My name is Michael Lee. I am a software engineer, an aspiring writer and a philosopher. I would describe myself as half educated on these things: I studied Mathematics and Philosophy in undergraduate and attempted (key word: attempted) a PhD in Computer Science on Automated Reasoning and Description Logics. I've been in the industry for a few years, but received no formal training in it during my time as an academic. The end result is a Fox rather then a Hedgehog, one lesson from my academic experience being that I am far happier (and more suited) to being a generalist then a specialist.

This blog is where I write about various different topics that matter to me. Some of these have been concerns since my degree: moral and political philosophy and the philosophy of technology. Others are commentary on UK politics, culture (especially literature) and the interesting intersection between these things.

The title of the blog is a play on the term "Automated Reasoning" which is a field that uses computers, large sets of logical axioms and solvers to derive conclusions. It is also a statement of intent - in philosophy we are trying always to unpick, scrutinise and evaluate what it is we think, which a lot of the time we are doing automatically.