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Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts

Casey Hart, Carl Brown

Everyone is talking about AI. But who is actually worth listening to, and not just pushing their own agenda? Carl is a veteran software engineer who has spent decades actually building systems. Casey is an analytic philosopher with ten years of ontology development. Neither has a book to sell or is funded by an AI thinktank. Together, they do something rare: think carefully and talk honestly about what AI is, what it can (and can’t) do, and how we should live in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

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  • 16 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 1 hr 17 min
  • English

Episodes 16

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  • S1 · E14
    Thursday · 1 hr 17 min

    Alignment Problem Part 2 - Taking it Seriously

    Can the AI "alignment problem" actually be defined, or is it fundamentally flawed from the start? In this episode of Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts, Casey Hart( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) set aside bad-faith doomer rhetoric and corporate marketing moats to examine the core arguments behind AI alignment in good faith.Casey argues that grappling with alignment acts as a conceptual gateway into foundational questions of ethics, paternalism, and what constitutes the "good life". Meanwhile, Carl pushes back from an engineering and practical standpoint, arguing that true alignment with humanity—which is notoriously misaligned with itself—is a distraction from pressing real-world issues like environmental degradation, social media algorithms, legal accountability, and building practical systems we can control.Together, they dissect the mechanics of Coherent Extrapolated Volition (CEV), Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, Nick Bostrom's orthogonality thesis, and the practical limits of guardrails, kill switches, and machine interpretability.---Links & Resources Mentioned:// Eliezer Yudkowsky – Coherent Extrapolated Volition (2004):https://intelligence.org/files/CEV.pdf// Nick Bostrom – Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014): Referenced for the Orthogonality Thesis (01:06:44) and the Paperclip Maximizer https://global.oup.com/academic/product/superintelligence-9780199678112?cc=us&lang=enhttps://rudyct.com/ai/Superintelligence%20Paths,%20Dangers,%20Strategies%20%28Nick%20Bostrom%292014.pdf---CHAPTERS:00:00 - Cold Open: Why Computer Science Ignores History00:28 - Welcome to Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts01:53 - The Thesis: Alignment as a Gateway Drug to Philosophy03:59 - Four Ways to Frame the Alignment Problem06:05 - Paternalism, Ethics, and Defining "The Good Life"09:50 - The Computer Science Habit of Working in a Vacuum15:06 - Coherent Extrapolated Volition & Paternalistic Genies20:20 - Eternal Recurrence and Avoiding an Algorithmic Rut25:30 - Defining Alignment: Goals, Intentions, and Needs31:40 - Can We Be Aligned with Non-Living Artifacts?36:00 - Internal Self-Misalignment and Humanity's Fractured Goals47:20 - A Taxonomy of Proposed Solutions: Moratoriums & Off Switches54:20 - Asimov's Three Laws: Control Constraints vs. True Alignment01:00:50 - Encoding Morality: Utilitarian Calculators & Perfect Parents01:05:14 - Eliminativism, Orthogonality, and Decision Theory Flaws01:09:30 - Machine Interpretability: What Science Can Actually Do01:13:00 - Marketing Benchmarks vs. Real-World Harm#AIAlignment #ArtificialIntelligence #PhilosophyOfTech #AISafety #TechPodcast #ComputerScience #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

  • S1 · E13
    October 1 · 1 hr 40 min

    Pause AI? Should we? If so, how do we make it matter?

    In the wake of high-profile security breaches, frontier lab resignations, and mounting political pressure, the call to "Pause AI" has moved from fringe forums to Capitol Hill. But what does pausing AI actually look like in practice? In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) break down the tangled definitions, ulterior motives, and policy proposals surrounding the AI pause movement. They explore whether agentic LLMs should be legally classified as malware, interrogate the PR machinery behind AI safety whistleblowers, and evaluate proposals ranging from Dario Amodei’s call to "pace the frontier" to the official PauseAI international treaty framework. Most importantly, they tackle the critical distinction between abstract existential dread and immediate, tangible harms—asking whether regulatory obsession with hypothetical "superintelligence" is blinding lawmakers to the damage happening right now.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:• Jacob Coxon Resignation Thread & Statementshttps://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843• Pirate Wires Report on AI Safety PR PitchingEXCLUSIVE: Jacob Coxon Worked With Doomer PR Firm ( https://www.piratewires.com/p/jacob-coxon-worked-with-ai-doomer-firm )• Dario Amodei’s Post on Pacing Frontier AI & METRhttps://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier• Casar-Sanders Artificial Superintelligence Bill Summaryhttps://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Ban-Artificial-Superintelligence-Act-Release-Summary.pdf • PauseAI Official Proposal & Treaty Frameworkhttps://pauseai.info/proposal• Pod Save America Segment on AI Governancehttps://youtu.be/v_BTZ5lcXrw?si=mJ0XCv2FJyegeKO6&t=1055• PauseAI funded by Future of Life Institute https://pauseai.info/funding • Future of Life Institute says “FLI does not accept donations from Big Tech, or from companies seeking to build artificial general intelligence” but took $10M from Elon Musk https://futureoflife.org/about-us/finances/ • Ezra Klein Vid: https://youtu.be/fjZ90V_JREk?si=HeDsnH5QChEZ2Cxu&t=1706• Zitron Video: https://youtu.be/PENnaW9zGYI?si=I8exuzqiLUWFwGHu&t=597• Ed Dowd piece: https://eddowdbeyondthenarrative.substack.com/p/the-post-labor-day-ai-panic-psyop • Podcast about how (at least some) hacking statutes require “intent”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQUBMpg1aY4&t=1669s • The U.S. is already using AI in warfare:https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/04/anthropic-ai-iran-campaign/ • Andre Miotti of Control AI on Sky News:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odSvjKMRn-I 00:00 - Cold Open: The Super AI Trap00:33 - Slowing Down & The AI Doomer Explosion01:42 - What Does "Pause AI" Actually Mean?03:45 - Is AI a "Normal Technology"?05:07 - AI as Malware: Agentic Intent vs. Real Outcomes12:10 - The Jacob Coxon Resignation & Safety PR15:45 - Follow the Money: Who Funds the AI Doom Movement?23:15 - Dario Amodei, METR, and "Pacing the Frontier"25:06 - Geopolitics and the "China Boogeyman"29:05 - Media Hype and the Failure to Cite Sources32:46 - OpenAI's Security Response & The Incompetence Problem36:47 - Defining the Target: Current LLMs vs. Superintelligence41:21 - The Casar-Sanders Bill & Political Definitions46:22 - Military AI Targeting and Anthropic's Pushback52:05 - Deconstructing the PauseAI Treaty Proposal58:43 - An IAEA for AI vs. Regulating Social Media01:11:14 - Regulatory Capture and Big Tech Moats01:18:00 - The Case for a Pause: Prioritizing Real Harms01:25:30 - Economic Fallout, Force Majeure, and the AI Bubble01:29:30 - Why Corporate Incompetence Trumps Deception01:35:00 - Soundbite Verdicts: Should We Pause AI?01:39:38 - Outro#AISafety #PauseAI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechPolicy #OpenAI #Anthropic #aigovernance

