Joel Frohlich
How a Total Eclipse Alters Your Psyche
The importance of feeling small and insignificant.
Could an Industrial Civilization Have Predated Humans on Earth?
A thought experiment plumbs archaeology and geology to ask whether our own species will leave a trace.
My Out-of-Body Experience
In a sensory deprivation tank, I lost my body and found myself.
Here’s How We’ll Know an AI Is Conscious
Zombies are supposed to be capable of asking any question about the nature of experience. It’s worth wondering, though, how a person or machine devoid of experience could reflect on experience it doesn’t have.Photograph by Ars Electronica / Flickr The Australian philosopher David Chalmers famously asked whether “philosophical zombies” are conceivable—people who behave like you […]
Should You Get an AI Nanny for Your Child?
Mattel’s AI nanny, called Aristotle, recently gained the notorious distinction of being subject to a bipartisan protest in the US Congress. Plus, there was a petition against it with over 15,000 signatures. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which organized the petition, argued that Aristotle is a consumerist ploy. It “attempts to replace the care, […]
