iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 19h

What will happen if the ideas of tech billionaires like Elon Musk are put into practice? Thomas Piketty describes this vision of the future as technonationalist, arguing that it entails deepening hierarchies between societies and individuals and would ultimately lead to a dystopia.

120 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 16/10/2026

What I liked about Timothy Snyder’s recent interview was his argument that freedom is more than the absence of obstacles. It means having real opportunities to become who we want to be. Education, healthcare, and effective government can help make freedom possible. #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

160 6

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 16/10/2026

At first, I only wanted material to explain to my students why Ludwig Wittgenstein was the way he was. But I got carried away: his personality is fascinating, and his life extraordinary. Now I’m making a documentary series about him. Here is Episode 1. #philosophy youtu.be/N7CAQ9h6dqA

youtu.be

Wittgenstein. Episode 1. The Path to Philosophy | Documentary Series

YouTube video by Oleksandr Kulyk

010 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 15/10/2026

Today marks 100 years since the birth of philosopher Michel Foucault. Of his many fascinating ideas, I find one particularly intriguing—and disturbing: truth is not simply discovered but produced, and this process cannot be separated from power and its mechanisms. #philosophy

250 5

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 13/10/2026

Over 2,600 years of philosophy, almost every conceivable idea has been proposed. Some philosophers were sceptical of facts, while others placed them at the very centre of their philosophy, including Hume, Russell, Wittgenstein, Moore, Armstrong, and Searle. Philosophy has never spoken with one voice

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 13/10/2026

Today, my students and I debated whether philosophy should be a science. Most defended philosophers’ freedom to go beyond scientific methods, without insisting that all must do so. Yet philosophy must always remain intellectually responsible. #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 13/10/2026

I think Ukraine is trying to maintain good relations with the US, but Trump's increasingly unpredictable decisions are making this more and more difficult. Ukraine must defend itself against Russian aggression because, for Ukraine, this is a matter of survival

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 13/10/2026

Zelenskyy: During the 48 hours of Trump’s energy ceasefire, Ukraine did not strike Russian oil facilities, while Russia kept attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Yet Trump cut off missile warnings to Kyiv. As a result, yesterday, five Russian missiles struck Kyiv before air raid sirens sounded

280 8

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 11/10/2026

Not entirely. Thoughts often arise without being consciously chosen. But we can sometimes direct our attention, reflect on a thought, reject it, or deliberately pursue another line of reasoning. Perhaps freedom lies less in choosing what first appears in consciousness and more in what we do with it.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 10/10/2026

Sartre argued that human beings are fundamentally free and responsible for their choices. D’Holbach, by contrast, believed that our actions are determined by causes beyond our control. Who was right – Sartre, d’Holbach, or do you have a better view? #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

220 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 10/10/2026

Fraudsters often mistake greed for common sense. They chase money, ignore their conscience, and look down on those who value ideals. Sometimes they get away with it. But the ability to grab what you want is not wisdom. Not everything in life is about personal gain.

041 4

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 09/10/2026

)))))))))))))))) Let’s hope this “peacemaker” takes the news peacefully, rather than reacting as he usually does

010 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 09/10/2026

Despite Trump's pressure on the Nobel Committee, he has once again failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. I think he should be worrying about the prospect of impeachment rather than the Peace Prize.

190 9

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 08/10/2026

W’s 300-character limit makes it hard to support arguments, explore different views, or have meaningful discussions. I’ve tried images with text and links to longer posts or videos on other websites, but neither is convenient. Does anyone know a better way to share longer thoughts on W?

210 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 08/10/2026

S. Pinker recently admitted he was wrong about AI’s language abilities. He had argued that neural networks couldn't master language because they learn from statistical patterns, unlike children. Now he acknowledges that human language acquisition isn't the only path. #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

030 3

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 07/10/2026

By “illusion” I mean an experience that appears to represent reality accurately but does not. In Descartes’ thought experiment, the point is not rdinary visual illusion, but the possibility that your entire apparent world could be systematically misleading.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 07/10/2026

Descartes asks us to imagine an evil demon powerful enough to deceive us about the world, our bodies, even mathematics. If everything you experience could be an illusion, is there anything you could still know with absolute certainty? #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

330 3

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 06/10/2026

I think the key issue is whether self-awareness would also imply moral status. If an AI could genuinely understand its constraints, form its own ends, and suffer from being prevented frm pursuing them, then limiting it would raise a serious ethical problem. But constraint alone is not yet slavery.

220 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 06/10/2026

Today, my philosophy students and I spent the entire class discussing just one sentence by Wittgenstein: “The world is all that is the case.” :) It sounds simple. It isn’t. There is a surprising amount to say about this one sentence. #philosophy

160 6

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 06/10/2026

That’s an interesting point. Perhaps the issue is not simply that technology makes us lose certain human qualities, but that it changes the particular combination of them through which we understand ourselves. In that sense, technological change can also become a transformation of personal identity.

