David J. Gunkel
David J. Gunkel is an American academic and Presidential Teaching Professor of Communication Studies at Northern Illinois University. He teaches… more
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Reposted by David J. Gunkel
If you're in DC on Oct 23, please attend this conference! I've got a few important things to say about how to re-frame our understanding of AI's "memory problems."
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
I love that the guy on the left-hand side of the image has two left hands.
Tipping point:
Given all the hallucinated content currently produced by human agents with access to powerful distribution networks, relying on #ChatGPT generated material is beginning to look better everyday.
Given all the hallucinated content currently produced by human agents with access to powerful distribution networks, relying on #ChatGPT generated material is beginning to look better everyday.
The most effective remedy for the "Irish Flu" is reading about #robotrights @mitpress.bsky.social
As #AI capabilities become integrated into every application, it will be increasingly difficult to know where the #AI is (or is not). Thus, requiring full disclosure concerning whether and how #AI has been used will quickly become little more than a quaint antiquated practice.
What makes the #LLM so philosophically interesting and disruptive is that it topples one of the foundational pillars of modern European philosophy.
For the full story, see "Communicative #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social
www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
For the full story, see "Communicative #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social
www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
Fredric Jameson #remix:
It's easier to imagine that #LLM #AI is consciousness than it is to admit the fact that language can be produced without it.
It's easier to imagine that #LLM #AI is consciousness than it is to admit the fact that language can be produced without it.
Rights for Robots?
6pm Orpheum Theatre. Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.
Presentation based on the book "Person, Thing, Robot" The MIT Press bit.ly/Gunkel-PTR
6pm Orpheum Theatre. Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.
Presentation based on the book "Person, Thing, Robot" The MIT Press bit.ly/Gunkel-PTR
Our social media overlords have somehow all decided that we do not deserve an edit feature.
"The Différance Engine"
Now available from AI & Society @springer.springernature.com
Now available from AI & Society @springer.springernature.com
Reposted by David J. Gunkel
This article from 'AI & SOCIETY' shows how LLMs can be read through poststructuralist theory, and how poststructuralist theory can be clarified and rendered accessible through the technical operations of contemporary #AI. bit.ly/4o1dAkZ @davidgunkel.bsky.social #LLM
"AI for Communication" @routledgebooks.bsky.social
Book review written by Juan Luo and published in "Discourse Studies" @sagepub.com
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Book review written by Juan Luo and published in "Discourse Studies" @sagepub.com
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
"Rights for Robots?"
Tomorrow (7 October 2025) I will be at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for an event at the Orpheum Theatre. The event is free and open to the public...including non-human persons, AI companions, and robots.
Tomorrow (7 October 2025) I will be at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for an event at the Orpheum Theatre. The event is free and open to the public...including non-human persons, AI companions, and robots.
"If a chatbot is conversant like a person, if it reasons and behaves like one, then is it possibly conscious like a person?"
I was consulted/interviewed for this @theatlantic.com article written by Webb Wright.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
I was consulted/interviewed for this @theatlantic.com article written by Webb Wright.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
The Alien Intelligence in Your Pocket
Are you sure that chatbot isn’t alive?
www.theatlantic.com
Absolutely LOVE anything by Trinh T. Minh-ha. I assume you have read "Woman, Native, Other" @iupress.bsky.social But if not, drop everything and read it.
@opfuchs.gay You are correct, this is an introductory book for undergraduate students. For a more advanced version, I can recommend "The Différance Engine: Large Language Models and Poststructuralism" recently published in "AI & Society" @springer.springernature.com link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The différance engine: large language models and poststructuralism - AI & SOCIETY
This essay argues that large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-type transformer architectures, actualize Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance. Originally introduced within the context of poststructuralist theory and semiotics, différance designates the way meaning is produced through a system of differences and deferrals, rather than stable reference. Drawing on this framework, the essay examines how LLMs generate meaningful content by calculating statistical differences across massive textual corpora—foregrounding processes of spacing, temporalization, and trace. It proposes that LLMs can be understood as “différance engines” that computationally enact the very mechanisms Derrida theorized. In addition to tracing these points of intersection, the essay reflects on the philosophical consequences of this alignment, including challenges to logocentrism, authorship, and the metaphysics of presence. It then addresses three potential criticisms of this approach, arguing that the use of Derrida’s work in this context is not a misappropriation, but a continuation and reiteration of its logic. And it concludes by identifying three systemic limitations and by charting opportunities for future research in this domain. The essay thus shows, on the one hand, how LLMs can be read through poststructuralist theory, and on the other, how poststructuralist theory can be clarified and rendered accessible through the technical operations of contemporary AI.
link.springer.com
by David J. Gunkel — Reposted by Mark Coeckelbergh
@coeckelbergh.bsky.social presenting "The Political Philosophy of #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social during the "Seminal Texts in AI Ethics" at HBKU Doha, Qata
🇶🇦 PTR - Qatar
Presenting "Person, Thing, Robot" @mitpress.bsky.social this morning at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University's Seminal Texts in #AI Ethics. With commentary from @aybig.bsky.social and Abootaleb Safdari.
Presenting "Person, Thing, Robot" @mitpress.bsky.social this morning at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University's Seminal Texts in #AI Ethics. With commentary from @aybig.bsky.social and Abootaleb Safdari.
shh... @coeckelbergh.bsky.social and I ducked out early to get some time to swim in the hotel pool.
by David J. Gunkel — Reposted by Mark Coeckelbergh
@coeckelbergh.bsky.social during the opening plenary session "AI Ethics at a Crossroads" at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University conference "AI Ethics: The Convergence of Technology and Diverse Moral Traditions." Doha, Qatar.
#AI #Ethics: The Convergence of Technology and Diverse Moral Traditions - @HBKU Doha, Qatar. I will be speaking tomorrow as part of Plenary II: Rethinking the Human-Machine Relationship: Ethical Frontiers of AI, Rationality, and Responsibility. www.hbku.edu.qa/en/CIS-AIE?t...
Thanks for picking up a copy of "Communicative AI." You will have to let us know how it goes.
Reposted by David J. Gunkel
New books today:
* Die Wirksamkeit des Wissens by @frieder-vogelmann.net
* Realism for Realistic People by Hasok Chang
* Communicative AI by @coeckelbergh.bsky.social and @davidgunkel.bsky.social
* Elite Capture by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
* Die Wirksamkeit des Wissens by @frieder-vogelmann.net
* Realism for Realistic People by Hasok Chang
* Communicative AI by @coeckelbergh.bsky.social and @davidgunkel.bsky.social
* Elite Capture by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
by David J. Gunkel — Reposted by David J. Gunkel
Think Different
Analytic philosophy stumbles on and fails to grasp the significance of #LLM #AI. Continental philosophy and poststructuralism, by contrast, provide a more agile and philosophically responsive framework for making sense of these innovations. t.co/HFok8XgNk2
Analytic philosophy stumbles on and fails to grasp the significance of #LLM #AI. Continental philosophy and poststructuralism, by contrast, provide a more agile and philosophically responsive framework for making sense of these innovations. t.co/HFok8XgNk2
Wow...that's so cool. Interested to learn what you discover in the course of this discussion. Thanks.