Issues
Issue 139: August/September 2020
EDITORIAL
The Shock of Things to Come
by Rick Lewis
NEWS
News: August/September 2020
Woman Philosopher of Year is Ann Garry • UNESCO invites public to comment on AI ethics rules • Steiner and Kohák dead — News reports by Anja Steinbauer
FUTURE SHOCKS
Pascal’s Artificial Intelligence Wager
Derek Leben computes the risks of general AI.
Robot Rules!
Brett Wilson judges the case for laws for robots.
Virtual Reality as a Catalyst for Thought
Joakim Vindenes says VR could be a useful addition to the philosopher’s toolkit.
The Singularity of the Human Hive Mind
James Sirois gives us a strong warning about overusing the net.
The Battle for the Robot Soul
James K. Wight looks at how cultures define our views of machines.
A Survival Guide for Living in the Simulation
Harry Whitnall considers how best to react if you find out that the world isn’t real.
ARTICLES
Leo Tolstoy and The Silent Universe
Frank Martela relates how science destroyed the meaning of life, but helps us find meaning in life.
The Meaning of Death
Laszlo Makay, George Marosan Jr. and David Vatai consider whether death destroys meaning or creates it.
Philosophical Misanthropy
Ian James Kidd takes a look at humanity through dark glasses.
Neoliberalism & Social Control
Arianna Marchetti looks at how the Continental philosophers Michel Foucault and Byung-Chul Han view free-market politics.
Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)
Gary Browning tells us why Iris Murdoch stands out as a twentieth century thinker.
How Do We Understand Each Other?
Each answer below receives a book. Apologies to the entrants not included.
INTERVIEWS
Graham Harman
Graham Harman is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Here he chats with Thiago Pinho about his work on the metaphysics of objects, which led to the development of Object Oriented Ontology.
LETTERS
Letters
Beyond Belief • Genocide in Poland • Our Nietzschean Selves • Beyond Mathematics • The New Minimalism • Mind: The Gap • Imagine There’s a God • Your Secret is the Truth
COLUMNS
Plotinus (204/5-270 CE)
by Terence Green
Back to the Future
Peter Adamson looks back at ideas of eternal repetition.
Philosophy in the Time of Plague, Part 2
Raymond Tallis ruminates on the reckoning and the reconstruction required.
REVIEWS
The Existentialist’s Survival Guide by Gordon Marino
We get existential as Doug Phillips says you have to keep punching until the final bell.
Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard by Clare Carlisle
Roger Caldwell judges the soul-bruised life of Søren Kierkegaard.
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Terri Murray gets to the core of ethics with Socrates and Woody Allen [CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!].
CARTOONS
Phil Witte’s Cartoon
by Phil Witte
Paul Wood’s Cartoon
by Paul Wood
Simon & Finn
by Melissa Felder
FICTION
UPLOADED
by Mary Scheurer
What Colour Are Numbers?
Keith McVeigh contacts an advanced alien with a strange (non-)question.