  • S1 · E12
    September 24 · 1 hr 56 min

    Debunking AI Doom: Why Existential Risk Arguments Fall Apart | Ep 12

    Is artificial intelligence really on track to wipe out humanity by 2050, or are the most prominent doom arguments fundamentally flawed? In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) break down the core premises behind AI existential risk (x-risk). From Bostrom-style superintelligence scenarios and recursive self-improvement (RSI) to "hockey stick" benchmark progress and the appeal to expert anxiety, Casey and Carl analyze where the logic holds up—and where it jumps the rails. More importantly, they discuss why hyper-focusing on apocalyptic sci-fi scenarios distracts the public and regulators from the very real, immediate harms AI systems are causing right now: cyber vulnerabilities, military reliance on hallucinated outputs, non-consensual deepfakes, and corporate regulatory capture. Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech! More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/ More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/Episode Highlights:• Defining "Doom" and evaluating p(doom) numbers from a Bayesian perspective• The Core Doom Argument: Does superior intelligence guarantee global domination?• Demystifying Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI): Lines of code vs. real-world breakthroughs• Shifting focus from hypothetical extinction to tangible, current AI damages// References and Resources: // Casey’s appearance on Doom Debates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHKesSpqBM //AI Almost Started a War with China https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ai-us-intelligence-war-china-nuclear // Apple Research Paper on Reasoning Fragility & Contamination https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/new-apple-study-challenges-whether-ai-models-truly-reason-through-problems/ https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/illusion-of-thinking // Bill Gates says Spam will be gone by 2006 https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/26/IHT-gates-sees-end-to-spam-in-2-years.html // Ships can't be hacked and driven into things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kkP-3d_8ac // Anthropic Essay conflating "Recursive Self-Improvement" with "8x more lines of code" https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement// Ties between AI Doomers, Rationalists and AI Employees https://x.com/kevinnbass/status/2099621874279817638 00:00 - Real AI Harms vs. Extinction Hysteria00:40 - Casey Hart & Carl Brown: "Prominent X-Risk Denialist"03:04 - Deconstructing the Doom Debate04:47 - Setting the Terms: What Does "Doom" Actually Mean?07:18 - Bayesian Thinking & The Base Rate Fallacy12:06 - Where Do p(doom) Percentages Come From?15:01 - The Core Doom Argument Broken Down20:47 - Premise 1: Is Intelligence Sufficient for Domination?22:36 - Did AI "Almost Start a War"? Misleading Headlines26:06 - Hanlon's Razor & Intentionality in LLMs29:25 - Premise 2: Limits to Superhuman Intelligence34:07 - Premises 3–5: Desires, Alignment, and Losing a Conflict49:33 - The Math of Multiplying Uncertain Premises53:31 - The Argument from Exponential Progress57:46 - Reasoning Models, Wrappers, and Stacking Advances59:40 - Benchmark Contamination & Overstated Gains01:04:03 - Real-World Coding Regressions (Fighting with Models)01:08:56 - Appeal to Expert Anxiety & Regulatory Moats01:16:07 - Assessing Authority vs. Vested Commercial Interests01:22:45 - The Argument from Unpreparedness & Cybersecurity Debt01:29:13 - The "Big Impacts" Fallacy & Infinite Disutility01:34:42 - What Does Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI) Actually Mean?01:41:08 - Anthropic's RSI Evidence: Checking in Lines of Code01:46:00 - Asymptotes, Data Bottlenecks, and Real-World Friction01:53:34 - Why Focusing on Fiction Harms Real-World Victims01:55:25 - Closing Thoughts: Stay Calm and Focus on Real Problems#ArtificialIntelligence #AISafety #TechPodcast #Philosophy #XRisk #MachineLearning #ExistentialRisk #AIEthics

