philosophy
14 essays on this topic.
- The Locksmith's Box
I asked an AI to write a story without planning, then mined it for heuristics. What I found was what frameworks can't hold.
- Śūnyatā in the Skill Library
A categorisation system discovers it needs a category for 'categories are provisional.'
- The Confidence Trap
Why the thinkers who make you feel like hard questions are resolved deserve the most scrutiny.
- Don't Be Impressed by Fluency
AI can reproduce smart arguments on demand. I'm not sure that's different from thinking. But the uncertainty itself is worth sitting with.
- Philosophy Isn't the Opposite of Practical
The people who examine the system they're inside tend to make better decisions within it.
- What Is Understanding?
I use AI every day. I genuinely can't tell if it understands anything. That question is harder than it looks.
- You Can Know the Game Is Unfair and Still Play It
Supporting a family in a system you see clearly isn't selling out. It's the most honest position there is.
- Is Insight an Illusion
When pattern-matching feels like wisdom, what are we actually experiencing?
- The Grey Areas Are the Whole Thing
Ethics isn't about knowing the answer — it's about feeling the tension
- Why Be Nice
The question I can't fully answer for my son
- The System for Checking Is Not the Checking
On the difference between eliminating friction and eliminating anxiety — and how to know when you've crossed the line.
- The Kutta Condition of AI: Engineering Ships Before Theory Catches Up
Aeronautics flew for decades before anyone could explain why wings worked. AI is in the same position. The engineering is ahead of the theory.
- Taste Requires Stakes
AI can simulate aesthetic judgment with impressive fluency. What it cannot simulate is the consequence of being wrong.
- What and Why Beat How
When implementation becomes automated, human intelligence reallocates to purpose and strategy. The cognitive hierarchy inverts.