Philosophical Center | Burning Man Journal

A Guide to Gifting, Givers and Gratitude: A Treatise from the Philosophical Center

June 21, 2019 By Larry Harvey

Publisher’s Note: This essay was written over a year ago, but due to Larry Harvey’s untimely death it was not released at the time. We are grateful to share it ...Read More

The Theme

From Robots to Intelligent, Autonomous Agents

February 27, 2018 By Nicole Radziwill

If your autonomous agent has a right to free speech and you own the agent, is that right independent of ...Read More

The Theme

An Empowering Robot is an Ethical Robot

February 20, 2018 By Caveat Magister

The problem with the way we try to give AI ethics is that we design these ethics to work for ...Read More

The Theme

Successful AI Will Usher in a New Era of Theology

February 13, 2018 By Caveat Magister

For the hundreds of years that comprised the “Middle Ages,” theology was the most cherished and important intellectual discipline, the ...Read More

The Theme

How to Practice Being Human: An Interview With Dr. Sherry Turkle

February 6, 2018 By Caveat Magister

Our problem isn't that Artificial Intelligence is getting better at being human, it's that human beings are getting worse at ...Read More

The Theme

The Three Laws of Robotics Can’t Save Us

January 22, 2018 By Caveat Magister

Isaac Asimov made some very interesting thought experiments about Artificial Intelligence and the world it creates in I, Robot. But ...Read More

The Theme

What if Kafka Was a Cyberpunk? (The Connection Between AI and Bureaucracy)

January 16, 2018 By Caveat Magister

At the time Kafka wrote his infamous novels about human beings struggling to make sense of a world full of ...Read More

The Theme

What Is It We Think Humans Can Do That Robots Can’t?

January 8, 2018 By Caveat Magister

If this essay were a classic sci-fi script, then by the end the computer I’m writing it on would experience ...Read More

The Theme

Why We Get the Robot Overlords We Deserve

January 3, 2018 By Caveat Magister

Many months ago, while still developing this year’s theme, Larry Harvey began receiving a series of robocalls in which an ...Read More

Shenanigans, The Ten Principles

What Gifting Teaches Us About The Holidays

December 23, 2017 By John "Halcyon" Styn

(This is an old post that was lost in the great website upgrade and is being re-shared.) Everything I needed ...Read More