Works In Progress

Drafting:

1. "Loop You Later: Predictive Models as Algorithmic Time Travel"

Abstract: This paper explores how predictive algorithms, when embedded in feedback-rich systems, resemble the causal loops found in time travel thought experiments. Drawing on David Lewis’s metaphysics of time travel, I argue that these algorithms don’t just forecast the future, they help cause it. From social media to predictive policing, algorithmic systems often create self-fulfilling loops where predictions influence outcomes that, in turn, validate the predictions. I propose that such mechanisms instantiate a form of functional time travel, challenging assumptions about causality, temporal direction, and the fixity of the future. The result is a metaphysical and ethical rethinking of how algorithms act within time not just as tools of inference, but as agents shaping what comes next.

2. "A Player’s Guide to Dating Apps: The Paradox of Play in the Pursuit of Love"

Abstract: This paper explores how dating apps reconfigure romantic life through the lens of play, performance, and power. While users often seek meaningful connection, the gamified design of these platforms introduces a paradox: the search for love becomes entangled with superficial interaction, emotional detachment, and algorithmic optimization.

Combining philosophical and anthropological inquiry, I examine how dating apps shape users’ behaviors, desires, and self-presentation. Philosophically, I draw on existentialism and critical theory to reflect on authenticity, performance, and agency. Anthropologically, Miles Jordan explores dating apps as cultural artifacts that reshape rituals of courtship and social norms around intimacy, desirability, and identity.

Framed as a form of “play,” app-based dating raises pressing questions about agency, attention economies, and emotional labor. While these platforms expand access to potential partners, they also commodify affection and transform intimacy into a game of metrics. This paper critically reflects on the digital mediation of love and what it means to seek connection in systems designed for engagement rather than depth.