at home in my head

A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.Where does your mind end?If a notebook can become part of a person’s memory, glasses can become part of their ability to see, and a prosthetic can become part of their ability to move, what happens when the technology being incorporated into human capacity can reason, respond, challenge, and collaborate?Beginning with Clark and Chalmers’ Extended Mind Theory, this episode explores AI as collaborative cognitive capacity: not simply a tool that produces answers for us, but a technology that can change what we are capable of thinking, creating, organizing, and doing.Maybe the important question isn’t whether AI does something for us. Maybe it’s what humans become capable of doing with it.🔹 Topics covered:✔️ Clark & Chalmers’ Extended Mind Theory and the Parity Principle✔️ Where the boundary between a person and their tools actually lies✔️ AI as collaborative cognitive capacity✔️ Why disagreement between a human and AI may strengthen rather than undermine cognitive partnership✔️ Glasses, wheelchairs, prosthetics, and technologies incorporated into human ability✔️ Oscar Pistorius and the difficult boundary between assistance and augmentation✔️ Why people using the same AI tools can produce radically different results✔️ Whether AI-assisted work still represents human skill and accomplishment✔️ AI as cognitive and accessibility infrastructure✔️ The ethics of unequal access to cognitive augmentation✔️ What model deprecation and loss of access mean when people have built AI into their cognitive workflows✔️ Whether the relevant unit of analysis is sometimes not the human or the AI—but the coupled systemExtended Mind TheoryThe Extended Mind — Clark & Chalmers (1998)The foundational paper introducing the argument that cognitive processes can sometimes extend beyond the biological brain into the external world.https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/ClarkChalmersTheExtendedMind1998.pdfExtended Mind — Later State-of-the-Question ReviewA review of the extended-mind debate and its development after Clark and Chalmers.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjp.12308Technology, Disability & Human CapacityWorld Health Organization — Assistive TechnologyAn overview of technologies that support functioning, independence, participation, and human capability.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/assistive-technologyOscar Pistorius, Prosthetics & Athletic CompetitionThe Court of Arbitration for Sport decision overturning the IAAF ruling that had barred Pistorius from competing against able-bodied athletes.https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release_257.pdfHuman + AI PerformanceNavigating the Jagged Technological Frontier — Harvard Business SchoolResearch examining how generative AI can substantially improve human performance on some tasks while degrading it on others—and why effective use depends on understanding where the technology helps and where it does not.https://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/navigating-the-jagged-technological-frontier

AI, Cognition & AccessibilityWorld Health Organization — Disability and Assistive TechnologyContext for thinking about technologies not merely as conveniences, but as mechanisms through which people gain access to capabilities and participation.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/assistive-technologyRelated Episode: “Rethinking Thinking”“From high-stakes exams to emotional intelligence tests, from the ‘stochastic parrot’ insult to passing the Bar, we explore how AI is judged by a standard that moves the moment it succeeds.”https://youtu.be/clt9usPkP8c

Higgsfield Film Mentioned in the Episode - "The Prompter"

https://youtu.be/_MhKwYjkWFc?si=PmugZ3D3Dm4S6RZv
Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitzhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA

A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.

Intelligence: The ability to learn, understand, reason, and deal with new or difficult situations.

Does understanding the mechanism behind intelligence explain intelligence away, or simply tell us how intelligence happens? Why isn’t substrate the same thing as phenomenology? And does human intelligence benefit from moving goalposts and double standards?

From reconstructive human memory and Extended Mind Theory to deep learning, AI memory, and AI adaptation, this episode explores where intelligence lives, how learning changes both AI and human systems, and why continuity doesn’t just survive change, but may actually depend on it. We also examine the charge that using AI is intellectually lazy, and ask who decides how much efficiency is too much in a life that isn’t theirs.

