientists you would be forgiven for assuming that such claims ought to be true, justified, or at the very…Philosophy12 min readPhilosophy12 min read
