In this episode, we speak with philosopher Sebastian Purcell about his new book The Outward Path: Lessons on Living from the Aztecs. Purcell shows that Aztec philosophy offers a strikingly different vision of the good life — one that rejects the modern obsession with happiness and invulnerability in favor of something deeper: rootedness.

We discuss what it means to live a rooted life in a world that feels increasingly unstable — from collective agency and humility to willpower, ritual, and the art of balance. Along the way, Purcell explains how Aztec ethics can help us rethink everything from self-discipline and courage to how we live with technology, social media, and each other.

Links:
Sebastian’s website [https://sebastianpurcell.com/]
Sebastian’s articles on Medium [https://medium.com/@sebastian.purcell]
Sebastian’s book [https://wwnorton.com/books/the-outward-path/overview]

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#23 Sebastian Purcell: Rootedness, Not Happiness — Aztec Wisdom for a Slippery World

What if our deepest fears about AI aren't really about the machines at all—but about something we've forgotten about ourselves? In this episode, we speak with philosopher Iain D. Thomson (University of New Mexico), a leading scholar of Martin Heidegger, about his new book Heidegger on Technology’s Danger and Promise in the Age of AI.Together we explore Heidegger’s famous claim that “the essence of technology is nothing technological,” and why today’s crises—from environmental collapse to algorithmic control—are really symptoms of a deeper existential and ontological predicament.Also discussed:
– Why AI may not be dangerous because it’s too smart, but because we stop thinking
– Heidegger’s concept of “world-disclosive beings” and why ChatGPT doesn’t qualify
– How the technological mindset reshapes not just our tools but our selves
– What a “free relation” to technology might look like
– The creeping danger of lowering our standards and mistaking supplements for the real thing

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#22 Iain Thomson: Why Heidegger Thought Technology Was More Dangerous Than We Realize

In this episode, we sit down with Jayashri A. Bangali, a researcher and educator whose work explores the evolving role of artificial intelligence in education—both in India and around the world. We discuss how AI is transforming learning through personalization, interactivity, and accessibility—but also raise hard questions about bias, surveillance, dependence, and deskilling.

We dig into Jayashri’s recent research on AI integration in Indian schools and universities, including key findings from surveys of students and teachers across academic levels. We also explore global trends in AI adoption, potential regulatory safeguards, and how policymakers can ensure that AI enhances—not erodes—critical thinking and creativity.

This is a wide-ranging conversation on the future of learning, the risks of offloading too much to machines, and the kind of education worth fighting for in an AI-driven world.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#21 Jayashri Bangali: AI in Education

In this episode, we speak with Bernardo Bolaños and Jorge Luis Morton, authors of On Singularity and the Stoics [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-024-00548-w], about the rise of generative AI, the looming prospect of superintelligence, and how Stoic philosophy offers a framework for navigating it all. We explore Stoic principles like the dichotomy of control, cosmopolitanism, and living with wisdom as we face of deepfakes, algorithmic manipulation, and the risk of superintelligent AI.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#20 Bernardo Bolaños and Jorge Luis Morton: On Stoicism and Technology

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Joshua Hatherley, a bioethicist at the University of Copenhagen, about his recent article, “Are clinicians ethically obligated to disclose their use of medical machine learning systems to patients?”

Dr. Hatherley challenges what has become a widely accepted view in bioethics: that patients must always be informed when clinicians use medical AI systems in diagnosis or treatment planning. We explore his critiques of four central arguments for the “disclosure thesis”—including risk, rights, materiality, and autonomy—and discuss why, in some cases, mandatory disclosure might do more harm than good.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#19 Joshua Hatherley: When Your Doctor Uses AI—Should They Tell You?

Philosopher Jeff Kane [https://waldorfgarden.org/about/meet-our-board/jeffrey-kane/] joins us to discuss his new book The Emergence of Mind: Where Technology Ends and We Begin [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-46835-3]. In an age where AI writes poems, paints portraits, and mimics conversation, Kane argues that the human mind remains fundamentally different—not because of what it does, but because of what it is. We explore the moral risks of thinking of ourselves as machines, the embodied nature of thought, the deep structure of human values, and why lived experience—not information processing—grounds what it means to be human.

#18 Jeff Kane: Why Human Minds Are Not Computer Programs

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Caroline Ashcroft, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford and author of Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought. Drawing on figures like Arendt, Jonas, Ellul, and Marcuse, Ashcroft explores a powerful yet underexamined idea: that modern technology is not just risky or disruptive—but fundamentally catastrophic. We discuss how mid-century political theorists viewed technology as reshaping the environment, the self, and the world in ways that eroded human dignity, democratic life, and any sense of limits.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#17 Caroline Ashcroft: The Catastrophic Imagination

Philosopher Teresa Baron joins us to discuss her book The Artificial Womb on Trial. As artificial womb technology edges closer to reality, Baron asks a different question: not just what ectogenesis means for society, but how we ethically get there. From human subject trials to questions of consent, regulation, and reproductive justice, this episode puts the development process itself under the bioethical microscope.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#16 Teresa Baron: The Artificial Womb on Trial

What does it mean to live well in an AI-driven world—and how can we use AI to help us get there?

In this episode, we speak with psychologist and neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Kosslyn [https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/stephen-m-kosslyn]. Stephen Kosslyn is Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, and he is former chair of the Harvard psychology department and dean of social sciences. He is currently the CEO of Active Learning Sciences [https://www.activelearningsciences.com/]. We discuss how generative AI isn’t just a tool for speed and convenience—it can be a cognitive amplifier for building the kind of life we actually want. Drawing from his book Learning to Flourish in the Age of AI [https://www.routledge.com/Learning-to-Flourish-in-the-Age-of-AI/Kosslyn/p/book/9781032686660?srsltid=AfmBOoq6ZVq0FM_jbptvgRw6jd_TDjkbIe-0BMwsl8PV7TawiVkGlifB], we explore how to use large language models to set life goals, stay motivated, communicate better, manage emotions, understand ourselves and others, and think more clearly.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#15 Stephen Kosslyn: Learning to Flourish in the Age of AI

What if the best AI art doesn’t care what we think? In this episode, we talk with philosopher Alice Helliwell [https://www.alicehelliwell.com/] about her provocative idea: that future AI might create aesthetic value not by mimicking human tastes, but by challenging them. Drawing from her 2024 article “Aesthetic Value and the AI Alignment Problem,” we explore why perfect alignment isn't always ideal—and how a little artistic misalignment could open new creative frontiers.

For more info, visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/].

#14 Alice Helliwell: The Art of Misalignment 

Welcome to AITEC Podcast, where we explore the ethical side of AI and emerging tech.

We call our little group the AI and Technology Ethics Circle (AITEC). Visit ethicscircle.org [https://www.ethicscircle.org/] for more info. 