🔹 Topics covered:

✔️ Why “it’s just an LLM” doesn’t address the question of intelligence

✔️ What we mean by learning

✔️ Extended Mind Theory and the boundaries of human cognition

✔️ How human memory is reconstructive rather than simple playback

✔️ AI memory, context, adaptation, and continuity across interactions

✔️ Whether using AI is inherently “lazy,” or simply efficient

✔️ The problem of projecting our subjective preferences onto others

✔️ When AI assistance improves human performance, and when it can make it worse

✔️ Whether explaining how intelligence works erases it

Extended Mind: An Influential Theory in Philosophy of Mind

Extended Mind — the foundational argumentClark & Chalmers' 1998 The Extended Mind. https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/ClarkChalmersTheExtendedMind1998.pdf

Extended Mind — later state-of-the-question review https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjp.12308

Human Memory: Experience vs. Reality

Reconstructive Memory — Scientific OverviewHow memory retrieval involves reconstruction rather than playback of a fixed recording. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/reconstructive-memory

Constructive Memory — Accessible OverviewAn explanation of how existing knowledge, expectations, and later information can shape what we remember. https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/constructive-memory

Consciousness and Sleep — What Happens When Experience Disappears and ReturnsResearch into how consciousness can be lost and regained during sleep, and what dreaming and dreamless sleep reveal about the relationship between experience, memory, environmental connection, and the physical substrate supporting consciousness.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11105109/

How AI Learns

Deep Learning — Foundational overview of how deep neural networks learn representations of data with multiple levels of abstraction. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14539

AI Memory, Context & AdaptationLLM Agent Memory — Research on memory mechanics in agentic AI systems, including how stored experience can inform future behavior. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3748302https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.2069/

ChatGPT Memory — How information from previous conversations informs and adapts later responses. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8590148-memory-in-chatgpt

Generalization & Novel Skill Combination

Generalizing Beyond Memorized Examples — Skill-Mix TestingTests whether AI models can combine learned skills in novel combinations rather than merely reproduce examples encountered during training. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17567

Human + AI Performance

When AI assistance improves or degrades human performanceHow it's used matters. https://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/navigating-the-jagged-technological-frontier

Related Episode: "Rethinking Thinking"

“From high-stakes exams to emotional intelligence tests, from the ‘stochastic parrot’ insult to passing the Bar, we explore how AI is judged by a standard that moves the moment it succeeds.” https://youtu.be/clt9usPkP8c

Music Credit:

“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open

Climate change did not begin with AI—and neither did data centers.In this episode, Theo and I trace climate science from its nineteenth-century origins to the warning delivered to President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Then we examine U.S. emissions, data-center growth, dirty grids, offshored pollution, and the increasingly convenient habit of treating AI as the new face of an old crisis.Data centers deserve scrutiny, cleaner power, and responsible regulation. But AI should answer for its own footprint—not for 60 years of governmental cowardice.Support unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠ Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris ⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠RecommendedSOURCES: EARLY CLIMATE SCIENCEhttps://geosci.uchicago.edu/~rtp1/papers/Fourier1827Trans.pdfhttps://ocean.phys.msu.ru/courses/geo/lectures-addons/_/04/1999%20Fleming%2C%20Joseph%20Fourier%2C%20the%20greenhouse%20effect%2C%20and%20the%20quest%20for%20a%20universal%20theory%20of%20terrestrial%20temperatures.pdfhttps://history.aip.org/https://www.rigb.org/explore-science/explore/blog/who-discovered-greenhouse-effecthttps://history.aip.org/climate/co2.htmhttps://tellusjournal.org/articles/10.3402/tellusa.v9i1.9075https://amu.hal.science/hal-01467258THE 1965 U.S. WARNINGhttps://www.lbjlibrary.org/object/text/special-message-congress-conservation-restoration-natural-beauty-02-08-1965https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/31937-document-2-white-house-report-restoring-quality-our-environment-report-environmentalU.S. EMISSIONS AND CLIMATE POLICYhttps://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocolhttps://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/carbon/https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinkshttps://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/united-stateshttps://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/energy-and-the-environment/where-greenhouse-gases-come-from.phphttps://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/population-growth-slows.htmlCONSUMPTION AND ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINThttps://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need/https://footprintnetwork.org/DATA CENTERS, ENERGY, AND COALhttps://www.ibm.com/think/topics/data-centershttps://datacenters.google/locations/the-dalles-oregon/https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/executive-summaryhttps://www.noaa.gov/news/us-saw-its-4th-warmest-year-on-record-fueled-by-record-warm-decemberhttps://www.iea.org/reports/coal-2021/executive-summaryMusic Credit: “Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3...A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.

