By Bradley Murray This is from Human Compatible by Stuart Russell. For those who haven’t read it, the book focuses on creating …
Bradley Murray
About
I founded PhilosophiesOfLife.org because I’ve found the too many people get stuck thinking that philosophy is just for the “experts” at universities. This causes them to lose out on the chance for deeper reflection in their lives.
I completed my graduate studies in philosophy at Oxford, completing the BPhil and DPhil degrees. There, my research included Kant’s philosophy, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and metaphysics. I completed a master’s degree in counselling psychology and psychoanalytic training at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis. While I was a graduate student, I was a temporary college lecturer in philosophy at Brasenose College, Oxford and I have been a visiting Assistant Professor in the philosophy department at the University of British Columbia.
My book on Kant’s philosophy, The Possibility of Culture: Pleasure and Moral Development in Kant’s Aesthetics, focuses on Kant’s aesthetics and theory of moral development.
Philosophy
My current writing emphasizes the contrast between humans and AI agents and advocates for a human future in which philosophy of life plays a central role.
Central to his view is the idea that humans are existentially-rooted subjects, or beings that are not to be valued instrumentally and who are subject to existential emotions like existential guilt. AI agents, by contrast, are existential imitators – they are of instrumental value and are not subject to existential emotions.
I also explore the nature of philosophy at a time of technological transition. He advocates shifting focus away from forms of philosophy that have dominated in academia and towards a philosophy of life that engages directly with our existentially-rooted subjectivity and that is grounded in philosophical irony.
I believe that it is important to reconsider what it means to be human in light of the incorporation of AI agents into our world. Through this lens, we have the opportunity to examine the way we approach the meaning and purpose of human life.
Key ideas
AI Otherness
AI engages with us as if it were an end-in-itself and as if it faced existential emotions, even though neither of these things is true; its “imitative” otherness ultimately calls upon humans to become aware of their own personhood and existentially-rooted subjectivity. [Read more]
Algomodernism
A paradigm coming after postmodernism in which we look to AI and related complex algorithms to generate narratives that define fundamental aspects of ourselves and the world. [Read more]
Philosophical irony
Practicing philosophical irony means approaching the conversations we have throughout our everyday lives, about all kinds of different topics, with a particular attitude. We will say the things that naturally occur to us. But our attitude will be a playful one in which we are able to wonder whether we really mean all the things we are saying. That is what makes it an “ironical” attitude. [Read more]
Philosophy blog
My blog explores what it means to be human in a changing world and delves into philosophical implications of recent influential books and ideas. Subscribe for updates.
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By Bradley Murray In Humankind, Rutger Bregman, focuses on human nature, cooperation, and social progress. He writes: Civilisation has become synonymous with …
By Bradley Murray What is the meaning of the term “other”? This word has had a wide and complex use in philosophy, …
By Bradley Murray In answering the question “what comes after postmodernism,” writers have introduced words like “post-postmodernism,” “trans-postmodernism,” and “digimodernism.” Such answers …
By Bradley Murray Key points: I outline what I call “philosophical irony”, which is a playful attitude in which we wonder whether …