Main guiding questions

1. Information Technology and the Common Good

What is the role of information in a good society? What good can it really achieve - and what harm?
What is the nature of information? How does it relate to reality, truth, knowledge and meaning?
How does (and should) information modulate our experience of visibility, memory and presence?
How do we remain present to truth and to others in a world of hyperreality and mediated interfaces (screens, feeds, LLMs)? How to limit these, and how to give them their proper place?

2. Computational Modeling and Simulation

What sense can we make of the world through computational models and simulations? How much can they explain? How much are they epistemologically opaque?
How well can we represent and simulate reality? How to define fidelity and verissimilitude in computational models and simulations? (Not obvious.)
Can simulations and models ever be a form of participation in reality, or only representation?
How do models reconfigure our relation to the future? (e.g., pre-emption, anticipation, counterfactuals)

3. Digital Labor

How is digital labor performed and what are its implications for workers and society?
How does software shape the nature of work and labor relations?
What new venues can be sought in terms of governance, cooperativism and commons economy?
How should we organize and work collectively in this permanent state of crisis brought by social acceleration (Hartmut Rosa)?

My approach to researching generative AI

I’m working in the field of computer science, so I’m asked about generative AI all the time, even though it is not my main research area. Still, from the perspective of my interests around a philosophy of information, I usually make questions about how LLMs are changing our experience of reality. For example:

How is generative AI changing our experience of truth, knowledge and expertise? Specifically: how is it creating “illusions of knowledge” and how can we counter this?
How is generative AI changing our experience of people? (i.e., they are simulating people)
How could generative AI be trapping us in an closed/informationally-produced world? (A Matrix?)
How is it affecting work rhythms, social acceleation and our experience of craftsmanship?

research directions I have been pursuing in order to deal with those questions

Critical engagement with Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Information, especially his concept of “infosphere” and “onlife”. Plus, exploring the philosophy of technology of Jacques Ellul, Albert Borgmann, Bernard Stiegler, Yuk Hui and others.
Exploration of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) methods for designing more humane interfaces and systems - especially in the context of digital labor.
Simulating digital labor scenarios (corporate and cooperative) through agent-based modeling and system dynamics, in order to understand their dynamics and implications. Also, extending these simulations to classroom settings in order to teach these concepts to students.

Other interests

Use those at will if you want to have a long chat with me!

Theories I’m attracted to: Christian Humanism, Critical Realism, Communitarianism, Catholic Social Teaching, Virtue Ethics, Actor-Network Theory, Cooperativism and Commons Economy.
Authors: Jacques Ellul, Albert Borgmann, Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa, Wendell Berry, Jacques Maritain, Bruno Latour, Oliver O’Donovan, Reinhold Niebuhr.
Literature: J. R. R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, George Bernanos, Ariano Suassuna.
Movies: The Lord of the Rings & Star Wars (for fun), Babette’s Feast (for inspiration).
Board Games: I have a rigorously curated collection of 150 board games, spanning through the broadest span of genres, mechanics and themes. See my personal collection here and my BoardGameGeek profile.
Video Games: The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda, and so on.
Music: I’m a pianist. Love early and baroque music, progressive rock, folk and Brazilian chorinho.
Art: Fantastic/sci-fi landscape illustration like Roger Dean and Moebius.