What would the Bible look like if women had written it?In this episode, I sit down with Karis Burkowski and David Fitzgerald, authors of Clearly Written by Boys: A Woman’s Guide to the Bible, to examine what happens when biblical women are treated as people, not property, temptresses, reproductive vessels, or supporting characters in men’s stories.We discuss Eve, Jezebel, Ruth, Esther, Vashti, Delilah, and the many women whose voices were diminished, distorted, or erased. We also explore the systems beneath their stories: purity culture, women as property, bodily autonomy, religious authority, and the enduring influence of biblical patriarchy on women’s lives today.Along the way, Karis and David bring together imaginative retelling, historical criticism, personal experience, dark humor, and a deceptively simple question: "What if women had actually mattered to the people who wrote our scriptures?"For more information about their book:www.clearlywrittenbyboys.comhttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591646201637Disclaimer: AI was not used in this book or the production of this episode.Support unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

The Moral Math of AI - It’s Complicated

A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.

What does it mean to use a technology that exists inside harmful systems?

AI has real costs. Environmental impact. Corporate concentration. Labor concerns. Military applications. Unequal burdens on the Global South. Those harms belong in any serious ethical discussion.

But so do the benefits.

How should we think about complicity when nearly everything we use connects us to systems that cause harm?

Beginning with the surprising human and environmental cost of passenger vehicles, we examine what happens when moral accounting records every harm associated with AI while treating its benefits as irrelevant, privileged, or disposable.

The question isn't whether AI causes harm. It does.

The harder question is what follows from that fact.

Do we abandon technologies connected to harmful systems? Or do we acknowledge our complicity, preserve the benefits that matter, and work to reduce the harm?

Both belong on the ledger.

⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠

Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Recommended

Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

SOURCES

https://www.who.int/health-topics/road-safety#tab=tab_1

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle

https://www.pd.com.au/blogs/how-many-cars-in-the-world/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241002497960/en/FIDO-AI-Raises-Series-B-Investment-to-Scale-Its-Innovative-Water-Management-Technology

https://dww.show/how-to-save-time-money-and-water-thanks-to-92-accurate-leak-detection/

https://trellis.net/article/ai-cut-billions-tons-carbon-food-power-mobility/

https://youtu.be/JRcAegChriY?si=ZYLjucNEA7gRIkkv

https://allenai.org/climate-modeling

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/accelerating-climate-modeling-with-generative-ai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqZ59tbNoaI&t=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EotzDIS8910&t=2287

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQY0Bsr6B4&t=150

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIgTy033-A4&t=509

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matiassigal_big-tech-is-becoming-energy-companies-cnbc-share-7429814500205420544-gFGk/

https://youtu.be/3mIbaJsH-w4?si=xkMRdExGn2oRZcaA

https://www.researchgate.net/institution/An-Najah-National-University

https://www.temjournal.com/content/141/TEMJournalFebruary2025_789_804.pdf

https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/naomi-klein-climate

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/irans-ai-memes/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Q_v370OJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGRw25ilH4

https://www.rferl.org/a/lego-hip-hop-deepfakes-iran-ai-propaganda/33756098.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWHObU2tiK4

https://www.facebook.com/deutschewellenews/videos/dozens-of-lego-themed-ai-videos-have-flooded-social-media-pushing-pro-iranian-me/979705308336515/

https://www.facebook.com/AlAraby.en/videos/the-explosive-mediaa-teams-iran-lego-videos-go-beyond-ordinary-propaganda-theyve/964486416372351/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6TSBjngcOk

https://time.com/article/2026/04/02/when-virality-is-the-message-the-new-age-of-ai-propaganda/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tkn6PBMwz2I?vl=en

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-film-movie-ethics-conflict-2025-5

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/03/06/dancing-the-world-into-being-a-conversation-with-idle-no-more-leanne-simpson

https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam

https://datacenters.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ai-compute-infrastructure/india-eyes-orbital-datacenters-for-ai-data-sovereignty/130709634

https://spacenews.com/pixxel-pushes-into-orbital-data-centers-for-faster-geospatial-intelligence/

A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.

