.
Academic philosophers sometimes quip that in the future the only job safe from automation will be that of philosophy professors. However, the current AI revolution has inspired some AI scholars to propose the future establishment of closed-loop AI systems as a type of superintelligent robot that would essentially outperform and replace human scientists Zenil in the future of fundamental science led by generative closed-loop artificial intelligence, arXiv:2307.07522v3, 1-40, 2023; Schmidt in Mach Learn Sci Technol 5(3): 035045, (2024); Kitano in Npj Syst Bio Appl 7: 1–12, (2021). In this paper, I investigate whether, analogously, academic philosophy could be automated by putative, sufficiently advanced future AI, potentially featuring artificial embodiment as robots. To this end, I distinguish two mutually exclusive metaphilosophical conceptions of the nature of philosophy circumscribed as philosophy as a set of propositions (PP) versus philosophy as an activity (PA). Granting AI proponents that – iff artificial general intelligence (AGI), potentially embodied as superintelligent robots is achieved – natural sciences may be fully automated in the future, I argue for the conditional that if PP is true (but not if PA is true), then it is possible that AI can automate philosophy. Additionally, I consider what it would mean to automate philosophy given the current state of LLMs (e.g., the GPT-5 era). Finally, I briefly consider whether it would be preferable for us to have philosophy automated and argue that there are two prima facie reasons why automating philosophy, if possible, might be undesirable: the reason from obsolescence and the reason from ultimate answers.
This special section probes the contested history of human rights in Germany by tracing several historical case studies ranging from migrant advocacy for housing accessibility to human rights diplomacy towards the Global South, and from elite and grassroots views on human rights to the unresolved legacies of the colonial era. While all articles focus on postwar debates, Germany's contested history of human rights politics in fact date to the nineteenth century. Contemporary struggles over human rights, as unprecedentedly divisive and vitriolic as they may seem, fit within a longer story of human rights contestations in modern Germany.
In April 2019, 25.4 ha of woodland in the Płaska Forest District in the SE part of the Augustów Forest were damaged by fire. Between 2020-2022 a survey of beetles in the burnt and unburnt (control) parts of the forest was carried out. The insects were collected in IBL-2bis window (= flight interception) traps. 781 species classified in 67 families were identified. Among these species, Acrotrichis strandi (Ptiliidae) was found in Poland for the first time, and 41 species were new records for the Masurian Lake District. During the studies, two species protected in Poland (Boros schneideri, Cucujus cinnaberinus), and several more from the Polish Red List of Animals, the Polish Red Book of Animals and the European Red List of Saproxylic Beetles, were recorded. Fifteen of the beetles recorded are relicts of primeval forests in Central Europe: Boros schneideri (Boridae); Stephanopachys linearis (Bostrichidae); Ampedus tristis (Elateridae); Leiestes seminiger (Endomychidae); Platylomalus complanatus, Platysoma deplanatum (Histeridae); Corticaria longicornis, Latridius brevicollis (Latridiidae); Peltis grossa (Peltidae); Stagetus borealis (Ptinidae); Tachyusida gracilis (Staphylinidae); Corticeus fasciatus, C. suturalis, Prionychus melanarius (Tenebrionidae); Colydium filiforme (Zopheridae). The present paper lists the beetles recorded and gives brief characteristics of rare species, primeval forest relicts and a selection of species from the Polish Red List of Animals.
Organic and inorganic soil amendments are used to increase crop yields and fertilizer efficiency, as well as to improve the physical and biological properties of soil, increase carbon sequestration, and restore contaminated and saline soils. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of various zeolite composites mixed with either lignite or leonardite on the biomass production of spring wheat and rapeseed and their root morphology. A pot experiment involved the application of the following treatments: zeolite-carbon, zeolite-vermiculite composites, both mixed with lignite or leonardite, and a control treatment with no amendments. Inorganic composites were applied in a dose of 3% and 6%. The study also included an analysis of the root morphometric parameters and aboveground biomass of spring wheat and rapeseed. The lowest productivity was observed when both crops were not enriched with fertilizers or other amendments, 24.92 g per pot and 29.83 g per pot for spring wheat and rapeseed, respectively. The application of mineral fertilizers in combination with zeolite-carbon composite gave the highest aboveground biomass of spring wheat, 110.11 g per pot. Both zeolite-carbon and zeolite-vermiculite composites modified the morphological parameters of roots, with the control treatment showing the lowest root length and dry matter. Although mineral fertilization was found to have a positive impact root development in relation to untreated control, the treatment amended with zeolite-carbon composite and leonardite exhibited the highest root length and biomass of spring wheat. No other soil amendments improved the properties of rapeseed roots.
