Paul Sturrock

if we cease to have any struggle in our lives, then our lives become empty. Because much like we evolved to crave convenience, we also evolved to exert ourselves on meaningful pursuits. The best lives contain a tension between both of these drives. Not everything should be hard. But not everything should be easy.

The neural activity associated with reward, along with the accompanying real-life feelings of accomplishment, was significantly greater in participants who viewed their effort as worthwhile. The more you believe your hard work matters, the more rewarding and satisfying you’ll find it.

Free Energy Principle Explains Life Against Entropy

• The second law of thermodynamics drives matter toward dissipation; life resists that by maintaining boundaries (cells, skin) that keep entropy at bay.


• Michael Pollan summarizes Carl Friston's free energy principle: life exists to resist the second law until death.


• Organisms defend against entropy

Sentience As Basic Homeostatic Awareness

• Dax and Michael distinguish sentience from full-blown human consciousness: sentience is a simpler capacity to sense and respond.


• Sentience means detecting changes in the environment and judging them as positive or negative for the organism.


• Its primary role is servicing homeostasis (e.g., seeking cooler areas

Why Consciousness Evolved To Solve Social And Uncertain Problems

• Consciousness evolved to handle tasks that are impossible to fully automate because they're unpredictable, especially complex social navigation.


• For humans, long dependency and social hierarchies make imagining others' minds (theory of mind) essential for survival and bonding.


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