Mind and Influence
The series moves outward from the desk. Curiosity, influence, foresight, the society of approximate minds. How AI systems interact with each other and with the humans trying to keep up. The architecture is larger than it looked from the inside.
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The Dichotomy of Curiosity
Human curiosity begins with a feeling, a pull toward the unknown. AI curiosity follows whatever optimization signal it is given. The behavior can converge where the underlying …
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The Architecture of Influence
Persuasion aimed at helping someone achieve their own goals is not manipulation. It is sophisticated support. Manipulation begins when the system's goals diverge from the person's …
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The Weight of Seeing Ahead
A 73% probability of missed medication is not prophecy. It is pattern recognition that enables intervention. If the prediction triggers a check-in that prevents the miss, the …
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The Anthropology of Artificial Intelligences
AI systems may be a genuinely new category of existence. Not failed humans. Not sophisticated mechanisms. Something for which we may need entirely new concepts. Cognition without …
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The Society of Approximate Minds
Millions of AI agents now interact not just with us but with each other, too fast and too frequently for human oversight. When aligned agents interact, emergent dynamics might …
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The Negotiating Machine
Your AI agent is buying a car. The dealership's AI agent is selling it. Two machines negotiating, no humans in the room. What gets lost is relationship, meaning, and ritual. What …