
Metaphysics and modern AI: What is reality?
From The AI Fundamentalists by Dr. Andrew Clark & Dr. Sid Mangalik
October 27, 2025 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 37
About this episode
The episode explores the nature of reality and objects through the lens of metaphysics and AI, featuring a discussion with Michael Herman.
In the first episode of our series on metaphysics, Michael Herman joins us from Episode #14 on “What is consciousness?” to discuss reality. More specifically, the question of objects in reality. The team explores Plato’s forms, Aristotle’s realism, emergence, and embodiment to determine whether AI models can approximate from what humans uniquely experience. Defining objects via properties, perception, and persistenceBanana and circle examples for identity and idealsPlato versus Aristo...
People in this episode
Hosts: Dr. Andrew Clark, Dr. Sid Mangalik
Guest: Michael Herman
Topics covered
- metaphysics
- AI and reality
- philosophy
- consciousness
- identity
- perception
Keywords
- metaphysics
- AI
- reality
- consciousness
- Plato
- Aristotle
- identity
- perception
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: What is consciousness?, Plato’s forms, Aristotle’s realism
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