About & Contact

“Eliminate human labour and you eliminate human error.”

That was Larry Ellison’s vision when I worked as a consultant at ORACLE in 2017. That same year, Cambridge Analytica showed us what “optimizing” human decision-making really meant—algorithmic manipulation of millions.

I made a choice. I deleted all my social media, left tech consulting, and entered philosophy. Not because I’m anti-technology, but because I saw where we’re heading: a world where we voluntarily surrender our capacity to think.

What I Research

I research epistemic autonomy—your ability to form your own beliefs, question what you’re told, and think through problems yourself. It’s the difference between understanding something and merely retrieving it.

Every time we let AI write our emails, compose our arguments, or filter our reality, we outsource a piece of our cognitive work. The question isn’t whether this is efficient (it is) or convenient (absolutely). The question is what happens to minds that no longer practice thinking.

Why This Matters

We’re running an unprecedented experiment on human cognition. When you stop writing, you stop clarifying your thoughts. When you stop struggling with ideas, you stop developing intellectual strength. When you let algorithms curate your reality, you lose the ability to recognize when you’re being manipulated.

What I’m Doing About It

Through research, teaching (Amsterdam and New York), and speaking, I’m exploring how we can use AI without losing ourselves. My work on AI and authorship examines who’s really thinking when machines generate our words. My research on testimony asks whether we can trust AI-mediated knowledge. My focus on epistemic autonomy seeks to understand what we must preserve as human thinkers.

This isn’t about rejecting technology. It’s about maintaining the capacity to reject it—to choose when to think for ourselves. Because once we lose that ability, we won’t even realize it’s gone.

Want to discuss these ideas? Challenge them? Explore them further?
I want to hear your thoughts: d.f.bracker@vu.nl