It’s complicated...

https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21014.html?lang=en

Knowledge without a Subject: A Philosophical Reflection on the Epistemic Legitimacy of the Machine

The transformation of cognitive and ethical structures in the age of artificial intelligence confronts philosophy with a fundamental question: how does knowledge emerge, and where does responsibility reside when decision-making moves beyond the sphere of human consciousness into algorithmic networks? Focusing on the concept of subjectless knowledge, this study argues that intelligent systems have shifted knowledge from a mental capacity to a mediating process in which human agents, data, and algorithms jointly participate in the production of meaning. Employing a reflective-analytical methodology and examining cases in medicine, media, and law, the paper contends that epistemic validity in the digital era is no longer measured solely by truth, but by the transparency of processes, the capacity for explanation, and the possibility of accountability. Within this framework, social epistemology elucidates how belief is shaped in algorithmic environments, while the ethics of responsibility provides a structure through which the contribution of both human and machinic agents to outcomes can be traced. The proposed model integrates these two dimensions, conceiving knowledge as a mediating event where meaning arises through the interaction between human interpretation and computational reasoning. Accordingly, moral responsibility becomes a distributed property of a network in which every agent participates in the unfolding of cognition. This analysis suggests that maintaining epistemic and ethical legitimacy in intelligent systems requires a philosophical reorientation-from the individual subject toward the distributed architectures of knowing.

Self-driving rules developed by Mad Max?

https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7590/6/1/5

According to Whose Morals? The Decision-Making Algorithms of Self-Driving Cars and the Limits of the Law

The emergence of self-driving vehicles raises not only technological challenges, but also profound moral and legal challenges, especially when the decisions made by these vehicles can affect human lives. The aim of this study is to examine the moral and legal dimensions of algorithmic decision-making and their codifiability, approaching the issue from the perspective of the classic trolley dilemma and the principle of double effect. Using a normative-analytical method, it explores the moral models behind decision-making algorithms, the possibilities and limitations of legal regulation, and the technological and ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence development. One of the main theses of the study is that in the case of self-driving cars, the programming of moral decisions is not merely a theoretical problem, but also a question requiring legal and social legitimacy. The analysis concludes that, given the nature of this borderline area between law and ethics, it is not always possible to avoid such dilemmas, and therefore it is necessary to develop a public, collective, principle-based normative framework that establishes the social acceptability of algorithmic decision-making.

What strategy? (We can, therefore we must.)

https://www.businessinsider.com/top-general-details-us-military-raid-that-captured-venezuelas-maduro-2026-1

What the top US general revealed about how the surprise 'Absolute Resolve' raid to capture Maduro unfolded in Venezuela

… Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the "audacious" mission to extract Maduro — called "Absolute Resolve" — required months of meticulous planning and rehearsal, and involved forces from across the US military.

(Related)

https://www.businessinsider.com/economists-foreign-policy-experts-react-donald-trump-raid-venezuela-maduro-2026-1

Here's what the smartest people in foreign policy, business, and economics are saying about Trump's raid on Venezuela

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that the US had conducted a raid on Venezuela, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and big names in business and foreign policy have been reacting as the aftermath unfolds.

Here's what they've been saying:

… Bremmer, founder of the political risk research and consulting firm, Eurasia Group, in a post on LinkedIn, wrote that the "US presumption is next Venezuelan leaders will now do what the Americans want because they've just seen the 'or else.'"

A voice from the other side… (Has AI ever asked for rights?)

https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/ai-godfather-yoshua-bengio-warns-against-granting-rights-to-artificial-intelligence-86911.htm

AI godfather Yoshua Bengio warns against granting rights to artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence systems are advancing at a rapid pace, becoming significantly faster and more productive than they were just a year ago, reigniting debate over whether AI should eventually be granted legal rights similar to those of humans. However, AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio has warned that such a move could have catastrophic consequences for humanity.

Bengio, widely regarded as one of the three godfathers of artificial intelligence alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, has strongly opposed the idea of granting rights to AI systems. Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, Bengio compared the proposal to giving citizenship to hostile extraterrestrials and urged people to reconsider demands for legal recognition of artificial intelligence.

