Tootfinder

We talk endlessly about what AI can and cannot do. We talk very little about the assumptions built into the question itself. This dialogue follows a philosopher and an AI practitioner.
https://ocrampal.com/from-plato-to-gradient-descent-the-frame-we-forgot-w…

From Plato to Gradient Descent: The Frame We Forgot We Chose
Practitioner: I’ll be honest—I find the "philosophy of AI" a bit indulgent. We aren’t guessing anymore. We’re building systems that work. GPT, AlphaFold, Sora... these aren't accidents. We’ve clearly cracked the code on how intelligence functions. Philosopher: I don’t doubt the results. But results

well, gillian welch & david rawlings doing the dead at the capitol was as stunning as expected & then some. as beautiful as i've ever heard any of those songs, stripped down to stark platonic dream arrangements. quiet & cathartic & powerful to be in a room getting knocked sideways together.

Lawyer: Do you have an understanding as you sit here today of what Plato’s Cave means?
Me (a genius, actually): Yeah.
Lawyer: So what's your understanding of what it means?
M(AGA): It is exactly what was written in “Plato’s Cave”
…

I inherited my copy of Plato's Republic from my father, and I have always assumed he got it while he was at university. He probably did. But I assumed he bought it new, and he didn't. He's written his name on the flyleaf, but above it someone else has written 'A H Pearce, Jan 88' (very nice handwriting). The title page dates it to 1881.
So this wee book is probably one hundred and forty five years old. It's in remarkable condition.

"Würden Sie denn sagen, dass der Urgrund unserer Krise ist, dass die liberale Demokratie inzwischen einfach zu viele Versprechen gebrochen hat?
Nein. Es haben nur zu viele Menschen zu viele unrealistische Erwartungen an die liberalen Versprechen geknüpft. "
Interview mit Peter Sloterdijk
#Demokratie

Sloterdijk: Der Starphilosoph über sein neues Buch und Trump
Peter Sloterdijk sagt, was die gegenwärtige Weltlage mit Platon und Hackbraten zu tun hat. Und endet mit einem erstaunlich hoffnungsvollen Bekenntnis.

And he's not the only one.
Texas A&M banned this philosophy professor from teaching Plato. So he's leaving. - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/04/texas-am-banned-this-philosophy-professor-from-teaching-plato-so-hes-leaving/

A university in Texas will stop teaching anything related to Plato because it's gay.
I'm not even kidding.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
DRAMA:
🎵 Platonic Romance
#DRAMA
https://thedramaduo.bandcamp.com/track/savannah-2

Another banger by J. B. Crawford in his "Computers Are Bad" series, this time going through computer history from PLATO to Lotus Notes. PLATO is probably the most influential computer system almost nobody knows about (unlike, say, Mother of All Demos).
https://computer.rip/2026-03-14-lotusn

LotusNotes

“A World Appears”, by Michael Pollan, is a tour de force recounting of the current state of our millennia-long attempts to define and explain #consciousness. Since Plato’s cave (and likely before that) thru #Descartes’ misguided duality, to today’s attempts at