Philosophy
3 posts · all posts
July 2026
Theories of consciousness and the hard problem
The hard problem of consciousness for readers used to physicalism. Thought experiments from Mary's room to fading qualia, positions from illusionism to panpsychism, the scientific theories, the first experiment that tested two of them against each other, and what they imply for AI
December 2025
Is it rational to be good? Game theory and the ethics of cooperation
Glaucon's challenge, Hobbes's Foole and Hume's farmers read through the prisoner's dilemma: when cooperation is rational, which virtues the models select, how much forgiveness reason allows, and what game theory cannot settle
April 2025
Is the mind a computer? The computational theory of mind
Symbols, rules and meaning: the computational theory of mind from McCulloch and Pitts to the Chinese Room, and what language models add to an old argument