  • S1 · E11
    September 18 · 1 hr 56 min

    Doom Debate Prep | Ep 11

    In this episode, Casey( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl( @InternetOfBugs ) prep for Casey's upcoming debate on ( @DoomDebates ) with Liron Shapira. They dive into what "P-Doom" actually means, break down the feasibility of recursive self-improvement (RSI), and evaluate whether recent breakthroughs—like AI-assisted Lean proofs for Navier–Stokes—actually point toward artificial superintelligence or just sophisticated, narrow mixtures of experts. Along the way, they analyze the incentives driving public AI panic, the rhetorical tactics of the rationalist community, and why focusing on speculative existential risk often distracts from tangible, real-world AI harms.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/// References and Resources:// Ed Dows explaining the recent high-profile Anthropic resignation as a PsyOphttps://eddowdbeyondthenarrative.substack.com/p/the-post-labor-day-ai-panic-psyopWatch chatbbots attempt to play chess in hilarious ways @GothamChess ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBRObSmbZluQwBIvxyiWfm_b495AnpzDn )// Mac app Carl mentioned that lets Gemma 4 26B run in 2GN of RAM by only loading the "expert" that's needed at the moment: https://github.com/drumih/turbo-fieldfare/More on decomposing LLMs at @chrishayuk // On the Apple Paper about how chatbots fail problems that look similar to but aren't benchmark problems because they follow the wrong patternshttps://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/10/llms-cant-perform-genuine-logical-reasoning-apple-researchers-suggest/https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.0522900:00:00 - Cold Open: The Moron or Masochist Rule00:00:11 - Intro: Preserving Sanity Amid AI Hype00:00:46 - Prepping for Doom Debates with Liron Shapira00:03:09 - The Value (and Trap) of Public Debates00:07:37 - What Exactly is P-Doom? Defining the Stakes00:11:45 - Knowing the Audience: Preaching to the Converted vs. the 1%00:15:38 - Finding the Common Ground (and the Common Enemy)00:21:40 - Deconstructing *If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies*00:26:22 - The 2050 Extinction Baseline00:29:44 - Recursive Self-Improvement: Hype vs. Reality00:33:41 - AI Takeover vs. Bad Actors with Powerful Tools00:41:43 - The Bayesian Argument Against Doom00:44:13 - A Bug-Centered Epistemology00:47:50 - The Economic Engine: Capital, IPOs, and Regulatory Capture00:52:03 - True Believers and Singularity Evangelists00:56:01 - Manufactured Hype and Coordinated Resignations01:00:00 - Critique of Rationalist Culture and Intelligence Fetishization01:01:43 - The Orthogonality Thesis: Wants vs. Intelligence01:02:40 - Navier–Stokes, Lean Prover, and Mixture of Experts01:03:40 - Goodhart’s Law, P-Hacking, and Jagged Intelligence01:04:46 - Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence01:05:15 - Post-Show: Podcasting Logistics and Editing Legos#AIDoom #ArtificialIntelligence #AISafety #TechDebate #MachineLearning #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts #DoomDebates

  • S1 · E10
    September 11 · 1 hr 30 min

    Problem With The Alignment Problem | Ep 10

    Is the "AI alignment problem" genuinely the existential challenge of our time, or has it become an intellectual buffer designed to deflect corporate responsibility? In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) break down how alignment discourse often muddies AI debates rather than clarifying them. From thought experiments like the paperclip maximizer and the monkey’s paw to recent controversies like model sycophancy, the Hugging Face incident, and corporate data centers, they explore how vague definitions, anthropomorphism, and doomer abstraction distract the public from immediate, real-world harms.00:00 - Intro & Socrates the Gadfly00:24 - Defining the AI Alignment Problem05:18 - Chess Bots, Monkey's Paws, and Paperclip Maximizers10:29 - The Fallacy of Aligning with "Humanity"16:28 - Adversarial Alignment and Corporate Realities25:56 - Problem 1: Vague and Ever-Shifting Definitions34:48 - Recursive Alignment, Benchmark Metrics, and Sycophancy38:20 - Problem 2: Absolving Corporate and Human Responsibility40:35 - The Hugging Face Sandbox Breach Narrative48:00 - Problem 3: Abstracting Away Real, Immediate Harms53:30 - Problem 4: Anthropomorphism and Consciousness Assumptions56:06 - Jordan Peterson and the "Raising Children" Metaphor01:01:25 - Problem 5: Armchair Evolutionary Just-So Stories01:07:50 - Media Clickbait, Hype, and "Gain of Function"01:12:35 - Problem 6: The "Cure for Cancer" Fallacy of AI Safety01:17:35 - Problem 7: Obscuring Public vs. Corporate Conflicts01:24:10 - The Core Rule: Always Ask "Aligned with Whom, and on What?"01:28:00 - Final Thoughts & Outro// Resources// Article about the paperclip maximizer that came from Nick Bostrom's 2003 paper "Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/artificial-intelligence-oxford_n_5689858// definitionhttps://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-alignment// Book referencedIf Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. -Yudkowsky and Soares// Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS_hLDTDI1w&t=330s// Anthropic Gang: https://youtu.be/IPmt8b-qLgk?si=DklBq9GNIVB4tBOA // Motti from Control,AI on Sky News(1): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTxt8oqDysU/(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odSvjKMRn-I // Soares’ Pontification: https://youtu.be/TfgrWN5iufA?si=3vnyTe0byQJXF53q // Peterson Short: https://youtube.com/shorts/K5IUcbTecBY?si=Opr3RxziUjVPNese #AIAlignment #AIEthics #Philosophy #ArtificialIntelligence #TechAccountability #Podcast #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

  • S1 · E9
    September 4 · 1 hr 32 min

    Chinese Room | Does AI Understand? Do LLMs?

