Abstract Muttaqin et al. (2026) provide an illuminating commentary on a recent article of mine in this journal (Metcalf Philosophy & Technology , 39 , 69, 2026). They view my pessimistic predictions about widespread LLM use in humanities scholarship in terms of Debord’s (1994) understanding of spectacle. In this brief commentary, I evaluate Muttaqin et al.’s analysis. I think the Debordian lens helps us clearly understand some of the problems with technical incrementalism, but I explain how my analysis differs in several ways from Debord’s overall view and approach.
Thomas R. Metcalf (Fri,) studied this question.