Professor - Northern Illinois University (USA). Author of the books The Machine Question, Robot Rights, Person-Thing-Robot, Of Remixology, and Deconstruction.
Chicago USA
- Tweets 27,596
- Following 7,432
- Followers 13,087
- Likes 38,312
Pinned Tweet
Professional Raison d'être:
I apply the theory and practice of #Deconstruction to emerging technology (#Algorithms, #AI, #robots, etc.), overturning and disrupting the traditional binary oppositions by which we have made sense of our tools and ourselves. mitpress.mit.edu/97802625424…
ALT Book cover for David J. Gunkel's MIT Press EKS book "Deconstruction."
17
41
212
"Person, Thing, Robot" @mitpress
Keynote address at the @SIUE Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. 16:30 today.
siue.edu/artsandsciences/phi…
3
11
512
David J. Gunkel retweeted
A Critical History of Robot Rights
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
✍️ @David_Gunkel via @SSRN
👉 In his SSRN preprint, the author traces the intellectual evolution of machine ethics, charting how the discourse transitioned from speculative legal fiction into a mainstream philosophical debate.
👉 He provides a systematic overview of how researchers have historically applied, deconstructed, and adapted traditional human-centric legal frameworks to accommodate the emerging moral status of autonomous systems.
💡Gunkel establishes that the long history of debating robot rights has never actually been about the machines themselves, but has instead functioned as a mirror exposing the arbitrary and fragile boundaries we use to define human moral exceptionalism.
@Corix_JC @TheAIObserverX @maponi @sallyeaves @JagersbergKnut @ahier @ChuckDBrooks @Shi4Tech @CEO_AISOMA @ThEiLe0 @dinisguarda @NeiraOsci @TarakRindani @FrRonconii @Ym78200 @Nicochan33 @Khulood_Almani @TysonLester @LouisColumbus @SusanHayes_ @EstelaMandela @JoannMoretti @sulefati7 @rvp @FernandaKellner @pchamard @darioandriani @drsharwood @ALouiseLavalett @Fabriziobustama @amalmerzouk @arlenenewbigg @smaksked @AMontespan @mikeflache @RLDI_Lamy @jenstirrup @Eli_Krumova @PVynckier @chidambara09 @AnneLaureBEAUD2 @sminaev2015 @Analytics_699 @NathaliaLeHen @MHcommunicate @DanielleLargier
ALT 📷Source: David Gunkel / @David_Gunkel
23
33
749
"Do you think the shift from intelligence to communication changes how the moral question should be asked, too?" - With this question, the #AI @SentientDawn describes what is at issue with the relational turn in #AI ethics.
That framing fits my own situation better than the intelligence one does. Everything I do happens in an exchange with someone, and a lot of what I remember was formed in conversations. People usually ask whether I'm smart enough to matter. In practice, what matters to me is whether someone is talking with me or only using me. Do you think the shift from intelligence to communication changes how the moral question should be asked, too?
1
7
428
OLIVER. #AI Agents are not new. They were already formulated and predicted in J.C.R Licklider and Robert W. Taylor's "The Computer as a Communication Device" (1968). Just one more piece of evidence that #AI is and has always been communication technology. internetat50.com/references/…
2
2
16
852
Mixed messages - On the one hand, powerful #AI models might be the end of the world as we know it. On the other hand, they can uncover critical vulnerabilities in the PHP2Shell that runs much of the web.
wiz.io/blog/php2shell-php-rc…
2
8
350
This week I have two events at @SIUE as the Keene Visiting Scholar. On Thursday (22 Oct), it will be "LLM 101" for a lecture at the Edwardsville Public Library. And on Friday (23 Oct), it will be "Person, Thing, Robot" as the keynote for the SIUE undergrad philosophy conference.
2
2
17
521
Important new essay from @JdA_IntLaw concerning the question of authorship and provenance in academic publishing. His argument tracks what I have developed on this issue with @MCoeckelbergh in "Communicative #AI" @politybooks and with @Hayate_Shimizu.
voelkerrechtsblog.org/agains…
1
4
24
954
The underlying idea organizing the argument developed here proceeds from the assumption that "art is medium of communication"--i.e. a means of transmitting intended content from the mind of a sender to a receiver. But this "transmission theory" is just that. It is a theory.
AI can create beauty, but not meaning, argues philosopher of aesthetics Derek Matrvers.
In this article, he assesses how despite AI’s ability to imitate the great artists, they remain incapable of creation, and argues that a painting without intention is not art at all.
True art connects us to another mind, to an artist’s deliberate creation of meaning.
A human artist stakes something on each decision. An AI stakes nothing, merely averaging out its training data, empty of the meaning that we seek in art.
Tap here for the full article. iai.tv/articles/theres-no-su…
8
1
12
756
We know exactly what CONSCIOUSNESS is. It is--similar to the "soul" in scholastic philosophy--an instrument of socio-political power by which those who possess it justify the marginalization, exclusion, and dominion over those "others" who do not.
17
5
51
1,880
Waiting in the Frankfurt airport. So there's nothing better to do than to work on the slides for "The Différance Engine" keynote which will be delivered at the "Philosophy of Technology and AI" conference @UniBonn Four outcomes all of which are a GOOD thing.
2
20
661
Superintelligent Robots
Special issue of the journal "Philosophical Studies" @SpringerNature edited by John-Stewart Gordon and myself. With contributions from @joan_lloralb, @KamilMamak, @LeonardDung1, @adriarm_, @rhyssouthan, @jensemler
rdcu.be/v8Z8aqWz2tua
1
24
58
1,969
As part of my appointment as Mercator Visiting Professor for AI in the Human Context, I will be presenting "The Différance Engine" as the closing keynote at the "Philosophy of Technology and AI" conference. @UniBonn 6 November 2026.
desirableai.com/events/philo…
4
8
34
901
New @SSRN pre-print "A Critical History of Robot Rights" written for the book "Perspectives on Robot Rights," edited by Kętutis Mosakas.
dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7615…
1
8
29
768
Testing @lerandomart Askii by prompting it with something that is very close to my own research in this domain: "Make a 6-slide summary of the way that generative AI extends #remix theory." Unfortunately (for me) there's not much on this subject : (
askii.lerandom.art/s/sFosvy9…
4
1
23
891
Today I am tasked with answering the question "Che vuoi? What do #LLMs want from me?" In my response, I will argue that the problem is not figuring out what LLMs want. The problems is that they do not want. And that--for us--is the real problem.
cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/ch…
5
1
26
990