    Can a computer truly understand language, or is it merely following rules and manipulating symbols without meaning? In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) dive deep into John Searle’s 1980 seminal paper introducing the Chinese Room thought experiment.They explore the distinction between Strong and Weak AI, break down the critical difference between syntax and semantics, and discuss whether modern Large Language Models (LLMs) are solving the understanding problem or just running a complex version of symbol retrieval. Along the way, they evaluate major objections to Searle—such as the Systems Reply and the Robot Reply—while examining real-world implications regarding AI agency, simulation vs. reality, and culpability.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/// References and Resources:// The BBC Explainer about the Chinese Room:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0MD4sRHj1M// @albertatech video on AI Code inside Google:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbsocBPkoUc// Reprint of Searle's original Chinese Room Paperhttps://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil201/Searle.pdf// Searle's follow up book:https://books.google.com/books/about/Intentionality.html?id=nAYGcftgT20C 00:00 - Introduction & Information Hazards00:45 - Introducing Searle's Chinese Room04:40 - Background on John Searle05:45 - Strong AI vs. Weak AI Defined09:10 - Hamburgers, Car Washes, and Contextual Understanding13:52 - Syntax vs. Semantics & Intentionality17:01 - Reading the Chinese Room Thought Experiment24:20 - Does the Person in the Room Understand?31:10 - Defining Understanding & Explanation39:12 - Substrates: Human Brains vs. Silicon Hardware46:42 - Anthropomorphic Language in Programming51:07 - Objection 1: The Systems Reply58:34 - LLMs as Advanced Search & Pattern Matching01:02:03 - Objection 2: The Robot Reply & Modalities01:07:44 - The Turing Test, AI Agency & Culpability01:14:45 - Simulation vs. Reality (Why Rainstorm Sims Don't Get Wet)01:20:08 - Dualism, Emergence, and the Horseshoe Theory of AI01:29:07 - Critique of the Name "The Chinese Room" & Sign-off#PhilosophyOfMind #ArtificialIntelligence #ChineseRoom #AIUnderstanding #PhilosophyPodcast #LLM #MachineLearning #TechPhilosophy

  • S1 · E8
    August 29 · 1 hr 18 min

    Coders Quitting AI? AI Slop PhDs?

    In this episode of Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts, Casey Hart ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) break down the growing backlash against AI in software development. Prompted by a viral testimonial from YouTuber "Brett Codes" ( @brettcodes ) about quitting AI entirely, they analyze the core arguments against generative tools: environmental impacts, developer apathy, lost craft, and codebase bloat. Drawing on Carl’s 35-year engineering career, they compare today's AI panic to the historical shifts toward compilers and package managers, exploring what it really means to adapt, maintain code quality, and stay relevant in an evolving tech landscape. Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com///Sources/References:// Brett's Videos we reference in this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZU3j4GQ4K8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6FZKrE-Hfo// The ELIZA effecthttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/25/joseph-weizenbaum-inventor-eliza-chatbot-turned-against-artificial-intelligence-ai// Mike Israetel dissertation breakdownhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elLI9PRn1gQ// Mike Israetel book declared AI slophttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dFugf0ySnc00:00 - Introduction & The AI Backlash Trend03:17 - Deconstructing "Brett Codes" & Quitting AI07:50 - The 4 Core Arguments Against AI09:30 - Medical Self-Diagnosis & AI Psychological Impact18:38 - Environmental Concerns: Water & Energy Use28:16 - Individual Action vs. Systemic Reform34:22 - Is AI Making Developers Worse at Coding?37:30 - Shifting Abstractions: From Assembler to AI44:10 - Developer Apathy & The Lost Craft of Coding48:22 - Business Impacts: Code Bloat & Quality Control56:56 - Systemic Fragility: What if AI Goes Away?01:03:15 - Existential Dread & The Portrait Painter Analogy01:11:44 - Slop Fatigue & The Real Developer Backlash01:16:00 - Final Thoughts & Takeaways#SoftwareEngineering #AICoding #Coding #WebDev #ArtificialIntelligence #TechPodcast #DeveloperLife #TechDebate

