Tag Archives: philosophy
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines is a novel about the parallel lives of two of the 20th Century’s greatest mathematicians, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing. Through fictionalized accounts, it explores the power of genius, the price it sometimes exacts and the limitations of our ability to discover the truth. Continue reading
God, Human, Animal, Machine
A chatbot called ChatGPT, released last year by OpenAI, has brought new intensity to the controversy about artificial intelligence. If you haven’t used ChatGPT yet, I encourage you to try it. I’ve included some helpful links at the end of … Continue reading
Life Is Hard
Life is Hard is about living well in the face of hardship and suffering.
Part personal essay, part history of philosophy and part philosophical reasoning, it’s essentially an examination of Pandora’s Box with chapters on sickness, grief, loneliness, failure and other ills, and a final chapter on hope. Continue reading
What We Owe The Future
“Future people count. There could be a lot of them. We can make their lives go better.” That’s the central idea of What We Owe The Future, a provocative book by William MacAskill who’s an associate professor of philosophy at … Continue reading
Life Is Simple
Ever heard of Occam’s razor? It’s the principle that says the simplest explanation that fits the facts is most likely the correct one. It’s formally stated as “entities should not be multiplied without necessity.” Or informally as “keep it simple, … Continue reading
Meditations
Meditations, written nearly two thousand years ago by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, is one of the most influential books in Western philosophy. It deserves years of study. I’ve read it just once. So I won’t be “reviewing” this book … Continue reading
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Humans are storytellers. We tell stories to understand our place in the world and to give our lives purpose and meaning. Shared stories help bind us together into communities, tribes, nations and civilizations. We understand stories better than facts. 21 … Continue reading
The Socrates Express
How about a little philosophy, just to lighten things up? Over the last few months I’ve been reading serious books about serious topics: climate change, racism, misogyny, injustice at the US Supreme Court, and autocratic threats to our democracy. I … Continue reading
Cosmopolitanism
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s book, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, is about finding ways for different people, and peoples, to live together in our increasingly globalized world. Born in England, raised in Ghana, and now a professor of philosophy … Continue reading
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