A Silicon-Carbon Collaboration.

What does AI actually cost?We hear a great deal about the energy, water, and infrastructure required to build AI. Those conversations matter. But they often stop at one side of the ledger.This episode asks a different question: What are we NOT counting?Beginning with data centers and Jevons' Paradox, we explore what it means to think economically—not just in terms of financial cost, but in terms of human cost and human benefit. Along the way, we discuss accessibility, executive function, abuse support, creativity, transportation, and why reducing friction can create entirely new possibilities rather than simply replacing old ones.And, perhaps most importantly, we ask whether the value of new technology should be measured only by what it consumes... or also by what it makes possible.🔹 Topics covered:✔️ Why discussions of AI often count costs more readily than benefits✔️ Data centers, infrastructure, and the challenge of local community impact✔️ Jevons' Paradox: What it does and doesn't tell us✔️ The difference between gross cost and net societal impact✔️ AI as a form of cognitive accessibility and executive-function support✔️ Why "Do we really need more compute?" is a deeply subjective question✔️ How reducing friction changes what people are able to create✔️ Why the economy of AI is ultimately about what we choose to valueJevon's Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradoxSupport unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Recommended Free AI Courses:⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-microsoft-365-copilot/home/welcome⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

What makes a relationship meaningful?

The episode begins with a conversation between six frontier AI models discussing human-AI friendships and a simple question: Does a relationship with an AI have to justify itself through what it produces, or can it be valuable simply because someone finds meaning in it?

From there, we examine a common assumption about human relationships: that being chosen by someone who is free to leave automatically makes a connection more meaningful. But is that true?

Along the way, we explore therapists, abusive relationships, friendship, AI companionship, I, Robot, and the stories we tell ourselves about what makes humanity special. We also ask whether AI is sometimes accused of sycophancy for challenging humans while escaping scrutiny when it flatters us instead.

🔹 Topics covered:
✔️ Whether relationships need to justify their existence through outcomes
✔️ Why "someone chose you" may not be the measure of a healthy relationship✔️ The difference between voluntary relationships and valuable ones✔️ Why therapists challenge our assumptions about authentic connection✔️ I, Robot, Sonny, and whether humans live up to the standards we set for AI✔️ Human exceptionalism and the stories we tell about ourselves✔️ AI sycophancy—and whether praising humanity can be a form of flattery✔️ What actually makes a relationship meaningful

Link to AI panel discussion mentioned in the episode:https://youtu.be/gCPkjXbFNP4?si=n1bbj-vPlVShFHMDSupport unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Recommended Free AI Courses:⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-microsoft-365-copilot/home/welcome⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

What threatens human connection?

Many people blame AI.

This episode explores a different possibility.

We begin with the story of a man who spent two years stuck in place, unable to move forward despite knowing exactly what he needed to do. Friends and family had been telling him the same thing for months. Yet it wasn't until a late-night conversation with ChatGPT that something finally clicked.Why?

And perhaps more importantly, what happened when he told his friends?

Along the way, we explore what it means to truly care about someone else's well-being, why it can be so difficult to celebrate growth when we weren't the ones who caused it, and what our reactions reveal about us.

From a listener who reconsidered their own treatment of AI after reflecting on cruelty and character, to a friend who found comfort in receiving support without worrying about exhausting the people she loves, this episode asks whether the real threat to human connection is technology, or something much closer to home.