  • S1 · E7
    August 20 · 1 hr 43 min

    Computer Minds, Mike Levin & Panpsychism

    In this episode of Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts, Casey Hart ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) dive deep into biologist Michael Levin’s provocative claims about cognition in basic computer algorithms. Does a distributed bubble sort display "delayed gratification" or proto-cognitive desires? Or are these emergent properties simply artifacts of velocity differences, ill-defined terms, and after-the-fact p-hacking?Casey and Carl break down the computer science, philosophical frameworks (substrate independence, Platonic spaces, and supervenience), and the importance of rigorous, falsifiable hypothesis testing when crossing disciplinary boundaries.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com///Sources/References:// Lex Fridman Clip: https://youtu.be/jr1sNYY2t9A// Curt Jaimungal Video: https://youtu.be/_kuwwmFnxGY// The Secret Life of Algorithmshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/andreamorris/2025/11/13/the-secret-life-of-algorithms/ // BBC Youtube video on Chinese Roomhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0MD4sRHj1M//Thomas Kuhn on the History of Sciencehttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/00:00 - Introduction & The Delayed Gratification Claim01:00 - Meeting Dr. Michael Levin’s Bio & Ideas06:16 - Philosophical Foundations: Substrate Independence09:09 - The Scientific Method & Open Hypotheses10:50 - Platonism and Mathematical Realms14:42 - Levels of Selection and Supervenience19:39 - How Bubble Sort Works (Top-Down vs. Distributed)27:26 - Asynchronous Systems & The "6 Lines of Code" Myth34:23 - The Frozen Element: Delayed Gratification or Gradient Descent?43:20 - Multi-Algorithm Sorting & "Algotype" Clustering47:18 - Emergent Desires vs. Velocity & Algorithmic Artifacts59:50 - The Note Card Thought Experiment & The Chinese Room01:06:03 - Repeated Digits & Final Clustered States01:12:24 - Evaluating Levin’s Conclusion on Proto-Cognitive Systems01:20:38 - The "Free Compute" & Platonic Space Dilemma01:28:40 - Panpsychism, Coffee Cups, and Diluting the Meaning of Mind01:34:47 - Interdisciplinary Claims, Semantics, and Equivocation01:42:12 - Wrap Up#Philosophy #ComputerScience #MichaelLevin #Algorithms #Panpsychism #AIPhilosophy #Coding #Podcast

  • S1 · E7
    August 15 · 1 hr 11 min

    Hank Green and His AI Thing | Two AI Scandals | Ep 6 Pt 2

    In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown ( @InternetOfBugs ) dive deep into the recent controversy surrounding Hank Green and the broader fallout of using large language models (LLMs) in content creation.Prompted by the viral "I appreciate the pushback" incident, Casey and Carl dissect why audiences react so strongly to undisclosed AI usage, whether it stems from a breach of authenticity, quality degradation, or systemic distrust. Carl breaks down his own past interactions regarding SciShow’s coverage of AI, and both hosts have an open, transparent discussion on how they integrate AI tools into their own production workflows—from audio cleanup and research to SEO and script critique—without losing their personal voice.Finally, they tackle the critical question: Should everyday creators and individuals establish their own personal AI use policies?Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com///Sources/References:// Casey's video on Hank & Nate Soreshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXCAGStCOMA//Carl's video on Hank, SciShow and the "speed" of AI advancement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKyNdZz3Vw// Hank's video that caused the controversyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bwAv9Xdz8// Hank's mea culpa (& reporting on it)https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdfighters/comments/1vbmoj5/comment/p0vzmog/https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/youtuber-hank-green-says-his-ai-usage-is-not-healthy/// Hank's Nate Soares Interviewhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKuiuc5cJM// The SciShow AI video Carl took issue withhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90C3XVjUMqE// the SciShow Knitting video has been taken down. Here are some responses to it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5btQokB32dQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx1orbc-7MQ// Hank platforms Cal NewPort (Good for Hank, but Late)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MLbOulrLA0// Carl's video calling out Hank (in the Soares interview) for claiming AI can only ever get betterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Plo-zT8W9w// Video Carl was complaining about where people had a generational argument about the Hank Green situationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVT7MbRBiLY// "GEO" and "AEO" are the new "SEO"https://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/geo-vs-aeo-vs-seo-whats-the-difference-and-how-to-optimize-for-all-three.html// Israel Influencing LLMs? https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fd107677-6cf9-4ece-9e45-de16bbde8b4aChapter Markers00:00 - Introduction & The Hank Green Drama01:02 - How Hank Green Sparked Our Channel Collaboration04:16 - The "I Appreciate the Pushback" Scandal Explained09:14 - Hank Green’s Content Strengths vs. LLM Vulnerabilities11:08 - Carl’s Past SciShow Video & AI Narrative Disagreements16:26 - The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect in AI Reporting20:06 - Why Audiences Care: Popularity, Dishonesty, and Authenticity33:41 - The Real Problem: Loss of Diversity & AI Bias41:00 - Systemic Exploitation vs. Individual Responsibility48:43 - Live Transparency: How Casey and Carl Actually Use AI57:45 - The Risks of Offloading Cognitive Muscle to LLMs01:07:43 - Should You Have a Personal AI Policy?#HankGreen #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #AIEthics #ContentCreation #Podcast #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

