Conspicuous Cognition

How AI Will Reshape Public Opinion

Social media democratised public opinion, shifting influence away from elites and experts to ordinary people. LLMs will partly reverse this trend. They…

Mar 3 • Dan Williams

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February 2026

AI Sessions #9: The Case Against AI Consciousness (with Anil Seth)

Watch now | What is it like to be a ChatGPT?

Feb 17 • Dan Williams

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What Kind Of Apes Are We?

This is a guest post by David Pinsof, who writes the excellent ‘Everything is Bullshit’ Substack.

Feb 16 • David Pinsof

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Why Have Academics Failed To Study Social Justice Ideology?

This is a guest post by Thomas Prosser (who writes at The Path Not Taken) and Edmund King (who writes at Paroxysms) about their very interesting new…

Feb 11 • Thomas Prosser and Edmund King

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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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