Shownotes Transcript
(Audio version here, or search for "Joe Carlsmith Audio" on your podcast app.) “There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall?”
- C.S. Lewis “The Human Condition,” by René Margritte (Image source here) ** 1. Introduction** Sometimes, my thinking feels more “real” to me; and sometimes, it feels more “fake.” I want to do the real version, so I want to understand this spectrum better. This essay offers some reflections. I give a bunch of examples of this “fake vs. real” spectrum below -- in AI, philosophy, competitive debate, everyday life, and religion. My current sense is that it brings together a cluster of related dimensions, namely:
Map vs. world: Is my mind directed at an abstraction, or it is trying to see past its model to the world beyond? Hollow vs. solid: Am I [...]
Outline:
(00:30) 1. Introduction
(03:21) 2. Caveats
(05:42) 3. Examples
(06:18) 3.1 AI
(11:54) 3.2 Philosophy
(15:41) 3.3 Competitive debate
(18:11) 3.4 Everyday life
(21:51) 3.5 Lewis on the living God
(25:57) 4. Why does this matter?
(26:33) 4.1 Spiritual stuff
(29:51) 4.2 The telos of thinking
(34:24) 5. How do we do real thinking?
(35:17) 5.1 Going slow
(36:36) 5.2 Following curiosity and aliveness
(37:52) 5.3 Staying in tune with your why
(39:21) 5.4 Tethering your concepts
(42:21) 5.5 Arguments are lenses on the world
(48:12) 5.6 Helplessness about the truth
(50:07) 5.7 Just actually imagining different ways the world could be
(52:41) 5.8 Being wrong/right in both directions
(54:07) 5.9 What would the future people think?
(59:08) 5.10 No bullshit
(01:00:01) 5.11 Real scientists, real philosophers
(01:10:49) 6. Staying awake
The original text contained 20 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.
First published: January 28th, 2025
Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GMWtZzpLHpBLKQsYp/fake-thinking-and-real-thinking)
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