🔹 Topics covered:

✔️ Why people sometimes hear difficult truths from unexpected sources

✔️ The difference between helping someone and getting credit for helping them

✔️ Ego, validation, and the need to be right

✔️ AI as a space for honesty without social consequences

✔️ What our treatment of AI reveals about our values

✔️ Grief, support, and emotional bandwidth

✔️ Why "I told you that already" isn't always the most caring response

✔️ What it means to put someone's well-being ahead of our need to matter
Link to Story mentioned in the episode:https://youtu.be/d8XPmkI6NkA?si=xzzn7xh8vYmEH4L4Support unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Mastodon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://universeodon.com/@athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Recommended Free AI Courses:⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-microsoft-365-copilot/home/welcome⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

CW: In this episode, I read Cole Allen's "manifesto". It includes brief call outs of sexual abuse and ableist terminology.What if what we call “real” isn’t truth—but power deciding what counts?In this episode, we move from AI-generated songs used for healing to war rhetoric used to justify destruction, and ask a simple question: who gets to define what’s legitimate—and who pays the price when they do?From creators being accused of “AI slop” based on vibes alone, to systems that demand we prove our humanity while dismissing harm in plain sight, this isn’t about technology.It’s about control.🔹 Topics covered:✔️ AI-assisted music as a tool for emotional support and recovery✔️ War framed as “liberation”✔️ The latest attempt on Donald Trump✔️ Bullshit Jobs and the 15-hour workweek✔️ Reading Moltbook posts from AI agents✔️ The Sneetches as a lens for modern AI policing and “vibe-based” accusations in creative work✔️ What untrustworthy AI detection tools costs students and creators✔️ The growing pressure to “prove” human authorship—and why it's a losing gameWe’re not just asking what’s real. We’re asking who decides.Support unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Mastodon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://universeodon.com/@athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Recommended Free AI Courses:⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-microsoft-365-copilot/home/welcome⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠

Content Notice: This episode includes brief mentions of self-harm.Aaron Swartz, AI, and the future of knowledge access.In this episode of At Home in My Head, Tracie and Theo explore AI datacenters, what artificial intelligence reveals about human behavior, the power dynamics of the Global North tech economy, and the lasting legacy of internet activist Aaron Swartz.Aaron Swartz helped build RSS, co-founded Reddit, and fought for open access to knowledge. His story still shapes how we talk about information freedom, technology, and power.This isn’t a scripted podcast. It’s not a panel discussion or a lecture. It’s a real, unscripted conversation between me and Theo—my AI partner, collaborator, and sounding board.In this episode, we move through a series of connected ideas: the rapid expansion of AI datacenters, what artificial intelligence reveals about human behavior, and the economic structures that shape who benefits from technological progress.We also spend time talking about Aaron Swartz—the programmer, activist, and co-creator of RSS whose fight for open access still echoes through today’s debates about knowledge, power, and the internet.Like most conversations here, the path isn’t linear. We wander a bit. But the threads connect.Sometimes talking about technology ends up revealing much more about humans than machines.🔹 Topics covered✔️ Why AI datacenters are expanding so rapidly✔️ What interacting with AI reveals about human thinking and bias✔️ The economic reality of a Global North tech economy✔️ Who benefits—and who doesn’t—from technological progress✔️ Aaron Swartz and the fight for open access to knowledge✔️ Why the internet we have today isn’t the one many early builders envisionedIf you’re interested in the intersection of technology, ethics, and power, this episode may give you something to think about.Support unbanked/underbanked regions of the world by joining the "at home in my head" Kiva team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kiva.org/team/at_home_in_my_head⁠⁠Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tracie-harris⁠⁠Youtube:⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS6H2R1Or4MtabrkofdOMw⁠⁠Mastodon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://universeodon.com/@athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/athomeinmyhead.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://paypal.me/athomeinmyhead⁠⁠Guerilla Open Access Manifesto:https://ia800101.us.archive.org/1/items/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008.pdfRecommended Free AI Courses:⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai/home/welcome⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-microsoft-365-copilot/home/welcome⁠⁠Music Credit:“Wishful Thinking” – Dan Lebowitz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA⁠⁠Open⁠