iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Should We Build AI Guardian Angels? [link to post in thread] Answer: no (in response to @henryshevlin.bsky.social), in part because each generation should nurture the next, not the other way around.

110

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

New interview of me on possible AI consciousness, including the "Leapfrog Hypothesis", according to which the first conscious AIs will have sophisticated consciousness rather than simple "frog-like" experiences: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWw...

youtube.com

The First Conscious AI Won't Be Like a Frog — It'll Be Like Us | Prof. Eric Schwitzgebel

YouTube video by Suma Gowda

030

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Chapter Zero of my new book in draft, Humanlike: A Defense of AI Rights (comments warmly welcomed!), here: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/09/huma...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Humanlike: A Defense of AI Rights -- Chapter Zero

152

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

New paper in draft! I've been working on this one since 2018, never satisfied, redrafting over and over. I'm sure it still needs considerable work, but I'm finally ready to circulate it. Walking the Walk Ethicists who advocate moral principles without trying to live by them will generally 1/4

1277

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

If the world is morally ordered, the virtuous thrive and the wicked suffer. Today's post explores some versions of this view and what might explain, undermine, or reverse a correlation between virtue and thriving: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/09/type...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Types and Conditions of Moral Order

082

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I've posted a 3000-word summary of the main ideas of my 2024 book *The Weirdness of the World* (part of a symposium forthcoming at JCS). Celebrate National Cherry Popsicle Day by learning the main ideas of *Weirdness* in a 10-minute read: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/08/summ...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Summary of <i>The Weirdness of the World</i>

284

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I'll be at WorldCon (the world's largest science fiction convention) in Anaheim next Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thursday I'll be doing a panel with @ericlinuskaplan.bsky.social on robot and alien consciousness. Here's his announcement, including of his new animated series: 1/4

191

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I've released my 12th annual ranking of the prestige of science fiction and fantasy magazines, based on awards and best-of selections. This year, @reactorsff.bsky.social edges out @clarkesworldmagazine.com for the top spot by half a point, with @uncannymagazine.bsky.social very close behind 1/5

170

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

AI and Consciousness, hot off the press at Cambridge University Press and free online until Aug 26! Summary: Our most advanced AI systems might soon – within the next five to 1/4 www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

AI and Consciousness

Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - AI and Consciousness

1199

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Obfuscatory Philosophy as Intellectual Authoritarianism and Cowardice [link in thread] For philosophers who can convince readers to take them seriously, obfuscation yields three illegitimate benefits: (1) it intimidates the reader, donning a mantle of intellectual authority, 1/3

290

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The Summer Illusion (repost) I’ll get all that work at home done AND all that research AND I’ll have plenty of time to relax. Of course of course! schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

The Summer Illusion (repost)

2121

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The Cognitive Advantages of Being of Two Minds, or Twelve, or Twelve Hundred Superintelligent AI might be a swirl of many contradictory, competing processes rather than hyper-consistent and hyper-rational schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

The Cognitive Advantages of Being of Two Minds, or Twelve, or Twelve Hundred

2101

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Conscious entities in different star systems might employ different carbon-based biochemistries, @jpober.bsky.social and I modestly argue in a recent draft paper. A few iterations through the popular press and the headline is now "Scientists Suggest Advanced Aliens May Exist Without Physical Bodies"

5667

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

AI Slop and Evidence about Evidence: Why Philosophy Journals Should Reject AI-Written Prose Human experts are better than LLMs at nuanced word choice and actively generated prose reflects these expert sensitivities better than passively approved prose. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/07/ai-s...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

AI Slop and Evidence about Evidence: Why Philosophy Journals Should Reject AI-Written Prose

0102

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

New book in draft! This is a companion to my forthcoming AI & Consciousness, exploring the ethical consequences of AI systems with humanlike or debatably humanlike consciousness. faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/Sc...

