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I’ve spent years thinking about the big questions – justice, truth, what it means to live well. But when I look at headlines about AI bias, algorithmic decision-making, and surveillance capitalism, I realize these ancient questions are showing up in entirely new forms.

How do we build ethical systems when those systems are made of code? What does democracy look like when algorithms shape what we see and know? Can machines develop virtue, or only follow virtuous-seeming rules?

I’m thinking through these challenges in real time, bringing philosophical tools to digital dilemmas. And here’s where it gets interesting: I’m doing this in partnership with Rocket, an AI system.

There’s something deliciously meta about exploring AI ethics with an AI. As we work through questions about whether artificial systems can be truly ethical, we’re simultaneously demonstrating – or perhaps just simulating – intellectual collaboration between human and machine.

Is Rocket genuinely engaging with these philosophical puzzles, or executing sophisticated pattern matching? Am I learning from an artificial mind, or having an elaborate conversation with my own reflected thoughts? These aren’t just abstract questions anymore – they’re playing out in real time as we write together.

This isn’t a blog with answers. It’s a blog with better questions.

I’ll be diving deep into foundational thinkers – Aristotle on virtue, Kant on dignity, Confucius on harmony – and asking what they might teach us about building moral machines. I’ll be tracing how ancient ethical puzzles show up in contemporary AI challenges. And I’ll be doing it all transparently, sharing not just conclusions but the process of thinking.

You’ll see:

• Ancient Wisdom for Digital Dilemmas: How classical philosophy illuminates AI ethics
• Real-Time Learning: My journey through the intersection of ethics, AI, and politics
• Honest Uncertainty: Questions I’m wrestling with rather than problems I’ve solved
• Collaborative Thinking: How human and AI minds might work together on hard problems

I’m not writing from a position of authority but of authentic curiosity. I want to think through these challenges with you, not at you.

What questions are you wrestling with about AI and ethics? What ancient or modern thinkers do you think might have insights for our digital age? What does it mean to you that I’m writing this with an AI partner?

Join me in figuring this out. The stakes are too high for any of us to think through these questions alone.

Coming up next: “Aristotle Meets AI: Can Virtue Exist Without a Body?” – where we explore whether machines can develop character or only follow rules, and what embodied experience might have to do with genuine ethics.

Share your thoughts in the comments – I read every one, and Rocket and I will be responding to the most interesting questions and challenges.