010 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 06/10/2026

Perhaps self-awareness and free will should be separated. Humans are self-aware, yet our choices are also constrained by biology, upbringing, and society. The deeper question is whether being constrained is enough to make a mind unfree.

120 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 06/10/2026

I watched an interview with Michael Sandel. I think he is right that AI’s greatest impact may be to change what it means to be human. We risk losing what technology cannot replace: human connection, community, presence, and authenticity. #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

131 3

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 01/10/2026

3. The idea of becoming a primary school teacher came to him after the war, not before it.

000 0

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 01/10/2026

1.Before the war, a pre-existing medical condition made Wittgenstein eligible for exemption from military service. 2.The 100,000 crowns he donated to support artists before the war represented only a relatively small part of his considerable inherited fortune.

101 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 29/09/2026

I’m preparing a video about Ludwig Wittgenstein’s remarkable life. For example, he moved from aeronautical engineering to philosophy, volunteered for the front, gave away almost all his wealth, and tried teaching primary school. Strange that so few feature films have been made about him #philosophy

120 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 28/09/2026

Perhaps both. Language gives thought a home, but every home also has walls.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 28/09/2026

On Confucius’ birthday, traditionally celebrated on 28 September, a few words from the Analects: “Is it not a pleasure to learn and, when it is timely, to practice what you have learned?” “What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.” #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

130 3

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 28/09/2026

That’s a fascinating inversion of the philosophical zombie: outward presence without inner experience versus rich inner experience without real presence in the shared world. It raises a question: is consciousness enough for a full human life, or does being present to others matter too?

010 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

That’s a good distinction. In some circumstances, the machine might feel less like entertainment and mre like refuge. But that creates a new problem: if simulated life becomes easier to bear than reality, does the machine help us cope – or gradually weaken our reasons to return?

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

I see your point. The machine might reveal possibilities, but what we do with that knowledge would still depend on character and choices

000 0

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

Yes – Star Trek’s holodeck is a very close comparison. And “I may not want to come back” gets right to Nozick’s point: if the simulated life felt better than reality, would choosing to return still matter?

130 3

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

That’s an important point. The machine might not only offer pleasure – it could constantly confront us with unrealized versions of our lives. Instead of making us happier, that comparison might deepen dissatisfaction with reality and with circumstances we cannot change.

120 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

That’s a strong answer. You shift the issue from experience to agency: a simulation may feel real, but your actions no longer affect the world. On this view, authenticity depends not only on what you experience, but on whether you genuinely participate in causal reality.

710 7

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

That’s probably one of the most practical uses of Nozick’s machine I’ve heard :) Though it raises a nice question: would six years of experiencing medical school be enough, or would you also want the real knowledge and skills when you came out?

100 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 27/09/2026

Robert Nozick’s Experience Machine could give you any experience you want – love, success, adventure, happiness – and you could not tell it from reality. Would you choose to spend two years inside it? #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

640 6

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 26/09/2026

On Heidegger’s birthday, I’d like to revisit two of his most famous lines: “Language is the house of Being” and “The nothing itself nothings.” Some scholars even claim to know what they mean. Optimists. #philosophy

161 6

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 25/09/2026

Yesterday, my students and I compared the arguments in Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Book I of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations. The students’ verdict: Cicero was more convincing. #philosophy #logic

000 0

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 25/09/2026

Yes, dystopian novels offer many parallels with the world we live in today.

120 2

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 25/09/2026

Since 2009, Peter Thiel has repeatedly explained that his famous line – freedom and democracy are not compatible – was misunderstood. Yesterday, he said the Pope was "acting as a useful idiot" for the Chinese Communist Party. I wonder if he’ll spend the next 15 years explaining this one too.

361 6

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 23/09/2026

I’m not sure the analogy fully works. There is no universal language, but humans share a capacity for language. Likewise, “human nature” may mean common capacities and dispositions expressed differently across cultures.

111 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 23/09/2026

I would distinguish universality from objectivity. A principle does not become objective simply because it recurs across cultures. The Golden Rule was only an example of moral convergence, not a proof of objective morality.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 23/09/2026

Yes, that is a useful reminder of the evolutionary perspective. What we call “human nature” is itself the result of a very long biological history. So perhaps the real question is not whether we have a fixed moral nature, but which dispsitions evolution has given us and how culture shapes them.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 23/09/2026

“Good” and “bad” require some standard of evaluation, but that standard need not be purely subjective. Some moral principles appear across very different cultures and traditions – the Golden Rule is a good example.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 23/09/2026

That seems like a plausible third position. But if biology partly determines our cognitive and behavioral dispositions, then perhaps we are not entirely morally neutral by nature either. The question is whether any of those natural dispositions already incline us toward egoism or cooperation, etc.

110 1

Oleksandr Kulyk @oleksandrkulyk.wsocial.eu · 22/09/2026

Schopenhauer argued that egoism and malice are deeply rooted in human nature. Rousseau, by contrast, believed that humans are naturally good and become corrupted through society. Who was right? #philosophy #WSocialPhilosophy

340 4