Mediation without Encounter

Philosophics — Philosophical and Political Ramblings · Feb 23, 2026 · 44m

This essay by language philosopher Bry Willis applies the Mediated Encounter Ontology of the World (MEOW) to evaluate the structural nature of large language models. While these systems possess sophisticated computational and predictive mediation, the author argues they lack encounter-organisation, meaning they are not truly oriented within a world of stakes. Current AI architectures are distribution-facing rather than world-facing, remaining insulated from the physical and existential constraints that reorganise human salience. Consequently, the model’s linguistic fluency is identified as…