2023-08-24
36 分钟Today we talk about Jeremy Bentham's concept of the Panopticon. Michel Foucault's comparison to society in 1975. The historical role of intelligence as a justification for dominance. The anatomy of free will, and how a digital world may systematically limit our free will without us knowing it. Get more: Website: https://www.philosophizethis.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philosophizethis Philosophize This! Clips: https://www.youtube.com/@philosophizethisclips Be social: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamstephenwest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philosophizethispodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philosophizethispodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philosophizethisshow Thank you for making the show possible. 🙂
Hello, everyone.
I'm Steven west.
This is philosophize this.
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So last episode, we ended by talking about generative AI and the potential impacts it may have on society.
How some philosophers think this could lead to an economic utopia, others think it could lead to a panopticon.
But there had to have been at least a few of you out there that heard the word panopticon and thought, what in God's name is that?
And there's no doubt somebody out there who know what the panopticon is who thought, why would anybody think this world we're heading for is going to be a prison?
Well, by the end of the episode today, I'll try to explain why some philosophers think it's going to go that way.
And I guess I want to start by saying that I realize a good portion of last episode was spent trying to bring people up to speed on the state of generative AI right now.
And I want to double down and say that I think all that context is necessary to understand the wider angle philosophical lens that this stuff can be viewed through.
As I said towards the end of last episode, I just think we're something fundamentally different than the medieval peasants that didn't have a hope in the world of seeing what was coming with the industrial revolution.
Part of the value of philosophy and this world that we're living in is that it can help you see the broader historical trends that you're a part of, so that you're not someone who's just a hostage to them.
I'm not trying to say anything too controversial.
I'm really just trying to echo the sentiment of Socrates here, that the examined life continuing to ask better and better questions.
This is something crucial if you want to survive in today's world.
And I guess let's continue that journey here by trying to understand how a fairly random idea from all the way back in the 1780s actually applies to the world we're living in right now.
I'm talking about asking the question, what would it look like if a philosopher sat down and applied that big brain of theirs to the task of trying to design the best prison that they could possibly come up with?
What would that prison look like?