False Negatives: Tilted Takes on a World in Flux
By Christos Tombras
Published by L2U Publishing
A collection of philosophical essays examining truth, evidence, and meaning in the post-truth age
In an era when "alternative facts" shape public discourse and technology reshapes what we believe to be true, psychoanalyst and thinker Christos Tombras invites readers to reconsider how we know what we know. False Negatives gathers a series of brief, incisive essays—"tilted takes" written between 2019 and 2021—that navigate the shifting boundaries of politics, science, history, art, and human understanding.
Tombras, a practising Lacanian psychoanalyst, brings a rare combination of clinical insight and philosophical rigour to questions of knowledge and perception. Through vivid examples—from DeepFake videos and AI-generated art to Freud's dreams and Godel's theorem—he explores the fragile relationship between truth and interpretation, reason and belief, and evidence and experience.
Among the themes:
- DeepTrust - When the camera lies: DeepFake technology and the collapse of visual evidence.
- Beyond Descartes - The limits of quantification and the need for a new scientific revolution.
- A Matter of Choice - Human intention versus artificial intelligence.
- Truth, with Strings Attached - Why conspiracy theories persist despite facts.
- Negative (in)Capability - Our shared difficulty in tolerating uncertainty.
Each essay stands alone yet contributes to a larger reflection on the crisis of objectivity and our enduring desire for certainty. False Negatives is at once analytical and accessible—a philosophical companion for readers seeking clarity in a world awash with information and doubt.
Christos Tombras is a London-based Lacanian psychoanalyst, lecturer, and writer. His work bridges psychoanalysis, philosophy, and contemporary culture. He is known for illuminating the intersections of science, art, and subjectivity in a language both precise and humane. He is the author of Discourse Ontology: Body and the Construction of a World, from Heidegger through Lacan (Palgrave 2019)
