Essays

To know, is to know that you know nothing.
That is the meaning of true knowledge.”

Socrates

Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Cargo Cult Ontology: The Hollow Mimicry of Scientific Legitimacy

Much as cargo cults on remote islands built facsimiles of airports and control towers in the hope that this would summon the material wealth associated with them, “cargo cult ontologists” construct the outer trappings of serious inquiry—technical terms, appeals to “natural law,” references to biology or neuroscience—without ever engaging in the rigorous validation that genuine ontological or scientific work demands.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Empathy and Oppression

Society’s progress is an illusion if it remains piecemeal and conditional. This piercing essay dismantles the myth of empathy as a selective gift, exposing how marginalization—whether of autistic people, women, LGBTQ+ communities, or any Other—is built on the same mechanisms of bias and subjugation.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Beyond the Diagnosis

This essay challenges the over-reliance on diagnoses as justification for accommodations, arguing that individual needs should take precedence over diagnostic labels. It critiques how the use of diagnoses distorts the purpose of accommodations, turning the process into a bureaucratic contest rather than a focus on genuine support.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

The Asymmetry of Tolerance and Intolerance

In a society built on tolerance, there remains an inherent paradox: how can we tolerate those who seek to destroy tolerance itself? This essay explores the asymmetry between tolerance and intolerance, arguing that the intolerant, by making the first move to exclude and oppress, justify their own exclusion.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

The AI Energy Debate: A Capitalist Conundrum

The discourse surrounding the energy consumption of artificial intelligence (AI) often fixates on the technology itself, deflecting from the fundamental issue: capitalism's inherent inefficiency in energy utilization.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Task Offloading

From the domestication of animals to the advent of artificial intelligence, this concept has shaped our physical and cognitive capabilities, influencing our societal structures and cultural practices.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Ego and Existence

There exists a phenomenon that everyone perceives but seldom acknowledges—a phenomenon that evokes fear when contemplated.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

The Idolatry of Misunderstood Reverence

Idolatry, in its essence, is the act of worshipping the shadow without understanding the sculpture's role. This concept transcends historical contexts, from ancient sun worship to contemporary monotheistic religions, and even extends to our modern scientific knowledge.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

One Hundred Years of Peace

In examining nearly a century of history, this essay addresses how peace can unwittingly foster conditions ripe for the return of regressive ideologies.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Exploring the Role of Motor Cortex Networks in Extended Cognition

This essay discusses the insights from motor cortex research and its implications for extended cognition. It presents an examination of how our understanding of the brain's interaction with external tools can expand the boundaries of cognitive science, offering new perspectives on the integration of technology and human cognition.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Understanding Transformers: A Journey Through Semantic Space

Imagine each piece of text as a unique point in a vast, multi-dimensional space. As a transformer model generates text, it can be visualized as taking a step through this semantic space. By tracing this path, we gain insights into how the model navigates the intricacies of language, adapting its course to the evolving context.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

The Immortality Conundrum

Imagine a world where aging is but a relic of the past, a condition cured and forgotten, granting humanity the gift of biological immortality.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

The Fruit of Knowledge

This essay posits that the so-called act of disobedience—the eating of the forbidden fruit—is not an event to be lamented but celebrated as a necessary step in the evolutionary ladder of human growth. It marks the beginning of knowledge, experience, and, most importantly, the capacity for making moral choices.

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Michiel van der Velde Michiel van der Velde

Beyond the Chinese Room

This essay aims to invalidate the Chinese Room's skepticism towards AI's potential for understanding and to argue for the feasibility of developing AI systems that more closely mirror the interconnected and specialized networks found in the human brain.

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