Debbie Foster

In the human brain, language is the window to our inner simulation. Language is the interface to our mental world. And language is built on the foundation of our ability to model and reason about the minds of others--to infer what they mean and figure out exactly which words will produce the desired simulation in their mind.

The principle we must accept if we want to go on with our lives is that no paradox makes the world stop functioning as it should. The laws of the universe get their say. Things always snap back to how they should be, and a paradox always eventually runs out its charge. The only reasons why paradoxes perpetuate for as long as they do is because we

We want to be reconciled, somehow, to loss and failure, injustice and human suffering. We are hoping for a truth that will take the edge off our despair.

When commentators deride LLMs for 'just making predictions', they have overlooked the fact that predicting immediate sensory information is literally how learning happens in all biological systems, from the humblest worms and flies to the billion-neuron brains of humans and our nearest primate cousins. Learning and predicting go hand in hand.

In short, it is our subjective evaluation of a practice's appeal--and less its real-world impact on our health, fertility, or strength—that often determines whether it sticks around and spreads. Of course, subjective appeal and objective benefits often converge. Hammers, matches, and spears produce material advantages, which is why we continue to

Part of what I need to do to make a familiar place interesting is to never let it be the same place. That means trying to see or hear things that I didn't see or hear the day before.

only in genre fiction could we see anything like a revolution if it hasn't already happened in the historic past. Only outside the "given reality" are characters allowed to alter the fabric of daily life rather than just learn to cope with it. This isn't to say that genre fiction always depicts real change, or does so in interesting ways, but that

A book isn't a gym; it doesn't exist for you, to fix you, but for itself alone.

I cannot know that words are around and not read them.