TW: sexual violence Sex robots, which are artificially intelligent (AI) technology encased in physical bodies that resemble human (predominantly female) forms for sexual purposes, pose one of the most contentious issues in a time of remarkable technological advancement. The current state of sex robot technology falls short of the humanoid robots depicted in movies and TV shows. Nevertheless, some less advanced sex robots are available in the market. For a price of $6000 or more, one can acquire a RealDoll, a realistic and customisable doll, usually a sex doll, that can be connected to an AI-e ..read more

The recent escalation in the Israeli-Hamas conflict, notably the attack on October 7, 2023, has revived critical discussions around the multifaceted and enduring conflict between Israel and Hamas. This resurgence of violence calls for a nuanced exploration of the moral dimensions, anchoring the debate in a profound moral imperative for a ceasefire. This need for cessation of hostilities transcends the immediacy of political gains, urging us to consider the long-term consequences of the ongoing conflict. Over the years, the sporadic conflicts between Israel and Hamas - in 2008, 2012, 2014 ..read more

TW: Domestic violence, violent sex On February 15th 2014, professional football player Ray Rice was arrested for assault after an altercation with his fiancée Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City hotel[1].  By February 19th, celebrity news site TMZ had published footage of the incident which appeared to show Rice dragging Palmer’s unconscious body from an elevator. By September, footage from inside the elevator had surfaced, this time showing Rice knocking Palmer out with a punch; the blow knocks her off her feet and she hits her head on the hand rail[2]. Unsurprisingly, the public ..read more

Step into a world where art meets artificial intelligence, where creativity intertwines with cutting-edge technology. The realm of fashion, long the domain of innovative designers, is now witnessing a riveting revolution spurred by Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). These powerful algorithms have sparked debates about the future of fashion- will they herald the demise of traditional fashion designers or elevate their craft to unprecedented heights? I will argue that GANs can never attain true creativity, and thus that human designers will always be needed – however, using GANs may enhanc ..read more

In a surprising turn of events, Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” has been declared the winner of Argentina’s recent presidential election. It’s a notable outcome, as there are few anarchists of any stripe involved in electoral politics, and certainly none that have been elected president. However, many anarchists will find Milei’s success aggravating. Historically, the anarchist movement has been composed of libertarian socialists who oppose private property, markets, and the inequality that capitalism produces. Thus, Milei becoming the public face of anarchism threatens t ..read more

Former FED chairman Paul Volcker once said that “about every ten years we have the greatest crisis in 50 years”. 2023, it seems, will not see a global financial meltdown –a welcome prospect considering the year’s already long list of crises. However, bankers and regulators temporarily braced themselves back in March when Silicon Valley Bank threatened to close its doors. The saga of this California bank sent shockwaves through the banking industry and brought the questions of financial regulation back into the spotlight. Much as in 2007/2008, the government stepped in to provide a bailout to ..read more

Effective altruism is a movement that believes we should help others as much as possible. This may sound like a bland statement of the morally obvious. But one does not need to spend long in this world to see that it is nothing of the sort. Most people spend most of their time looking out for themselves and their families. When they do try to help others, most people have a bias towards the cute, or the nearby, or the well-advertised, or the traditional, or those who look like them, even when they could help others more. Many charitable and political organisations who claim to help people fai ..read more

How the profit motive stages a theatre of ethics washing in Artificial Intelligence There is a burgeoning wave of start-ups and tech projects that can be loosely described as responsible AI. Without fail, each of these new projects promises to deliver fairer and more intelligent systems without the imposition of ethics policing. An alluring prospect, no doubt, but how credible are these claims? By examining the economic incentives at work, we find that corporate slogans about “diverse multi-stakeholder data policy” serve to dazzle without providing the structural change needed for an equitabl ..read more

Identifying the purpose of public institutions and organisations in society is usually a straightforward task: hospitals serve people’s health, schools raise and educate children, prisons rehabilitate criminals, the police maintain order and security. (Whether they succeed in doing these things is another question – the point is, this is what they’re supposed to do.) For universities, things are less straightforward. Sure, they offer higher education and are the sites of research in all sorts of academic disciplines. But our expectations of what universities ‘could be’ often reaches higher an ..read more

Upon the death of his mother, Charles Windsor became a king: the Head of State of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the United Kingdom. Some find selecting a leader by bloodline rather than election infantilising and archaic, and infected with hierarchies of class, religion and race. Others believe the monarchy to be the will of God or a venerable tradition – and others still that it is a bit weird but saves us from havin ..read more