Tonight, October 21, 2025 at 7 p.m. US Central Time, I’ll be having a conversation on Zoom with Stephen Paff, author of the Ethnodata blog and host of the new podcast Democracy Demythologized. See the bottom of this post for information about how to join.
Stephen is an anthropologist and data scientist who has spent years crafting AI and machine learning systems that connect with people and society. I hope that engaging someone with his background will clarify our situation and help us think about our future more realistically.
As a political philosopher with a strong interest in ethics, I am intrigued by AI from many angles. I often worry that AI will “deskill” a growing number of workers and create unintended unemployment. I worry about AI making us all dumb by discouraging us from doing our own reading, investigation, thinking and writing. On the other hand, I can see in AI the promise of solving problems that have bedeviled people forever–like the proper distribution of resources, and the enforcement of truces and international agreements, creating the conditions for peace.
It seems to me that the problem we face is not really AI at all, but the likelihood that yet another technology human beings created will be used not for human well being but for “amusing ourselves to death,” to use the title of the book by Neil Postman we are currently covering in the Great Books Reading Group.
I want to find out more about AI from someone who involved in its development and application. Stephen’s expertise and experience will lend itself to a great conversation in which we can explore AI’s potential for good and for harm, and begin to understand its long-term impact on our world and our prospect for using it productively rather than wasting or misusing it. Actually, I hope to find out if my concerns are even valid or realistic!
Our conversation will be free-flowing and will last about an hour. We’ll then open the conversation to attendees. Join us live (and/or get the recording) by supporting the Maurin Academy on Patreon. Bring your hopes, concerns, and quandaries to our conversation about our future.
Political Philosophy 