An exclusive for the Partially Examined Life community, Chapter 6 of my new book Free Your Mind: New Philosophy Chapter 6 - I Have Turned My Thoughts Towards Wisdom As the rest of us sat back down after our break, one man remained standing. I initially perceived him as generically White, but then I thought he might be Jewish, Arabic or even Latino. He had very dark Continue Reading …
Free Your Mind
Christopher Sunami, the editor of the 2024 Partially Examined Life book, is back with a brand-new work of original philosophy--emphasis on original. He describes it as if Plato's Symposium was set in a secret Black fraternity, and if the topics on the table included race, religion, artificial intelligence and new ways forward out of the world's many current existential Continue Reading …
The Partially Examined Life: 15 Years with Your Favorite Philosophy Podcasters
We are proud to announce the upcoming release of the long-anticipated PEL book, April 25th, in celebration of the 15th anniversary of our first podcast. It will be available on Kindle and in print on Amazon, or by request from libraries and bookstores worldwide. We'll share the Amazon link here on April 25. If you want to help us out, we're hoping to have as many people Continue Reading …
Seeking Advance Readers
The PEL team has a limited number of advance review copies of our new book, "The Partially Examined Life: 15 Years with Your Favorite Philosophy Podcasters." If you would like to be considered for one (no guarantees!), please sign up at the following link: https://forms.gle/H4KTCAp6ghFFF7Gk7 We are especially looking for fans who have a good social media presence, or a Continue Reading …
PEL Book Cover Reveal!
The cover design has been finalized! Please let us know what you think. Note: Yes, the title is a bit different than in the last blog post. This looked better on the cover. Also, it's a proven winner :) As before, if you are interested in being considered for an advance review copy, or just want more info about the book, please sign up here: Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Book: Title Reveal
Hello PEL fans, it's time for the Title Reveal for our upcoming book. We went back and forth on the title for a while, but I wanted something that paid tribute to the special relationship between you, the fans, and the podcast. After all, if it wasn't for you guys asking for it, we would never have put this project together. Partially Examined! 15 Years with Your Favorite Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Book
Exciting news :) After literal years of planning, we're finally moving forward with something that you guys have often requested: A Partially Examined Life book! We'll be doing gradual reveals of title, cover and contents coming up. What I can tell you at this time is that it will include: While you're waiting for details, I do have a request to make. My dream is for this Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 23: #SimulatorShowdown
The twenty-third and final installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. Welcome to the final installment of our series, Saints & Simulators. All along we've been exploring the overlap between modern high technology, traditional religion, and all the contested philosophical battleground in between. Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 22: #ThePerennialPhilosophy
The twenty-second installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. As we sink deeper and deeper into the realm of religion, we find ourselves forced to face up to a core religious dilemma of the modern, globalized world, the same dilemma glossed over by Pascal in his wager: In a world Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 21: #TheProblemOfEvil
The twenty-first installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. (Last time, we looked at ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and the Neoplatonic interpretation of his work as focused around illuminating the nature of a single divine ideal.) The reason Plato believes the Great Good Thing exists, and the Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 20: #theOne
Twentieth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. Out of the two objections we raised against the concept of God as the "Lonely Dungeon Master" (at the end of our last segment), the conceptual complexity of the Dungeon Master’s world is perhaps the easier one to address. In our outline of the Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 19: #TheLonelyDungeonMaster
Nineteenth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. In the last essay, we talked about the eerily godlike role played by the simulator in Nick Bostrom's theory that posits we all exist only within a computer simulation, and the fact that, even so, it would be unknowable what kind of god the simulator might be. But is it Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 18: #Gaia
Eighteenth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. The reason, perhaps, that Professor Nick Bostrom’s demonstration of the probability of God’s existence has received so little attention and notice (especially as compared to the stir and commotion caused by his demonstration of the probability Continue Reading …
Saints and Simulators 17: #PascalReloaded
Seventeenth in an ongoing series about the interface between religion and technology. The previous episode is here. Last week we discussed Newcomb's Paradox, a thought experiment about the rational response to an omniscient being, and also Roko's Basilisk, the frightening digital boogeyman the paradox spawned in the minds of those who pursued the train of thought too far. It Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 16: #ScaryAI (Roko’s Basilisk)
Sixteenth in an ongoing series about the interface between religion and technology. The previous episode is here; the next episode is here. In 1969, philosopher Robert Nozick first popularized what would go on to be quite a famous thought experiment. Soon known as "Newcomb’s Paradox," after its inventor, physicist William Newcomb, it asks us to imagine two boxes, one of Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 15: #WiseAI
Fifteenth in an ongoing series about the interface between religion and technology. The previous episode is here. Another possible strategy for fending off the robot apocalypse is to ask if there are characteristically human traits or characteristics that are humanity-preserving, and if so, can those be passed along to our machines? What is it that has given us our identity Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 14: #FriendlyAI
Fourteenth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here; the next episode is here. Given how likely killer robots are, and how clearly the paths we are currently embarked on lead to that eventuality, can this destiny be averted? Can the killer robots be stopped? The most obvious answer is just to commit not to building Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 13: #PushyAI
Thirteenth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. For a more realistic portrait than Kurzweil’s of what a future dominated by technology might look like, one plausible place to start is with our present domination by technology, and how it is already transforming us as human beings. For example, consider the Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 12: #BadAI
Twelfth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here; the next episode is here. In 1989, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the second major iteration of the durable televised Star Trek science fiction franchise, introduced a terrifying new villain called the Borg. An unhallowed melding of a humanlike life form with Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 11: #GoodAI
Eleventh in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. For many of the people who find Bostrom’s logic persuasive, the underlying reason is a concept called the “technological singularity.” Named by mathematician John von Neumann after the physicists’ term “singularity,” meaning the collapse of time and space into a Continue Reading …