USB Journals (Univ. Köln)
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Does Writing have a Future?
Get PDFIn opposition to much of the current scholarly and popular publications on the subject, this essay argues that what large language models (LLM) signify is not the end of writing but the terminal limits of a particular conceptualization of writing that has been called logocentrism. Toward this end, the essay will 1) review three fundamental elements of logocentric metaphysics and the long shadow that this way of thinking has cast over the conceptualization and critique of LLMs and generative AI; 2) trace the contours of a deconstruction of this standard operating procedure that interrupts influential and often-unquestioned assumptions about the concept of the author, the meaning of truth, and the meaning of what we mean by the word “meaning;” and 3) formulate the terms and conditions of an alternative way to think and write about LLMs and generative AI that escape the conceptual grasp of logocentrism and its hegemony
Why a careless use of AI tools may contribute to an epistemological crisis
Get PDFWith the rise of generative AI technologies, AI tools such as ChatGPT play a prevalent role in our world. This poses new opportunities and risks. Particularly in the field of education, the use of AI tools raises a number of new questions, for example, the challenge of proving human authorship, or whether we can continue to trust electronically distributed texts. This then puts into question whether the widespread and careless use of AI tools is contributing to an epistemological crisis. Based on an analysis of the inherent unreliability of generative AI and the increasing indistinguishability between human-written and machine-generated texts, this paper outlines the impact of generative AI on education and provides suggestions for the responsible use of AI tools. Investigating their use as legitimate tools, it also addresses the question as to whether the use of such tools could be counterproductive because it could possibly result in a deskilling effect
Triangles, Justice, and AI: Testing Large Language Models’ Comprehension of Political Ideologies
Get PDFThis paper investigates whether large language models (LLMs) comprehend and apply political ideologies beyond surface-level patterns and text reproduction. Using a scenario with sentient geometric shapes, we examine how LLMs apply John Rawls’ and Robert Nozick’s theories of justice. Using a framework inspired by Bloom’s taxonomy, we evaluate seven LLMs across three levels: recall, application, and reflection. Results reveal significant variations, with one model demonstrating sophisticated understanding while others producing confused or generic responses. Findings suggest that LLMs may have internal conceptual maps (or networks) that resemble ideological frameworks, allowing them to reason about novel situations consistent with specific philosophical theories. This challenges the notion that LLMs function solely as word frequency models, though their understanding remains distinct from human cognition. We discuss implications for both AI research and political theory, suggesting that morphological analysis of ideologies could inform studies of meaning in neural networks
Living on the Borderline. Politics of Domination, States of Insanity and the Quest for Female Identity in the Work of Bessie Head.
Get PDFBoth, Gilman and Head, were treated for the same "insanity" which they attributed to their ficitonal heroines. [...] In Head\u27s case it is the socio-psychotic structure of a male-dominated, racist society in which any kind of aberration of the norm must be judged as dangerous and which therefore has created many forms of exclusion. One of these forms is emigration, again in the double sense of inner and outer emigration. An other form is the retreat into madness which then becomes a realm of being where noone else, no violator, no prosecutor, can follow
AnyBody\u27s Simulacra: A Theoretical Approach to (Post-Gender) Identity
No full textThe [...] paper pursues a meta-theoretical focus as it traces how Georges Bataille\u27s and Julia Kristeva\u27s theories incorporate an increasingly less material or corporeal definition of the post-gendered subject and the signifying structures underlying it. [...] Kristeva\u27s and Bataille\u27s theories can be read as taking the (dissolution of) the subject beyond a framework of the real; and thus they call for a hyperreal contextualization, in which identity must be conceived of as (different levels of) Baudrillardean simulation
Review: The Right to Speak. Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution: Couldn\u27t Keep It To Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters.
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:
The stories collected in Couldn\u27t Keep It To Myself are the result of a writing workshop for women prisoners held by Wally Lamb at York Correctional Institution. Although they all are biographical, the stories the women tell are not what one might expect them to be: pessimistic, gloomy, or filled with hatred against prison and society. Taking us into the past and present lives of the authors, these pieces are full of hope - although the majority of incidents they relate are distressing -, and the subjects that emerge from them before our eyes are primarily individual persons, not convicted criminals
Interview: "Cripping up is the twenty-first century\u27s answer to blacking up": Conversation with Kaite O\u27Reilly on theatre, feminism and disability
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the interview:
Kaite O\u27Reilly was the winner of the Peggy Ramsay award for Yard (Bush Theatre, 1998), a major success both in the UK and abroad, running for over two years at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin. Her other theatre work includes Banshees (Royal Court Young Writers Festival), Belonging (Birmingham Rep, 2000), Peeling (Birmingham Rep, 2003), SMAC2K (Disability Arts commission 2003), Perfect (Contact Theatre, Manchester 2004; Manchester Evening News best new play) and Henhouse (Arcola Theatre, 2004). Germany, Austria, Poland, France, Spain and Australia. She has written Lives Out Of Step for Radio 3, and wrote and directed the screenplay Mouth for British Screen/Channel 4. Her short story "Sight" included in the Mustn\u27t Grumble anthology (The Women\u27s Press) won the MIND/Allan award