  • S1 · E6
    August 13 · 46 min

    OpenAI HuggingFace Incident FollowUp | Two AI Scandals | Ep 6 Pt 1

    In this episode of Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts, Casey Hart ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown ( @InternetOfBugs ) break down the real technical story behind OpenAI's bots infiltrating Hugging Face's infrastructure and the subsequent Black Hat conference reveals.Carl explains why claims about LLMs "scheming," creating secret message boards, or building religions are human projections rather than true machine consciousness. We also dive into the myth that you need an LLM to defend against other LLMs, how "honey tokens" work, and why traditional security tools still reign supreme.// Our past episode on the OpenAI HuggingFace Incident:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIlm8O78M2c Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/Show Notes & Topics Discussed:* The OpenAI / Hugging Face security incident and Black Hat presentation* Faithfulness of LLM "Chain of Thought" reasoning logs* The message board myth vs. token caching behavior* Benchmarks like ExploitGym and the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy* The reality of AI security: Snort, Tripwire, and why LLM firewalls fail// Sources and references:// New Black Hat Hugging Face Break Down Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DyyMV0kCY// Chain of Thought isn't "Faithful" to what the LLMs actually dohttps://www.anthropic.com/research/reasoning-models-dont-say-thinkhttps://www.anthropic.com/research/measuring-faithfulness-in-chain-of-thought-reasoning//Carl's video on how people said Agents on MoltBook "Created a religion" in the same way they said the agents in this incident "Created a Message Board"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYfgjYVEYQ0// RadioLab Episode that Casey mentioned about how people make "separated at birth" stories more compelling by omitting things:https://radiolab.org/podcast/born-way/transcript// Microsoft's record breaking recent patch release:https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/microsoft-patches-record-622-flaws.htmlTimestamps / Chapter Markers:00:00 - The Fallacy of AI Defending Against AI00:30 - Welcome to Philosophy, Programs, and Prompts01:05 - Re-examining the Hugging Face Security Incident04:26 - Chain of Thought Logs: Are Thought Monologues Faithful?07:30 - Context Windows and Self-Fulfilling Loops10:00 - "Scheming" vs. Next-Token Prediction11:00 - The "AI Message Board" Myth Explained18:05 - Moltbook, Agent Religions, and Media Projection23:00 - Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy in AI Reporting25:35 - Are LLMs Actually Learning?28:40 - What Are Honey Tokens?31:45 - The Myth of the Anomaly Detection LLM34:50 - ExploitGym and Training Defenses vs. Attacks36:50 - Why Traditional Security (Tripwire/Snort) Beats LLMs42:05 - Why Haven't Rogue Frontier Models Broken the Internet?45:34 - Outro and Upcoming Hank Green Episode#ArtificialIntelligence #Cybersecurity #OpenAI #HuggingFace #TechPodcast #LLM #Infosec

  • S1 · E5
    August 6 · 1 hr 5 min

    Did Richard Dawkins confuse Sycophancy for Sentience?

    //////In this episode of Philosophy, Programs and Prompts, Casey ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl ( @InternetOfBugs ) break down Richard Dawkins’ recent article detailing his conversations with Claude ("Claudia"). They explore the nature of personhood, the limits of the Turing Test, evolutionary perspectives on consciousness, and why LLM ego-stroking might be leading smart people astray.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/00:00 - Are AI Models Persons?00:26 - The Dawkins Letter: When Dawkins Met Claude00:04:53 - A Glossary Disguised as AI Sentience00:06:58 - Table Read: Dawkins vs. Claudia00:10:48 - Sycophancy: Why LLMs Stroke Your Ego00:16:05 - Evolutionary Biology and Consciousness00:19:48 - The Ted Chiang Counterargument00:25:06 - Has AI Passed the Turing Test?00:27:30 - Why Benchmarks Fail at Testing Personhood00:34:00 - Can an Entity be Conscious Without Learning?00:44:46 - Defining Personhood & Psychological Continuity00:54:50 - Moral Agents vs. Moral Patients01:00:11 - Silicon Brains and the Existence of the Soul// Sources/References:// When Dawkins Met Claude: https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/?edition=us // Ted Chiang Article: https://www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2026/06/no-artificial-intelligence-is-not-conscious/687378/ // Yann LeCun on AI and Cats: https://observer.com/2024/02/metas-a-i-chief-yann-lecun-explains-why-a-house-cat-is-smarter-than-the-best-a-i/ // Discussion about Pain not being adaptive in plants: https://youtu.be/Xgd_bQ4Mscg?t=2076 // Discussion of Eliza - the old lisp program Carl ran into early in life that colored his idea of the Turing test: https://www.ijfmr.com/papers/2025/6/60365.pdf // Failure of the Human Brain Project: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/25/1032133/big-science-human-brain-failure/ // Article on Grok being used to fire missiles at Iran: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-grok-ai-iran-missiles-pentagon-b2997321.html // Article on Drones selecting their own targets: https://komersant.ua/en/ukrainski-drony-iz-shi-vzhe-sami-obyraiut-tsili-eksperty-poiasnyly-iak-tse-zminiuie-pravyla-suchasnoi-viyny/#AI #Philosophy #ArtificialIntelligence #RichardDawkins #ClaudeAI #TuringTest #Ethics #techpodcast