Title page: Humanlike: A Defense of AI Rights, by Eric Schwitzgebel

160

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Nomination deadline extended for the APA AI essay prizes: two $10K awards! We want nominations of the best articles written in the past five years. Nominate some essays you love about AI issues and make our task hard! www.apaonline.org/page/ai2050

apaonline.org

AI2050 Prizes - American Philosophical Association

122

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Bare Functionalism Versus Digital Computational Functionalism Functionalism about consciousness is not necessarily committed to the claim that digital computers can achieve consciousness simply by instantiating the right programs. Details here: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/07/bare...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Bare Functionalism Versus Digital Computational Functionalism

083

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Hot off the press at Phil Imprint! "The Copernican Argument for Alien Consciousness; the Mimicry Argument Against Robot Consciousness", with @jpober.bsky.social. Abstract: On broadly Copernican grounds, we are entitled to assume that apparently behaviorally sophisticated extraterrestrial 1/6

1163

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Strange Intelligence: Moral Puzzles of Unhumanlike AI Eric Schwitzgebel in draft Future AI persons might both (1.) deserve moral consideration and rights fully equal with natural human persons, and (2.) have lifeways so radically different from ours as to break familiar patterns of moral 1/4

Title page: Strange Intelligence: Moral Puzzles of Unhumanlike AI, by Eric Schwitzgebel

3232

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Forthcoming soon: AI and Consciousness. Email me if you'd like to see the (uncorrected) proofs, or view the final public MS version at arxiv.org/abs/2510.09858

Cover: AI and Consciousness, by Eric Schwitzgebel

2296

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Two Flavors of Biological Naturalism about Consciousness, and Why Neither Is Fully Convincing: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/06/do-c...

380

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

New in print! "The Washout Argument Against Longtermism" "Longtermists" often make calculations based on *very* long time frames -- for example that one reason to prioritize even tiny reductions in the chance of near-term human extinction is that we might have many trillions of happy 1/4

The Washout Argument against Longtermism, Eric Schwitzgebel, Utilitas

1181

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Today's post: Online Conferences Should be Better than In-Person Conferences, Not Worse We're in the equivalent of the 1980s Usenet era for online conferencing. Let's not give up yet! schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/06/onli... [a post in memory of @helendecruz.net]

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Online Conferences Should be Better than In-Person Conferences, Not Worse

55111

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Just out in print: Superficialism about Belief and How We Will Decide That Robots "Believe": studiasemiotyczne.pts.edu.pl/index.php/St...

studiasemiotyczne.pts.edu.pl

View of Superficialism About Belief, and How We Will Decide That Robots "Believe" | Semiotic Studies

240

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Herbie: A Near-Future Debatably Conscious AI Person An autonomous vehicle, imagined with various feasible features that liberals about AI consciousness see as suggesting consciousness, plus rich goals and the capacity to communicate linguistically. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/06/herb...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Herbie: A Near-Future Debatably Conscious AI Person

121

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

New Paper in Draft: Substrate Flexibility and the Copernican Principle of Consciousness (with Jeremy Pober) Given the surge of interest in AI consciousness, the issue of "substrate independence" or "substrate flexibility" is now a hot topic in the metaphysics of mind. That is, does being 1/N

Substrate Flexibility and the Copernican Principle of Consciousness

Jeremy Pober
Centre of Philosophy, University of Lisbon
(corresponding author: Jeremy.pober@gmail.com)
Eric Schwitzgebel
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside

3174

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

AI and the Degradation of the Human Capacity for Friendship (guest post by @gracehelton.bsky.social) Part Two of a two-part series by Grace Helton (guest blogger) schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/05/ai-a...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

AI and the Degradation of the Human Capacity for Friendship (guest post by Grace Helton)

064

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

ChatGPT Is Not Your Friend: guest post by Grace Helton at The Splintered Mind schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/05/chat...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

ChatGPT Is Not Your Friend (guest post by Grace Helton)

0136

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

From an article yesterday in @theatlantic.com. I agree with Schwitzgebel!

Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher at UC Riverside who is writing a book about the possibility of artificial consciousness, told me that at this early date, declaring a winner among these camps would be ridiculous. “The science of consciousness is highly contentious,” he said. “The field is still in its infancy.” No one yet knows how it is that the atoms of the universe combine to generate feeling inside of us, and until we do, it’s best not to go around definitively declaring which kinds of systems could possibly be conscious in the future.

