The ant trap by my window contains a poisonous liquid which the ants misinterpret as food. When I look to the left can I see ants marching confidently out to their death. What does that feel like? Does the ant suffer? Does he feel agony in his throat as he suffocates? Or he is a machine - devoid of feeling like a car or a microwave. Most people hope that it’s that latter, but I doubt it.

Content warning This essay explores the philosophical implications of vampirism. In doing so, the essay directly addresses the topics of sexual abuse and sexual sadism. I do not wish to normalize or glorify these practices. Instead, I reference this subject matter with the intention that the distress associated with such practices highlights the distress which is intrinstric to the underlying philosophical problem. The poignancy of the Dracula story stems from the mythological trope of corruption.

You academics laugh at the poor enthusiast who claims to have experienced a higher power, but cannot provide empirical evidence for such a thing. You pity this parochial foolishness. You see him as a child who had a pleasant dream. Yet you intellectuals speak so assuredly - that is, paradigmatically - of this thing you call the external world. Could you please provide me an example of this external world? Is it in the room with you now?

The intention of this essay is to articulate my reasons for rejecting depression as a medical condition. I believe that Major Depressive Disorder is a fundamentally specious and aporetic concept; and that it’s usage has led to bewilderment for researchers and tragedy for patients. This is a difficult argument to make, but not because the repudiation of depression is difficult in and of itself. Once you frame the problem correctly, it is straight-forward.

Perhaps it could be said that the philosopher has only two tricks: seeing one where others see many, and seeing many where others see one. Anaxagoras is credited as the first thinker in the West to understand the moon, not as a god, but as a lump of rock that is illuminated by the sun’s light. His brilliance is thusly attributed to his cold realism: his conception of the moon as a phenomenon of matter and energy without the need for any divine externalities; but I wonder if there is another aspect of genius in this theory of the moon.

Nascent literature found that neurological masses could perform certain calculations at speeds far surpassing traditional computational systems. Researchers at Milton labs were working on a hybrid system which used synthetic motor cortex masses to calculate bulk matrix multipications at high speeds. A large mass was grown in a synthetic embryo apparatus and attached to a supercomputer. The supercomputer ran extremely high-load physics simulations, outsourcing the matrix multiplications to the mass. The first run was modestly successful and the literature suggested that increasing the size of the mass could exponentially improve performance.

Mr.Samson bashfully slid through the door to his office after another uninspired lecture. He was an expert philosopher. He could opine eloquently about Russell and Ayer; but for some asinine reason, the university required him to do a section on the continentals. He silently raged at the demand. He argued to the board that Wittgenstein had definitely refuted all of that crap - and he knew a few of the members agreed with him; but, of course, bureaucracies are slow and change often requires a few retirements.