My Deep-Reading book for this winter is “Philosophy of Mind” by David Chambers. It’s the textbook used by Oxford University’s Continuing Education Course on the Philosophy of Mind.
It’s a significant textbook: 675 dense pages with 63 essays, covering both the historical and current theories of Philosophy of Mind. I am also fairly sure it’s of high academic quality. I have taken several courses in philosophy through Oxford and I have found there required textbooks to be exceptionally good at covering foundation knowledge.
But perhaps a better question is why I am reading it?
It’s not because I am taking the class now (although I may in the future; since medical school I have had the habit of pre-reading all textbooks before classes start!).
It’s also not principally for the joy of it, although that is certainly a consideration.
Rather it’s because of what I refer to as my “big project.”
And what’s my big project? I am convinced the intersection of Artificial intelligence (AI) with Healthcare is significant, but I am not convinced it’s necessarily a net good, especially ethically.
And so, to get a handle on this intersection—and although I have a fair level of expertise in clinical healthcare —I need at least a journeyman’s level knowledge in such things as AI (including Python Machine Language, and Deep Learning programming), a solid general philosophical foundation, and some depth in knowledge Ethics. Philosophy of Mind, and Epistemology.
With these under my belt, over the next 10 years, I am hoping to get a better sense of the broader ethical issues surrounding the relationship between corporate structures, IT techniques, and AI strategies, to then better understand their effect on the dehumanization of the individual.
And how does Philosophy of Mind fit in? Because to understand AI, I believe it’s now essential to understand the mind.
So, that’s the plan. One I chip away at daily, with this book covering several of those chips.
Wish me luck!