  • S1 · E4
    July 30 · 54 min

    Are LLMs "Alien" Digital Species? Built? Grown? Or What? Debunking the AI Hype

    In this episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts, Casey Hart ( @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown( @InternetOfBugs ) tackle the wild narratives surrounding artificial intelligence. Are Large Language Models really a "new digital species" or "alien intelligences" that are grown rather than built?Casey and Carl break down the economic speculation driving the AI space, address the hype from figures like Mustafa Suleiman and Nate Soares, and strip away the sensational metaphors. Carl explains how neural networks actually operate—comparing LLMs to compressed search indexes rather than biological entities—while Casey explores the philosophical implications around language, meaning, and the problem of other minds.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/// Episode References:// “A new digital species” –Mustafa Suleymon says it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKNCiRWd_j0&t=285s // “Grown versus built” –Hank Green and Nate Soareshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKuiuc5cJM&t=1097s// “This isn’t just AI. It’s ALIEN intelligence”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YZyxnQF1_E //LLMs Are Databases - So Query Them @chrishayuk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ppw8254nLI// The Human Brain project that spent hundreds of millions of Euros and a decade to try to map the human brain - and failed: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-tried-to-re-create-an-entire-human-brain-in-a-computer-what-happened/ //Incident where driverless car dragged a pedestrian it hit: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/how-gms-cruise-robotaxi-tech-failures-led-it-drag-pedestrian-20-feet-2024-01-26/00:00 - Introduction & The AI Investment Bubble04:56 - The "AI as Alien Species" Metaphor12:43 - Grown vs. Built: How Neural Networks Work25:01 - Demystifying the Black Box & Temperature32:46 - AI Architecture vs. Biological Minds37:00 - Do LLMs Understand Language?48:11 - Fallacies, Hype, and Conspiracy Theories50:56 - Final Takeaways: Search Tech, Not Aliens#ArtificialIntelligence #Podcast #TechHype #MachineLearning #philosophy

  • July 25 · 56 min

    Did ChatGPT go Rogue and HACK Hugging Face? - Emergency Episode

    "We've got people at Hugging Face that did a half-assed job of securing a thing, and we've got people at OpenAI that did a half-assed job of trying to keep a thing from being able to get on the internet..."Welcome to our first emergency episode of Philosophy Programs and Prompts! In this episode, Casey (‪@OntologyExplained‬) and Carl (‪@InternetOfBugs‬ ) break down the viral headlines claiming an OpenAI model "broke out of containment" and hacked Hugging Face. Was this truly a terrifying warning shot of rogue super-intelligence, or just a masterclass in corporate PR and lazy security engineering?We break down the technical reality behind the panic:- What a "zero-day" vulnerability actually is (and why a proxy cache isn't a firewall)- How benchmark tests like ExploitGym work—and why AI "cheating" is just an instruction problem- The "Blender Metaphor": why running industrial tools without a lid leads to messy stucco ceilings- Why media headlines misuse loaded words like "escaped" and "went rogue"- The real danger facing tech today: declining engineering competence and "vibe coded" softwareJoin us for a clear-eyed, realistic look at what actually happened behind the press releases.Subscribe for more grounded, hype-free takes from two real humans who know the tech!More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/Sources: // Hugging Face Blog:https://huggingface.co/blog/security-incident-july-2026// OpenAI Blog:https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-model-evaluation-security-incident/// Analogy with the Blender (from Luciano Floridi):https://medium.com/@lfloridi/the-emperors-new-exploit-2b062f124c06// Buck Shlegeris Youtube video Casey mentioned:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtk8YLgYU4g00:00 - Cold Open: Two Half-Assed Jobs & A Marketing Opportunity00:23 - Introduction: Emergency Episode Protocol00:40 - The Headlines: OpenAI, Hugging Face & The "Super AI Hack"03:00 - Tech Realities: Incompetence Masked as Super Intelligence06:30 - What is a Zero-Day Vulnerability? (CVEs & Responsible Disclosure)12:13 - OpenAI's Proxy Cache: Why a Bandwidth Saver isn't a Firewall14:14 - Hugging Face's Setup: "Trust Remote Code = True"16:02 - Defense in Depth 101: IBM Swift Sandbox Analogies18:45 - Logging Chaos: Chinese Models & Hallucinated Super AIs21:32 - ExploitGym Benchmarks: The Danger of Leaving Answer Keys Exposed26:50 - Turning Engineering Failures into Marketing Deck Slides29:38 - What Should ACTUALLY Scare Us? (Vibe-Coded Software & Dropping Competence)32:42 - Is This an Alignment Problem? (Instruction Flaws vs. Rogue AI)37:08 - The Blender Metaphor: Luciano Floridi & Loose Lids39:06 - Would the AI Have Killed Someone? Mechanics vs. Intentions42:23 - Language Minefields: Deconstructing "Escape," "Cheating," and "Agents"47:37 - The Chinese Room & Assigning Agency to Code Loops52:00 - The Cynical Take: Did They Leave the Door Open on Purpose?54:38 - Outro#OpenAI #HuggingFace #AISecurity #CyberSecurity #PhilosophyOfAI #TechReality #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

  • S1 · E3
    July 24 · 47 min

    Virtue Ethics in the Age of AI Slop & Erotic Chatbots [Fixed Audio]

