Questions APRIL 7

Conclude Playground, commence Goldstein's 36 Arguments thru Argument IX (check the Appendix for the briefer version).

1. What are your concluding thoughts about Playground? Did anything in the concluding sections surprise you? Do you have a response to any of the Discussion Questions in the Reading Group Guide at the end of the book? Do you think the future (or the present, for that matter) will resemble any of the stories in Playground any significant regard? Has the novel changed the way you think about any of the issues it raises?
2. Do you have any thoughts about any of the first nine arguments in Goldstein's 36 Arguments for the Existence of God? (See the Appendix, starting on p. 347).
3. Have you read anything else by Goldstein? She has a Substack... Her latest book is a work of nonfiction, The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. Do you think the religious impulse is related to what she calls "mattering"? What do you think ultimately matters? What do you think is the relevance of philosophical arguments for or against the existence of a god or gods to the religious experience and faith of typical believers?
4.  Note that Goldstein's 36 arguments pertain to the conception of god as a supernatural creator being, an "agent that had [our] welfare at heart" (as Powers put it) and is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent. Is that your conception of god? Or do you have an alternative definition?
5. Any comment on the Ezra Klein podcast with Michael Pollan discussing consciousness (below)? Does their conversation have any bearing on how you think about AI? Do you agree with Klein that machines might someday become conscious, or with Pollan that their disembodied state makes that highly unlikely? Will a significant percentage of people in the future "worship" computers, whether they become conscious or not? 
6. 
   

FINAL REPORT PRESENTATIONS

Indicate your date and topic preference in the comments section below. The final report includes a blog post, the final draft of which is due May 2... but you may want to post earlier. Sign up as an AUTHOR on this site, in order to post. For specific "Arguments" in Goldstein, see Appendix (scroll down). You can choose to do something pertaining to what is assigned on your requested date, OR you can select an additional text and/or author of your own to report on... as detailed on the syllabus.

MAR

31 Richard Powers, Playground -p.292. Presentation: Ashley

APR

7 Richard Powers, Playground -p.381. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -pages to be announced. Argument #s 1-9. Presentation: 

14 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Argument #s 10-18. Presentation: Amanda

21 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Argument #s 19-27. Presentation(s): Markeem

28 Last class. Exam 2. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Argument #s 28-36. Presentation(s): Jalen

MAY

2 Final report blog post (final draft) due. Post earlier for feedback.

The More You Study Consciousness, the Weirder It Gets

Weirder and more wondrous…

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/opinion/eza-klein-podcast-michael-pollan.html?context=audio&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Questions MAR 31

1. Post your questions and comments about Playground thru p.292. Please. (By or Before Monday if possible.)
2. Are our people "insane with money"? 196
3. Should everyone who can write their own name be allowed to vote? 200
4. Comment? "Decisions are rarely made by reason but almost always by temperament." 200 (And see Pragmatism lec.1: "The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments...")
5. Have computers taken over our lives and turned us into different beings"?  In a good or bad way, or both? 202  
6. Did you know you were going to marry your future spouse on first encounter? Was Todd's reaction to Rafi's declaration inappropriate? 203
7. Do we have to choose between safety and freedom? 204
8. Did (Do) artists make the gods? Is the universe guided by an agent that has our welfare at heart? How do you think non-believers should address such questions with their children? 206-7
9. Is Rafi's attitude towards Makatea as an "outpost of sanity" to be protected "from the techno-utopians" condescending, as Ina suggests? 211
10. Do you ever "let perfect be the enemy of good"? 212
11. Do you have a "sanctum sanctorum"? What do you think of Todd's, Ina's,  and Rafi's? 216ff.
12. What did Todd love, before he loved computers? 221 How does that relate to his seascaaping venture? 
13. Why would Rafi always be a Cubs fan? 233 Can you relate?
14. Again, why did Ina cry through The Tempest? 234, 4
15. Is it right for academics not to take seriously their peers who publish in the popular press, and try to address a broader public? 237
16. Does "becoming a reef" seem to you a better disposition of mortal remains than (say) cremation? 243  What about "natural burial" etc.? 
17. Have humans always wanted a way of playing like the one Todd is creating, "more ways to get together" etc.? 245, 249
18. (I jumped the gun, bringing this up last time.) What do you think about "finite and infinite games"? 232, 246-8
19. Was Huizenga right, that we can only "live in beauty" through play? 248
20. Comment?: "In the future there would be no 'real' money." 251  Can you explain crypto-currency? Can you imagine the Star Trek universe (with its money-less Federation)?
21. Should Rafi have gone to work for Todd? Should Todd have been insulted by Rafi's rejection ("Put your own mask on...")?  253
22. Can you relate to Rafi's prolonged procrastination? 254-6
23. Why should computer scientists "never dabble in philosophy"? 260 Should anyone just "dabble"?
24. "What's more important, the journey or the destination?" 261
25. What does the title of Rafi's thesis tell you about his life? Have you read Plath, Bishop, or Reed? 270
26. Do any of us "just need a machine that could read and explain these stories to me and tell me everything they meant," or would that lead to the impoverishment of our capacity to think for ourselves? Is that how people are using, or will use, AI? 271
27. What do you think of the Energy Czar's 9% productivity calculation, and more generally of those who settle the question of religious belief for themselves on the basis of such calculations? 283 (And see ch.12 of Nigel Warburton's Little History of Philosophy, on Pascal's Wager)
28. COMMENT?: "Please remember that you have not seen the future." 285
29. Is PROFUNDA the next generation of chatbot? Is it really "a new way of being in the world"? 287 (And is this an allusion to Heidegger, btw?) Is something like it coming to our world soon, or even already here? 
30. Are ten trillion parameters really "enough..."? 289
31. Is "digested and analyzed" the same as understood? 290   (See Warburton's ch.39, "Can Computers Think?")
32. Is PROFUNDA right about "deep intelligence" and "other creatures"? 291

I Am An American Philosopher: Phil Oliver – Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

https://american-philosophy.org/i-am-an-american-philosopher-interview-series/i-am-an-american-philosopher-phil-oliver/

Claude’s perspective on Playground

https://claude.ai/share/eb537cb6-4e4c-4d1f-9174-955ed9497049

Librarians on the front lines defending 1st amendment

RCLS library director refuses to comply with board's book restrictions; faces disciplinary action or termination on March 30

Rutherford County Library System (RCLS) director Luanne James emailed members of the RCLS board on Wednesday, March 18, stating her refusal to comply with the board's March 16 vote to restrict access to more than 100 children's books. A copy of that email was obtained through an open records request by the library advocacy group Rutherford County Library Alliance. It is included below as a PDF.

Luanne James's email to RCLS Board - 18 March 2026

417KB ∙ PDF file

Download

RCLS chair Cody York has scheduled a special board meeting for March 30 to discuss disciplinary action for Ms. James. The Daily News Journal reports that York said, "As chair, I believe this matter warrants serious disciplinary consideration, up to and including termination." The special-called meeting will take place at 5 p.m. at the Rutherford County Historic Courthouse. It will be open to the public.

https://open.substack.com/pub/indecentlibraries/p/rcls-library-director-refuses-to?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web