Sublime
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“Small world” vs “Large world”
This idea is related to the thoughts in Reality is analog (https://www.metapsychosis.com/reality-is-analog-philosophizing-with-stranger-things-part-two/), where JF Martel argues that we mostly live in a conceptual overlay.
Organisms and algorithms live in two fundamentally different worlds.
Algorithms inhabit a “small
... See moreThe confusion between science as a cognitive activity and science as a producer of testable predictions leaves science open to the critique of the dominion of technology.
Carlo Rovelli • Anaximander: And the Birth of Science
obtuse.
Sam Harris • Free Will
Looking at natural selection and extinction together pushes us to consider the parameters that we must evolve in. We either respond to the changing demands of our environment, or we die out. Natural selection further teaches us that optimization for our environment is an ongoing and dangerous process. We are constantly trying to obtain advantages
... See moreShane Parrish • The Great Mental Models Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry and Biology
When evolutionary biologists talk about success, they don’t describe Ferraris and yachts and taking private jets out to Burning Man. They talk about our ability to adapt in order to avoid danger.
Tripp Lanier • This Book Will Make You Dangerous: The Irreverent Guide For Men Who Refuse to Settle
Indeed, some of our apparent goals are not even really our goals—they are the metaphorical goals of our genes. The evolutionary process selects for genes that lead organisms to have as many surviving offspring as possible in the kinds of environments in which their ancestors lived. They do so by giving us motives like hunger, love, fear, comfort,
... See moreSteven Pinker • Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
“I have to say, you’re wrong. Natural selection is a universal principle, which applies to all living things, but it can take all sorts of forms. It exists even in the plant world, where it’s a matter of access to nutritious soil, to water, to sunlight … Man is an animal, as we know, but he’s not a prairie dog or an antelope. His dominance doesn’t
... See moreMichel Houellebecq • Submission
Darwinism’s icy grip on modern intellectual life is based on shoddy philosophy, not science.