Conspicuous Cognition

We Are Confused, Maladapted Apes Who Need Enlightenment

With Homo sapiens, Darwinian evolution produced a new kind of animal: a species that builds worlds it struggles to understand.

Feb 2 • Dan Williams

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January 2026

AI Sessions #8: Misinformation, Social Media, and Deepfakes (with Sacha Altay)

Watch now | Henry and I chat with Dr Sacha Altay about:

Jan 23 • Dan Williams

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The harder it is to find the truth, the easier it is to lie to ourselves

A simple observation with complex implications

Jan 12 • Dan Williams

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AI Sessions #7: How Close is "AGI"?

Listen now | And does the concept even make sense?

Jan 9 • Dan Williams

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2025: Review and Recommendations

My top ten essays, how I use AI to read, and my favourite books, articles, and more.

Jan 5 • Dan Williams

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December 2025

Tribalism Corrupts Politics (Even When One Side Is Worse)

Opposing the far right isn’t an excuse to indulge our tribal instincts.

Dec 29, 2025 • Dan Williams

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AI Sessions #6: AI Companions and Consciousness

Watch now | A deep dive into the philosophy, ethics, politics, social science, and likely future of human-AI relationships.

Dec 20, 2025 • Dan Williams

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America's epistemological crisis (reprise)

Polarization, populism, and perspective

Dec 14, 2025 • Dan Williams

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AI Sessions #5: How AI Broke Education

Watch now (56 mins) | How can AI help with learning and education? And does it pose an extinction-level threat to the teaching and assessment models…

Dec 4, 2025 • Dan Williams

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November 2025

Let's Not Bring Back The Gatekeepers

The challenge for the liberal establishment in the social media era is simple: persuade or perish. If you can’t control the public conversation, you…

Nov 30, 2025 • Dan Williams

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AI Sessions #4: The Social AI Revolution - Friendship, Romance, and the Future of Human Connection

Watch now | Is it possible to have a meaningful relationship with a machine? Should we be creating chatbots that represent our dead relatives? Why is…

Nov 20, 2025 • Dan Williams

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On Becoming Less Left-Wing (Part 1) (unpaywalled)

Evolution, economics, political psychology, social epistemology, and progress.

Nov 16, 2025 • Dan Williams

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