Academics Must Wake Up on AI (with Alexander Kustov)
Is AI already better at many research tasks than humans? And if so, is this a reflection of how good AI is, or how bad much existing research is?
PhilosophyPsychology
Conspicuous Cognition.
Dan Williams on philosophy, psychology, and the forces shaping our beliefs.
Recent essays
30 of 35In Europe, There Is No Simple Immigration-Crime Story
Here are some statements that you might have heard at different times and in different venues concerning immigrants and crime in Europe:
Are We Building Conscious AI Servants?
Was Richard Dawkins right to attribute consciousness to Claude? Can we turn to consciousness "experts" to settle such questions? Is it ethical to design AIs that love being servants?
"Speaking Truth to Power" Is Bad Epistemology
If intellectuals want to hold power accountable, they should focus less on power and more on truth.
Aliens, Superintelligence, and the Future of Science (with David Kipping)
What the search for alien life can teach us about AI — and vice versa
How Brexit Created Britain’s New Political Tribes
This is a guest post by James Tilley, a Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford, about his excellent new book with Sara Hobolt, Tribal Politics: How Brexit Divided Britain.
Should We Care About AI Welfare? (with Robert Long)
We spend a lot of time worrying about what AI might do to us. What about what we might be doing to it?
On Becoming Less Left-Wing (Part 3)
The reality of progress, the fragility of civilisation, the left’s role in making the world both better and worse, the case for capitalism, and how to think about “the West”
Wishful Thinking Is A Myth
How social games, not comforting falsehoods, distort what we believe.
Time To Start Panicking About AI?
Watch now | In this episode, Henry and I finally do something we probably should have done in the first episode: introduce ourselves.
How AI Will Reshape Public Opinion
Social media democratised public opinion, shifting influence away from elites and experts to ordinary people. LLMs will partly reverse this trend. They are a powerful, new technocratising force.
AI Sessions #9: The Case Against AI Consciousness (with Anil Seth)
Watch now | What is it like to be a ChatGPT?
What Kind Of Apes Are We?
This is a guest post by David Pinsof, who writes the excellent ‘Everything is Bullshit’ Substack.
Why Have Academics Failed To Study Social Justice Ideology?
This is a guest post by Thomas Prosser (who writes at The Path Not Taken) and Edmund King (who writes at Paroxysms) about their very interesting new book, Beyond Woke and Anti-Woke: Explaining the Rise of Social Justice Ideology.
We Are Confused, Maladapted Apes Who Need Enlightenment
With Homo sapiens, Darwinian evolution produced a new kind of animal: a species that builds worlds it struggles to understand.
AI Sessions #8: Misinformation, Social Media, and Deepfakes (with Sacha Altay)
Watch now | Henry and I chat with Dr Sacha Altay about:
The harder it is to find the truth, the easier it is to lie to ourselves
A simple observation with complex implications
AI Sessions #7: How Close is "AGI"?
Listen now | And does the concept even make sense?
2025: Review and Recommendations
My top ten essays, how I use AI to read, and my favourite books, articles, and more.
Tribalism Corrupts Politics (Even When One Side Is Worse)
Opposing the far right isn’t an excuse to indulge our tribal instincts.
AI Sessions #6: AI Companions and Consciousness
Watch now | A deep dive into the philosophy, ethics, politics, social science, and likely future of human-AI relationships.
America's epistemological crisis (reprise)
Polarization, populism, and perspective
AI Sessions #5: How AI Broke Education
Watch now (56 mins) | How can AI help with learning and education? And does it pose an extinction-level threat to the teaching and assessment models that currently dominate schools and universities?
Let's Not Bring Back The Gatekeepers
The challenge for the liberal establishment in the social media era is simple: persuade or perish. If you can’t control the public conversation, you must participate in it.
AI Sessions #4: The Social AI Revolution - Friendship, Romance, and the Future of Human Connection
Watch now | Is it possible to have a meaningful relationship with a machine? Should we be creating chatbots that represent our dead relatives? Why is the sitcom 'Friends' disturbing?
On Becoming Less Left-Wing (Part 1) (unpaywalled)
Evolution, economics, political psychology, social epistemology, and progress.
AI Sessions #3: The Truth About AI and the Environment
Watch now | Examining AI's true environmental impact, the 'stochastic parrot' debate, effective altruism, technological determinism, and all the ways we need the AI conversation to improve.
On Highbrow Misinformation
On issues like climate change, gender, race, and crime, establishment journalism and punditry are often misleading. One can acknowledge this without becoming a "contrarian", conspiracist, or bigot.
Should We Blame Institutional Failures For MAGA Insanity?
No. Well, maybe a tiny bit. But mostly, no. (Conversation with Yassine Meskhout).
AI Sessions #2: Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness - A Deep Dive
Watch now | In this conversation, Dan Williams and Henry Shevlin explore the complex and multifaceted topic of AI consciousness.