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Every Sunday, a new lecture. Our meeting begins at 9:00 AM with an informal conversation, followed by a focused dialogue at 9:15 AM, and an open Q&A afterward.

This week, we move from asking what intelligence is to asking what intelligence does. If intelligence is not merely a private mental capacity but something that restructures environments, institutions, and behavior, then its consequences are political, ethical, and civilizational. Intelligence does not just solve problems, but rather it reshapes the conditions under which decisions are made and lives are governed.

We begin with Luciano Floridi, who argues that intelligence reshapes the environment in which humans, machines, institutions, and norms interact. Intelligence, on this view, is not an inner trait but an ecological force that reorganizes information flows, responsibilities, and moral relationships. As artificial systems increasingly act within the infosphere, questions of agency, accountability, and ethical design become unavoidable.

We then turn to Shoshana Zuboff, who examines how intelligence systems are used to optimize prediction, control, and behavioral modification. In surveillance capitalism, intelligence is not aimed at understanding human meaning or flourishing, but at extracting behavioral surplus and steering future action. The danger is not intelligent machines becoming conscious, but intelligence becoming unaccountable, systems that know about us without being responsive to us.

Next, we consider Nick Bostrom, who focuses on the strategic dynamics of advanced intelligence. His concern is less about smarter machines than about the speed, scale, and coordination advantages they introduce. Intelligence accelerates decision-making beyond traditional human governance structures, amplifying power asymmetries and straining institutions built for deliberation, restraint, and moral reflection.

Finally, we look to THX 1138, which offers a stark illustration of intelligence governing behavior without understanding. Here, optimization replaces judgment. Systems regulate emotion, productivity, and compliance not through comprehension, but through efficiency. The result is a society that functions smoothly while hollowing out freedom, individuality, and moral agency.

Together, these perspectives reveal a shared insight: intelligence is not neutral. Whether ecological, economic, strategic, or bureaucratic, intelligence reorganizes the conditions of human life. The central question is no longer whether intelligence exists, but who it serves, how it governs, and what it displaces.

This has profound implications for artificial intelligence. If intelligence restructures the infosphere, optimizes behavior, outpaces governance, and governs without understanding, then the challenge is not building smarter systems but designing limits, accountability, and forms of judgment that intelligence alone cannot provide. What kinds of intelligence preserve human dignity rather than bypass it? And what institutional forms can slow, interpret, and constrain optimization?

Join Plato’s Cave and the Orlando Stoics for a discussion on intelligence, power, governance, and the ethical foundations of an increasingly optimized world.

READING & VIEWING MATERIALS
Luciano Floridi
Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciano_Floridi
The Infosphere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infosphere
Information Ethics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_ethics

Shoshana Zuboff
Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshana_Zuboff
Surveillance Capitalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism

Nick Bostrom
Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bostrom
Existential Risk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk
Superintelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintelligence

THX 1138 (1971)
Film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138

TIMEZONES
6:00 AM — Pacific (USA)
7:00 AM — Mountain (USA)
8:00 AM — Central (USA)
9:00 AM — Eastern (USA)
For other locations: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com

The meeting begins at 9:00 AM Eastern, with dialogue starting at 9:15 AM sharp.

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