Refusing AI advice isn't thinking for yourself: an essay on the deference debate
chalmermagne · x · 2026-10-23
Alex Chalmers argues in a Cosmos Institute essay, "Beyond Freedom of Choice," that debates over AI deference are frustratingly narrow, rooted in an impoverished account of autonomy.
Starting from Max Weber's 1917 lecture splitting calculable means from privately chosen ends, and Gadamer's critique of equating knowledge with "method," the essay contends that framing autonomy around whether a choice is truly one's own ties itself in knots. Refusing AI advice is not the same as thinking for yourself; renewing the virtues, traditions, and institutions that form good choosers matters more than avoiding excessive deference to AI.
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