At the beginning of summer 2026 the son of a family friend was visiting us. Before he started college, Matty was in the Bay Area for a summer internship. We had lots of topics to discuss over a dutch baby pancake brunch. The latest artificial intelligence mania was seeping into everything. I put it this way: "You can't throw an empty kombucha bottle without hitting an AI startup founder." Heck, you'd hit me.

Matty was deeply interested in software and society. Earlier that year he had traveled to Europe to meet sci-fi author and tech activist Cory Doctorow at a conference.

The topic of AI welfare came up. Will AI become complex enough to be worthy of moral consideration? Is AI conscious now? My hearing isn't what it used to be. Matty said: "cogito, ergo sum." I heard: "Cookie dough, ergo sum." I laughed immediately, thinking it was some Gen Z eggcorn. Nope. Just my bad hearing.

René Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" identified the act of self-reflection as the anchor for being and knowing. My auditory perceptual error snuck in at least four aspects of being that thinking leaves out: irresistible desire, subconscious intention, sweet sensory qualia, and emotional impatience. Not quite the whole ball of wax, but it gives a scent in that direction.[0] That the phrase arose from a communication error between Matty and me is the icing on the cookie.

Cookie Dough, Ergo

Cookie Dough Ergo is where I write about consciousness as I ponder the latest thinking and research. I work in marketing and branding, so I dropped the last word, sum, for a punchier, more leading name for this site. I have a computer science degree from MIT, so I go technical. I am a kitchen counter philosopher. That means I'm catching up with the canon while I cook. I'm working it out for myself. Cookie Dough Ergo: Life is too important to take too seriously.

Thanks for joining me for cookies and milk.

(AI statement: this was written entirely by me, a human. Editorial and research assistance from Claude.)

[0] With apologies. Descartes first stated "je pense, donc je suis" in Discourse on the Method in 1637. He elaborated in Meditations on First Philosophy Meditation II about honeycomb wax and sensory input. "cogito, ergo sum" arrived 1644 in Principles of Philosophy. ↩