Conspicuous Cognition

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

81

5

10

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

109

31

38

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

10

5

6

1:07:04

America's epistemological crisis (reprise)

Polarization, populism, and perspective

Dec 14, 2025 • Dan Williams

111

19

15

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

53

16

18

55:56

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

296

106

105

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

30

1

8

1:11:56

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

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

Nov 16, 2025 • Dan Williams

399

11

68

AI Sessions #3: The Truth About AI and the Environment

Watch now | Examining AI's true environmental impact, the 'stochastic parrot' debate, effective altruism, technological determinism, and all the ways we…

Nov 2, 2025 • Dan Williams and Andy Masley

36

11

7

1:41:06

October 2025

On Highbrow Misinformation

On issues like climate change, gender, race, and crime, establishment journalism and punditry are often misleading. One can acknowledge this without…

Oct 26, 2025 • Dan Williams

302

62

100

Should We Blame Institutional Failures For MAGA Insanity?

No. Well, maybe a tiny bit. But mostly, no. (Conversation with Yassine Meskhout).

Oct 19, 2025 • Dan Williams and Yassine Meskhout

24

3

5

1:11:18

AI Sessions #2: Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness - A Deep Dive

Watch now | In this conversation, Dan Williams and Henry Shevlin explore the complex and multifaceted topic of AI consciousness.

Oct 14, 2025 • Dan Williams

26

7

1:19:21