Existential Comics

03 Feb 2025 19:30

In The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin makes the argument that all technological progress more or less belongs to everyone.
We simply find ourselves existing in the modern world that inherits the efforts of billions of people to make it livable for us, spanning tens of thousands of years. The very land we live on has been cultivated by our ancestors to make it suitable to farming. Technology created in the past is handed to us to work this land. The crops we grow have been selectively bred for thousands of years to feed us. Animals like sheep and cows exist, which are nothing like their natural selves, having their DNA altered by the long slow efforts of our fore bearers. All this work belongs to all of us, but often the capitalist comes in at the last moment to buy the land, buy the animals, and patent the last 0.0001% of technological improvement to some contraption. From this ownership they are allowed to control everything.
For modern technology, the process has been somewhat shorter (although you can argue that scientific and philosophical thinkers for the last couple thousand years have been necessary to develop any technology, i.e. without Aristotle's labor there would be no Super Nintendo). However the same situation has occurred, literally billions of man-hours have been spent just on the software side to create operating systems which are free and open and given to capitalists (such as the Linux kernel and ecosystem). All of this work, as well as the scientific work to create the hardware, represents 99.9999% of the work to create something like OpenAI, and it belongs to all of us. From this, they spend a small amount of money to create a system, and in their case they also train their model off the additional billions of hours of man-hours in writing text, producing knowledge, and creating art, and then they seize control of the output of this work, and use it exclusively for private gain.
Anyway, I could go on, but the gist of it is that Kropotkin thinks this is bad. Some people would call this a bad system.

Existential Comics

03 Feb 2025 19:30

Resident Philosopher for AI Ethics - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

27 Jan 2025 19:30

The main problem with Aristotle is that, being a nerd, he thinks you get virtue from reading books, and not from punching stuff.

Existential Comics

20 Jan 2025 19:30

I know it's hard to imagine, but I've even heard that some people like to leave the house and socialize.

Existential Comics

13 Jan 2025 18:30

Also I finally joined Mastodon, so follow me here: mastodon.social/@existentialcomics

Existential Comics

13 Jan 2025 18:30

Time Traveling Intellectuals - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

06 Jan 2025 18:30

Cartesian Pickup Advice - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

30 Dec 2024 18:30

Nietzsche Encounters the Abyss - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

23 Dec 2024 23:30

I heard all the big insurance companies were so afraid of copycats that they hardly denied any claims for the first few weeks, which makes this a legitmate trolley problem as more lives have probably already been saved than one.

Existential Comics

16 Dec 2024 19:30

"Can I speak with the manager?"
"Yes, this is Bertrand Russell."
"As a member of the set of all sets that do not contain themselves, and I demand..."

Existential Comics

09 Dec 2024 18:30

Juan Amiguet is a $100 patron on Patreon, if you want to give me a $100 a month you too can have cartoon Slavoj Zizek calling you and idiot. Buy now while the offer lasts!

Existential Comics

09 Dec 2024 18:30

Zizek Gets a Business Loan - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

02 Dec 2024 18:30

Pragmatists are well known for their ability to bully nerds, that's just a matter of historical record.

Existential Comics

25 Nov 2024 19:30

But at least he wasn't wrong. It's better to be on fire than to be wrong, when you think about it.

Existential Comics

18 Nov 2024 19:30

It could be worse though, imagine you were in a group of Theater Dorks and they were always trying to put on little skits and do improv to pass the time.

Existential Comics

03 Feb 2025 19:30

They ended up going with the guy who told them it was their moral obligation to make as much money as possible so they could give a bit back to charity after, for uh...altruism or something.

Existential Comics

27 Jan 2025 19:30

This is what Aristotle had to say about camels, in case you were curious:

The male camel declines intercourse with its mother; if his keeper tries compulsion, he evinces disinclination. On one occasion, when intercourse was being declined by the young male, the keeper covered over the mother and put the young male to her; but, when after the intercourse the wrapping had been removed, though the operation was completed and could not be revoked, still by and by he bit his keeper to death. A story goes that the king of Scythia had a highly-bred mare, and that all her foals were splendid; that wishing to mate the best of the young males with the mother, he had him brought to the stall for the purpose; that the young horse declined; that, after the mother’s head had been concealed in a wrapper he, in ignorance, had intercourse; and that, when immediately afterwards the wrapper was removed and the head of the mare was rendered visible, the young horse ran way and hurled himself down a precipice.

Existential Comics

27 Jan 2025 19:30

The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

20 Jan 2025 19:30

The History of What is the Good Life - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

13 Jan 2025 18:30

"But wait, you haven't listened to my argument yet about how the pit of despair decreases overall happiness!"

Existential Comics

06 Jan 2025 18:30

Cartesian incel: If your eyes have been deceived once (by a woman wearing makeup), then how can you ever trust your senses again?

Existential Comics

30 Dec 2024 18:30

Freud is funny because he only stole the bad ideas from Nietzsche.

Existential Comics

23 Dec 2024 23:30

Pretty self explanatory comic. "If I speak I am in big trouble", as they say.

Existential Comics

23 Dec 2024 23:30

Health Insurance Trolley - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

16 Dec 2024 19:30

The Philosophy Store - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

09 Dec 2024 18:30

Yes, some bankers are quite clever in their own way, but being willing to collapse the economy so you can buy a summer house is in fact very stupid.

Existential Comics

02 Dec 2024 18:30

Philosophers like Locke and Spinoza in the 17th century argued a lot about whether knowledge comes from rationalism (i.e. thinking about stuff) or empiricism (i.e. looking at stuff). Many took hard line stances that all knowledge comes essentially from only one of the two. It wasn't until philosophers like William James in the 19th century came along that people started to think of knowledge differently, in a more social way. James more or less held that knowledge is merely what works in the world, and progress comes from agreement among a community of thinkers as to what works.
This kind of thinking, along with the more scientific thinking which puts theories to direct testing, is somewhat similar to how sports like MMA changed martial arts by simply testing what actually worked in the real world (which happens to be conking people's heads together like coconuts).

Existential Comics

02 Dec 2024 18:30

Empiricism vs Rationalism: the Final Fight - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

25 Nov 2024 19:30

The Philosophy of Fire - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

18 Nov 2024 19:30

Philosophy in 5000 B.C. - Existential Comics