Disrupting AI with Socratic Inquiry

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The gadflAI Podcast... Guided by your AI-hosts Manny Kantor and Jeanette Adams (under the watchful eye of a trained, HUMAN philosopher) this episode explores the provocative and monumental idea that the humanities—the rigorous study of human experience, meaning, and connection—are not obsolete in the age of algorithms, but are, in fact, humanity's first and most essential defense against modern sophistry and tyranny. The discussion unpacks how the ancient wisdom of Socratic inquiry can be deployed to push back against the disruptions of artificial intelligence, reframing philosophy not as a relic, but as a foundational guardrail for our digital world. _________________________________________________________________________________________________References & Further Reading:Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt, Brace, 1951.Arnett, Thomas. “Looking Beyond the Hype: AI Won’t Transform Classrooms, but It Will Help Transform Education.” Christensen Institute, 17 June 2024.Baldwin, James. “A Talk to Teachers.” Saturday Review, 21 Dec. 1963, pp. 42–44.Betley, Chris. “GPT-4 and the Problem of AI Misalignment.” Scientific American, 2025.Eubanks, Virginia. Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. St. Martin’s Press, 2018.Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 1968. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos, Continuum, 1970.Hadot, Pierre. What is Ancient Philosophy?. Harvard University Press, 2002. hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, 1994.Narayanan, Arvind, and Sayash Kapoor. AI Snake Oil: How Big Tech Sells Its Dreams. Princeton UP, 2025.Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. NYU Press, 2018. Nussbaum, Martha C. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Updated edition. Princeton, 2024. O’Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Crown, 2016.Ornes, Stephen. “When AI Turns Against Us?” Scientific American, 2025.Taylor, John. “Grok and the MechaHitler Controversy: A Case Study in AI Misalignment.” Wired, 2025. Episode CreditsProducer and Editor: Dr. Christopher C. KirbyThis work is made possible by the Jeffers W. Chertok Memorial Endowment at Eastern Washington University.**The views expressed in this program are not necessarily those of Eastern Washington University