13 minutes. The first episode of mbnotes — setting out what this series is for, and why two-thousand-year-old questions turn out to be the most practical tools we have for thinking about artificial intelligence.

In this episode

• Why AI has turned philosophy’s oldest questions (what is real, what can we know, how should we live) into urgent, practical ones
• The two lenses of the series: what philosophy can teach us about AI, and what AI is demanding of philosophy
• The biggest question of all: if machines can do what we do — in many cases faster and better — then what is our purpose, our reason for being?
• The three branches we’ll work through: metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, starting with metaphysics next episode