--- title: Philosophy & Ethics description: User Illusion is SW Hammond’s long-running digital escape — essays, short stories, cultural criticism, memes, and memory fractals exploring the human hustle, the stories we tell ourselves, and the gap between appearance and what’s actually there. canonical_url: https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?start=12 language: en-GB date: 2025-10-10T01:49:57Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?start=12. markdown-tokens: 1997 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?start=12. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ## Producing Intelligence The human who sits with intelligence until it remembers what it was born to become. Writings on AI, philosophy, and the art of producing meaning in a synthetic age. [ Follow SWH on ](https://www.x.com/swhammond) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-02.svg) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-01.svg) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-03.svg) # Philosophy & Ethics - [ Artificial Intelligence ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/44-artificial-intelligence) - [ Philosophy & Ethics ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy) - [ Pop Culture ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture) - [ Society & Politics ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture) [ ![Marx: The War Between Bourgeoisie and Proletariats](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/7c/protestor_red_smoke-7ceb4d7c.jpg) 09 February 2018 ## The Soul and Marx: The War Between Bourgeoisie and Proletariats Deconstruction is a valuable tool; though “deconstructionists” are the darkest sludge to crawl out of academia. All critical theory that doesn’t pose a solution is pure garbage and waste of time. In Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party, he draws the battle line distinctly between the oppressor and oppressed. While he notes that there have been many revolutions over the centuries, the system that creates oppressors has never been abolished; but rather has been adopted and perpetuated b… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/188-the-soul-and-marx-the-war-between-bourgeoisie-and-proletariats) [ ![Language Is A Virus](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/f9/language_is_a_virus_2-f926e08a.jpg) 18 January 2018 ## Language Is A Virus That Limits The Way You Think Words and language are but a virus preying upon our brains from birth. Exploring Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back, we’re left with a peculiar takeaway; words and language are but a virus preying upon our brains from birth. However, this virus is symbiotic and the backbone of human culture–and culture is the foundation of our intelligence. On the surface, language seems to mimic top-down intelligent design. We humans are the creator of our language so therefore we are in… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/186-language-is-a-virus-that-limits-the-way-you-think) [ ![The Soul and Marx: The Need For Illusion](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/d7/soul_marx-d7e5b5e9.jpg) 09 January 2018 ## The Soul and Marx: The Need For Illusion Religion is “the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world… it is the opium of the people.” – Karl Marx Marx is an atheist and highly critical of the illusion or affects created by religion. He views religion as the “ghostly realization” of the state and society, and a struggle against religion is a direct struggle against the state. To overcome religion, the people must “demand to give up conditions that require illusions” (Marx 116). Illusory happiness must be r… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/185-the-soul-and-marx-the-need-for-illusion) [ ![Why? What For? How Come?](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/3b/Why_WhatFor_HowCome-3b08df4d.jpg) 29 December 2017 ## Why: Distinction Between 'What For?' And 'How Come?' The question why? seeks to provide reasons of the two fundamental categories in which we explain things: causality and function. These two categories can be traced back to the origin of life itself and to understand Daniel Dennett’s cryptic statement, “Natural Selection is thus an automatic reason-finder,” you first must understand how Dennett views reasons. Reasons provide answers to the questions of why? However, the question why? is subdivided into two categories of what for? and ho… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/184-why-distinction-between-what-for-and-how-come) [ ![The Soul and Christianity](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/98/soul_christian-98b9392f.jpg) 16 December 2017 ## The Soul and Christianity Thou shalt not steal? It seems the foundation of Christian principles are a bad sequel of Greek tradition. The correlation between concepts of human spirit, soul, heaven, and God presented by Greek philosophers and the fundamental principles of Christianity is awing. If there were such a thing as copyright laws at the time, Christianity would be battling a tough legal case. While the parallels are evident, Christianity’s perversion or adaptation of the soul, building upon Platonists’ inte… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/182-the-soul-and-christianity) [ ![AI and Immortality](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/a1/MindCloud-a18c638c.jpg) 30 November 2017 ## AI and Immortality: MindCloud Immortality awaits! Suppose the kind corporate folks at MindCloud offer you the following "deal": In exchange for your earthly, bodily existence (and maybe a few ducats), MindCloud will upload all of your memories, hopes, aspirations, and emotional and affective dispositions up onto a secure place in the cloud. In this place "you" will be able to explore and experience the ever-increasing contents therein, where "you" may contribute to such content by building up a new cloud-based narrativ… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/181-ai-and-immortality-mindcloud) - [ ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=6) - [1](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html) - [2](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=6) - 3 - [4](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=18) - [5](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=24) - [6](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=30) - [ ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy?format=html&start=18) --- ### Additional Articles - [ Robocalypse: Static to Symphony - Part 14 ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/short-stories/56-robocalypse/306-robocalypse-static-to-symphony-part-14) - [ The Soul and Heraclitus ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/171-the-soul-and-heraclitus) - [ Robocalypse: The Commodore's Coda - Part 12 ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/short-stories/56-robocalypse/304-robocalypse-the-commodores-coda-part-12) - [ Journalism: 5 Reasons Why Newspapers Have No Future ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/199-journalism-5-reasons-why-newspapers-have-no-future) - [ Gardening, Not Architecture ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture/28-music/165-gardening-not-architecture) - [ AI and The Replicant Mind ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/172-ai-and-the-replicant-mind) - [ Internet Morality: Why We Need Digital Commandments ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/79-internet-morality-why) - [ Steep – So Much Potential But Disappointing ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture/31-video-games/208-steep-so-much-potential-but-disappointing) - [ The Raw Symphony of Life: Rediscovering Music's Soul and Your Own ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/308-the-raw-symphony-of-life-rediscovering-musics-soul-and-your-own) - [ The Soul and Christianity ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/182-the-soul-and-christianity)