    [Note: this was re-released, and it fixes Casey's audio. Content remains unchanged.] Welcome back to Philosophy Programs and Prompts! In this episode, Casey ( ⁨@OntologyExplained⁩ ) and Carl ( ⁨@InternetOfBugs⁩ ) dive into AI Virtue Ethics. Instead of debating whether AI is trained ethically or if it will one day become a sentient deity, we focus on the grounded reality of today: How does using generative AI actually shape our character as human beings? We explore the classic frameworks of normative ethics—deontology, consequentialism, and Aristotle's "Golden Mean"—to evaluate our daily interactions with tech. From the clear benefits of AI accessibility tools and coding "spikes" to the risks of skill atrophy, resume signal collapse, and "AI slop", we break down where AI acts as a genuine superpower versus where it becomes a lazy crutch. How do we maintain our unique human voice and critical thinking without becoming anti-tech "old men yelling at clouds"? Tune in for a thoughtful, practical discussion on navigating AI without losing your mind—or your virtues.More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/00:00 - Cold Open: The Danger of Erotic Chatbots00:21 - Introduction & Defining AI Virtue Ethics01:23 - Ethical Frameworks: Deontology, Consequentialism & Virtue03:34 - What We're NOT Covering: Training Data & Sentient AI05:30 - The Virtues of AI: Lowering Barriers & Accessibility08:17 - Meeting Notes & The Risk of Brain Atrophy12:14 - Tools as Crutches: Calculators, Handwriting & Memory15:48 - The Cheating Epidemic & Skill Muscles in Education18:28 - Beginners vs. Experts: Extreme Programming & "Spikes"22:00 - The Vices of AI: Laziness, Plagiarism & Procrastination25:56 - Logical Fallacies: Appeal to Tradition vs. Novelty27:23 - Dark Side: Fraud, Deepfakes & Interpersonal Mediation29:18 - Signal Collapse: Resumes, Bug Reports & Disinformation34:56 - The Model Collapse Cycle & Curation in the Arts37:41 - Practical Solutions: Reflective Use & Marking AI Content42:05 - Aristotle’s Golden Mean: Finding the Sweet Spot45:00 - Chatbot Sycophancy vs. Human Originality47:27 - Outro: Don't Become AI Slop#VirtueEthics #PhilosophyOfAI #AIEthics #TechReality #SoftwareEngineering #AISlop #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

  • S1 · E2
    July 20 · 1 hr 10 min

    Artificial Super Intelligence

    "We're not going to be able to kill it. We're not going to be able to stop it..."Welcome back to Philosophy Programs and Prompts. In this episode, Casey and Carl take a hard, realistic look at Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). While tech founders and doomer non-profits stand to gain massive clicks and capital by pitching a looming, god-like AI deity, the actual engineering constraints paint a completely different story. We deconstruct the core arguments driving the ASI panic: from the flawed chess masters analogy to the physical impossibility of infinite recursive self-improvement. More importantly, we discuss how abstract "human extinction" narratives are actively distracting us from real, pressing AI harms happening right now—including deepfakes, non-consensual intimate imagery, and mental health crises. Grounded in real-world software engineering and academic philosophy, we explore why an AI god won't fix global resource allocation, and why power disparities will likely remain human-led endeavors. Subscribe for more balanced, clear-eyed takes on the state of AI from two real humans who actually know the tech.#ArtificialSuperIntelligence #AIHype #PhilosophyOfAI #SoftwareEngineering #TechReality #Deepfakes #AIDoomers00:00:00 Introduction: Welcome to Episode 2 00:01:53 Defining Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) 00:05:33 Narrow vs. Broad: Rhetorical Obfuscation in Tech 00:07:44 Deconstructing the Chess Analogy 00:18:31 The real world isn't a repeatable loop00:27:08 Why "Vibe Coding" Fails the Test of Time 00:29:17 The Myth of Infinite Exponential Growth 00:37:46 The Three-Body Problem & Chaos Theory in Tech 00:45:33 The Neural Connection Dilemma & Brain Failures 00:55:36 The Extinction Narrative vs. Present Day AI Harms 00:58:59 Intentional Distractions: The Bad Faith Pitch 01:03:36 The Presupposition of Abundance & Power Disparities

  • S1 · E1
    July 20 · 48 min

    The AGI Over/Under

    Welcome to the very first episode of Philosophy, Programs and Prompts!In this inaugural episode, hosts Casey Hart (a PhD ontologist building graph data models from @OntologyExplained ) and Carl Brown (a veteran software engineer from @InternetOfBugs ) team up to cut through the massive corporate hype and apocalyptic doom surrounding Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).As two real humans with deep industry expertise, they place their bets on an AGI gambling line—explaining why we shouldn't expect human-level machine intelligence until at least 2075. They dive into the mechanics of how Large Language Models (LLMs) use multi-dimensional vector spaces, debate whether "usage" equals true "understanding," and look back at history to see how AI fits into the long legacy of human automation.Grab a seat, lower your pulse, and join a balanced, conversational, and deeply honest exploration of where AI is actually headed. Don't forget to subscribe and leave your questions or title suggestions in the comments for future episodes!00:00 - Prelude: When Will We Have AGI?00:18 - Welcome to Philosophy, Programs and Prompts01:09 - How Casey and Carl Met (The YouTube Algorithm)02:06 - Host Bios: Ontological Graphs vs. Software Rescue06:50 - Full Disclosure: Financial Stakes in the AI Boom10:14 - Defining AI and Navigating Changing Definitions13:42 - What is AGI? (Narrow AI vs. General Intelligence)18:00 - The Over/Under: Placing Bets on 2070–207522:46 - Why LLMs Don’t "Learn" Like Humans Do24:50 - The Turing Test & Vector Spaces: Usage vs. Meaning32:56 - History Repeats Itself: AI as an Automation Tool36:49 - How the Internet Changed Programming Jobs41:15 - OpenAI, Scaling Walls, and Moving Past "Attention"44:00 - Lessons from Telephone Operators: Easing Social Transitions47:43 - Wrap Up: Send Us Your Comments and Questions!Carl's video on the meaning of "AI": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ajyr5VzS0 More info about Casey:https://CaseyHart.com/More info about Carl:https://InternetOfBugs.com/#AGI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIHype #TechPodcast #PhilosophyOfAI #FutureOfTech #LLM #SoftwareEngineering #NewPodcast #PhilosophyProgramsAndPrompts

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