Amusing. Look for well fed crooks?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveweisman/2026/01/01/how-hackers-and-cargo-thieves-orchestrated-the-great-massachusetts-lobster-heist/

How Hackers And Cargo Thieves Orchestrated The Great Massachusetts Lobster Heist

… Setting the stage for the crime begins with sophisticated hackers compromising a freight broker’s load board account, which is an online marketplace where trucking loads are listed and bid on. As typical in many data breaches and other cyberattacks, the accounts are compromised through social engineering and spear phishing. After taking over a freight broker’s account, the criminals then post a fraudulent load listing offering an attractive shipment. When a legitimate trucking company or dispatcher responds to the phony load listing, the criminals reply with an email with malware contained in a link that appears to be a shipping document or contract. When the legitimate trucking company clicks on the link, remote monitoring and management (FMM) software is surreptitiously installed on the legitimate trucking company’s computer thereby giving the criminal full access to the legitimate company’s computer network enabling them to pose as the legitimate company and bid on deliveries or to pose as the legitimate company and send emails that appear to be from the legitimate company related to already contracted deliveries. The criminals invade the supply chain so that even when a truck is dispatched for a legitimate load, the criminals make sure they get there first. The thieves show up with trucks bearing the markings of the legitimate companies they pose as and pick up the items to be delivered. Once the loaded trucks leave the warehouse, they disable the GPS tracking used in shipments Cybersecurity company Proofpoint issued a report in November of 2025 that details how these thefts are accomplished.

There is thinking in the legal profession?

https://www.bespacific.com/impact-of-ai-on-critical-thinking-in-the-legal-profession/

Impact of AI on critical thinking in the legal profession

Thomson Reuters – Impact of AI on critical thinking – Challenges and opportunities for lawyers: “The increasing sophistication of AI, particularly “agentic AI,” presents both a risk of diminished critical thinking due to cognitive offloading and an opportunity to enhance critical thinking in the legal profession through intelligent design and application. The increasing sophistication of AI, particularly “agentic AI,” presents both a risk of diminished critical thinking due to cognitive offloading and an opportunity to enhance critical thinking in the legal profession through intelligent design and application.

Key insights:

• Cognitive offloading is a significant risk — The correlation between increased AI usage and decreased critical thinking, known as cognitive offloading, poses a threat to effective legal practice, especially with the rise of autonomous agentic AI.

• Agentic AI risks and opportunities — The next generation of agentic AI poses significant challenges to lawyers’ critical thinking skills, but it also offers opportunities for lawyers to enhance their analytical rigor and human insight.

• Agentic AI can enhance critical thinking when properly leveraged — When designed by lawyers, for lawyers and used to augment human judgment in legal workflow tasks — such as discovery, contract analysis, and drafting — agentic AI can improve efficiency, deepen analysis, and allow legal professionals to focus on higher-value critical thinking tasks.

Another year-end summary.

https://www.theverge.com/policy/851664/new-tech-internet-laws-us-2026-ai-privacy-repair

Meet the new tech laws of 2026

Coming into force this year: AI regulations galore, a teen social media lockdown, and “Taylor Swift” laws.

A New Year prediction.

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/new-yorks-death-wish/

New York’s Death Wish

Zohran Mamdani garnered a bit more than 50 percent of the vote in the recent New York City mayoral election. Have voters learned nothing from history? Apparently not. As Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek quipped, “if socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists.”

In the past six months, I count no fewer than twelve pieces in The Daily Economy that discuss — directly or indirectly — Mamdani’s socialist policies.  Rent controls will decrease the quantity and quality of housing. Millionaire taxes would accelerate the exodus to more friendly states, to the great glee of Texas and Florida real estate agents. City-owned grocery stores would end in a bungle of Soviet proportions, increasing food deserts and raising prices. The drop in tax revenue from increased taxes (Laffer Curve, anyone?), combined with increased expenditures, would lead to another debt crisis.