Civic Studies » science, technology and society

why the humanities could never be automated

Peter — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:28:32 +0000

Sometimes, we want to answer questions to accomplish practical outcomes. For example, we want to know whether a vaccine works so that we can decide whether to use it. Or we may seek basic insights about viruses so that we can develop vaccines in the first place. Sometimes, we want to know things because we […] Continue reading →

universities and newsrooms as laboratories or debating societies

Peter — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:10:36 +0000

Higher education and the press are important sources of knowledge and insight in modern societies. I think that many people who are interested and concerned about these institutions view them as similar to either 1) labs or 2) debating societies. Both metaphors contain some truth but also mislead. If you imagine an academic program or […] Continue reading →

the worlds we can lose when intelligence becomes artificial

Peter — Wed, 27 May 2026 13:18:59 +0000

In 1958, Hannah Arendt could see where were were headed: This future man, whom the scientists tell us they will produce in no more than a hundred years, seems to be possessed by a rebellion against human existence as it has been given, a free gift from nowhere (secularly speaking), which he wishes to exchange, […] Continue reading →

the papal encyclical on AI

Peter — Tue, 26 May 2026 12:13:42 +0000

Magnifica humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”) is Pope Leo XIX’s XIV’s first encylical, subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” Near the beginning, Leo makes a plea for “a shared discernment process.” He warns against worrying only about “contingencies” and “a succession of emergencies.” It is urgent to think ahout AI more […] Continue reading →

what is a brute fact?

Peter — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:28:51 +0000

During the twenties, so a story goes, [the former Prime Minister of France, Georges] Clemenceau, shortly before his death, found himself engaged in a friendly talk with a representative of the Weimar Republic on the question of guilt for the outbreak of the First World. War. “What, in your opinion,” Clemenceau was asked, “will future […] Continue reading →

can AI solve “wicked problems”?

Peter — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:15:37 +0000

I’ve been reading predictions that artificial intelligence will wipe out swaths of jobs–see Josh Tyrangiel in The Atlantic or Jan Tegze. Meanwhile, this week, I’m teaching Rittel & Webber (1973), the classic article that coined the phrase “wicked problems.” I started to wonder whether AI can ever resolve wicked problems. If not, the best way […] Continue reading →

why policy debates continue

Peter — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:38:23 +0000

I’m at Stanford today to discuss a paper, Policy Models as Networks of Beliefs. After circulating my draft, I realized that the following is really my argument. … We use mental models to think about and discuss contested questions of policy. Worthy models typically have these features: I believe this account supports a pluralistic, polycentric, […] Continue reading →

Cezanne’s portait of Gustave Geffroy

Peter — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:40:32 +0000

In “Cézanne’s Doubt” (1946), Maurice Merleau-Ponty discusses Paul Cézanne’s portrait of the critic Paul Geffroy (1895-6), which led me to some congruent reflections. Merleau-Ponty notes that the table “stretches, contrary to the laws of perspective, into the lower part of the picture.” In a photograph of M. Geffroy, the table’s edges would form parallel lines […]

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how thinking about causality affects the inner life

Peter — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 18:17:57 +0000

For many centuries, hugely influential thinkers in each of the Abrahamic faiths combined their foundational belief in an omnipotent deity with Aristotle’s framework of four kinds of causes. Many believers found solace when they discerned a divine role in the four causes. Aristotle’s framework ran afoul of the Scientific Revolution. Today, there are still ways […]

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