I’ve long been an early technology adapter. I started building webpages/websites in the 90s, used turnitin.com not just for plagiarism checking but for providing rich feedback on student papers in the very early 2000s, and around that time had students write live blogs on a course website as part of their writing requirements. I didn’tContinue reading “AI in the Classroom”
Category Archives: Non-Fiction Writing
AI and Talking Heads, Part III: Why Sentient Machines Will Never Exist
In my previous post, I made a distinction between “Strong” AI and “Weak” AI and then went on to describe how Weak AI works. I explained that Large Language Models such as ChatGPT convert words to numbers and then calculate the statistically most probable words and sentences that will follow any given words and sentences.Continue reading “AI and Talking Heads, Part III: Why Sentient Machines Will Never Exist”
AI and Talking Heads, Part II: Why Machines Can’t Read
I’d like to talk about a distinction between two kinds of artificial intelligence (AI): “Strong” AI and “Weak” AI. StrongAI is AI that has attained artificial consciousness — the machine has become sentient and thinks for itself in a way comparable to a human being. Strong AI has been the subject of numerous films and works of fictionContinue reading “AI and Talking Heads, Part II: Why Machines Can’t Read”
High Fidelity, Then and Now
High Fidelity then starred John Cusack as an immature, self-absorbed record store owner who, because of a recent, painful breakup with his girlfriend Laura (perf. Iben Hjejle), went on a tour of self-discovery through conversations with all of his ex girlfriends. He handles his breakup, which is the opening scene of the film, with theContinue reading “High Fidelity, Then and Now”
Notes on Derrida 2: A Reading Regimen
Pulled this one out of my drafts folder and thought I’d finally post it. If you want to read Derrida, read the works below in the following order before you start: Plato: Phaedrus, Phaedo, Ion, Republic: Book VII Descartes : Meditations Spinoza: Ethics G.W. Leibniz: Theodicy, Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics. See Dewey on Leibniz. Rousseau: Essay on the Origins of Language, Confessions, Discourse on theContinue reading “Notes on Derrida 2: A Reading Regimen”
The Philosophy of Contemporary Song 