5352

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Superhuman Moral Standing (for possible future entities) I suggest three possible routes: * having much more of what matters * having something that matters far beyond our comprehension * not being individuatable into discrete entities like us schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/05/supe...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Superhuman Moral Standing

021

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Happy 20th birthday, The Splintered Mind! Some reflections on what has kept me blogging for so long: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/04/twen...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Twenty Years of The Splintered Mind

0161

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

You think you know what belief is? No! At best you have an accidentally true opinion, unless you've read Jonathan Lewis-Jong's and my edited collection, The Nature of Belief, hot off the press at OUP. (Also available open access at OUP's website.)

Book cover: The Nature of Belief, edited by Jonathan Lewis-Jong and Eric Schwitzgebel

2225

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Could "do your thing" -- harmoniously with the world and reflecting your specific predilections and talents -- serve as a general (Daoist-inspired) ethical motto? In this blog post, I argue yes, but not in a totalizing way. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/04/do-y...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

<i>Do Your Thing</i>

140

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Some thoughts on Kim Stanley Robinson's remarks about the value of science fiction: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/04/kim-...

130

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Last week I submitted my latest book manuscript to Cambridge University Press (for their "Element" series of books about 100 pages long): AI and Consciousness: A Skeptical Overview -- because you haven't heard nearly enough about AI and consciousness recently, of course! 😉 Maybe you'll 1/3

1143

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

So You're on the "Waiting List" for a Philosophy PhD Program a post of explanation and advice (link in comments)

a hypothetical waiting list composed of names randomly drawn from students previously in my lower-division classes

120

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Hot off the press: "Sacrificing Humans for Insects and AI", a critical review of recent work on animal and AI moral standing, with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, in Ethics (discusses recent books by @birchlse.bsky.social, @jeffsebo.bsky.social, and Webb Keane). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Ethics vol 136, issue 3, April 2026, Sacrificing Humans for Insects and AI, Eric Schwitzgebel and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong

081

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

A Model of Disunified Human Experience: unity of experiences in the attended "global workspace" while many unattended, peripheral experiences remain disunified. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-mo...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

A Model of Disunified Human Experience

041

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Today's blog post: Backup and Death for Humanlike AI If AI persons capable of duplication and backup ever come to exist, we will need to develop new words, concepts, and customs. "Death" and "same person" will be a matter of degree. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/03/back...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Backup and Death for Humanlike AI

080

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Age and Fame in Philosophy Philosophers tend to peak in their influence around ages 55-70, though there's considerable individual variation. Blog post here: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/03/age-...

051

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Philosophy Should Be Among the Most Diverse Disciplines, Not the Least The productive engine of philosophy depends on novelty and difference. A fair and flourishing discipline would treasure rather than repel those who have historically been excluded. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/03/phil...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Philosophy Should Be Among the Most Diverse Disciplines, Not the Least

13512

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Today's blog post: Discussion Arcs for Topics and Philosophers schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/02/disc...

0135

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Disunity and Indeterminacy in Artificial Consciousness (and Maybe in Human Consciousness Too) blog post: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/02/disu...

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Disunity and Indeterminacy in Artificial Consciousness (and Maybe in Human Consciousness Too)

192

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Today's blog post: The Intrinsic Value of Diversity I think you'll join me in thinking that the world would be better, better for its own sake, if it were diverse rather than uniform. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-... Oh, some of you disagree? Good!

schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

The Intrinsic Value of Diversity

2122

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Weirdness on sale! Paperback $15.36 at Princeton's website with discount code P330. Hardback more than half off (?!) -- $14.85 -- at Amazon. (At least that's what I'm seeing right now.) Welcome some Weirdness into your mind.

Weirdness of the World, by Eric Schwitzgebel, snail cover

0100

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

New paper in draft with Kendra Chilson: "Artificial Intelligence as Strange Intelligence: Against Linear Models of Intelligence" Abstract: We endorse and expand upon Susan Schneider's critique of the linear model of AI progress and introduce two novel concepts: "familiar intelligence" and 1/x

Artificial Intelligence as Strange Intelligence: Against Linear Models of Intelligence, by Kendra Chilson and Eric Schwitzgebel

1140

Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

My paper with @jeffsebo.bsky.social , "The Emotional Alignment Design Policy", now live at Topoi [link in comments]. Artificial entities should be designed to elicit emotional reactions from ordinary users that appropriately reflect the entities’ capacities and moral status, or lack thereof.

The Emotional Alignment Design Policy, Topoi, Eric Schwitzgebel & Jeff Sebo

152