Glimpse from Psyche: General Algorithms to Live By

Possibly important, possibly skippable, but uncertain because I have insufficient data points, inconclusive, inadequate, not enough information to say anything for sure. I'll tell you why. First, complexity: high information density. I never thought I'd create such a post but here I am. Why not? It's just some lessons that work for me, some thinking tools, and that might not work for you, but I felt they might at least be a good template or starting point, better than nothing if you don't have any such tools to solve such problems.

It's random, no structure, just from my notepads, hence the title Glimpse into my psyche, because it's just some of the random stuff that has occurred to me and I've written in my notepads all these years, that I found in one corner on a re-read. Not representative of the contents of all my notepads and ideas, just a very small fraction of random stuff I felt like sharing. New to this blog? Start here.

Also some random pieces of knowledge and information I've acquired from books and stuff. Non exhaustive, which means this is not all of my principles and I'm leaving out most of them that I currently don't remember/ don't feel like including/ include in my other posts/ plan to write about in future posts or videos/ still developing and working out etc. Same goes for the book or podcast notes. It's just one or two lines here or there, but I have a lot of notes full of the lessons I've extracted from the books I've read till now with my own comments; might publish them sometime in the future in a more structured way. This is like a more serious version of my post random out of context text messages, which is about more humorous and light-hearted messages also from my notepads and conversations I've had with people over the years that I felt like sharing.

Don't fret over things out of your control, and don't blame others for things out of their control; consider the external factors that may be affecting them. Think again whether it's really out of your control though. Examples. Replace anger with empathy. When dealing with an angry person, have some sympathy, for the person could be going through unfavourable external events.

The purpose of language is to communicate clearly. So as long as you're getting your point across, you're good. Use simple terms instead of unnecessary difficult words that are hard to understand. Others won't take that favourably. But expand your vocabulary because it gives you the tools to express your thoughts and ideas more clearly, more accurately, be more articulate. Express your thoughts more clearly and convincingly.

It's fascinating how symbols and sounds can communicate and transmit ideas and form mental images in the mind of the receiver. There is no reason to not exercise that gift.

With that said, using more words and uncommonly used words to describe is sometimes beneficial- when you are describing complex ideas or meaningful or significant subjective experiences, it's better to capture the full essence in as much detail as possible, with the words that are closest in meaning to what's in your head.

Whatever the limits of language, make full use of all the advantages it provides. That shall suffice for most cases. Communicating with simple words is usually okay, but not always.

Kinda like the limitations of human language, and how mathematical formalism in psychology fails to capture the qualia, subjective states. Too reductionist.

Try to generalize specific principles and events in the simplest terms to the most fundamental concepts and forms and see where else they apply. Find analogies and metaphors. Apply analogical thinking, find similarities with instances from your past, experiences of others, and multiple disciplines.

Be curious, skeptical. Keep asking questions; question everything; is it true? why? what if? Counterfactuals and opportunity costs, cause and effect and butterfly effects. Brainstorm alternatives, cost-benefit analysis, best and worst case scenarios, associated probabilities. First principles. Question every belief, hidden assumption.

Try to knock down thought/belief on the spot. Stop at the point where it feels like the debate is turning into a game of rationalization (You can know by asking yourself if it involves subjective values with no basis in external observable events in the more objective mathematical universe, and if it depends on inclinations that could be tweaked through genes and brains; rule of thumb mental heuristic: cognitive dissonance is an illusion if you have the ability to rationalize, if not by logic and language, then by psychology and neuroscience.), so you don't fall prey to analysis paralysis; explore and journal events later, including your internal mental states, emotions, feelings, intuitive thoughts and analysis of the event and your own behaviour during that event and if there is any lesson to extract; there always is; when you feel negative emotional affect for something, stop and think and ask 'why?' because subjective values and emotions are neural constructs and it's just the matter and atoms and events but our brain has the ability to turn this into subjective experiences or qualia, and so when you feel negative emotions towards some object or event, remember to not fall prey to simplistic black and white thinking and try to find the good in it- why the negative emotions, and how could the emotion be misleading or misguiding, and how could this thing have a hidden upside you could be overlooking? There is always going to be a upside to everything that seems 'bad' at first because of butterfly effect and the complexity of the world, as they are social constructs and depend on inclinations; do the same for something that generates positive emotions, even more importantly for positive emotions because that's how most people fall prey to irrationality, by believing something is true when it's not or attaching themselves to closely to a belief or ideology.

Analyze all components. Don't follow dogmatic ideology or belief; stay open-minded. Verify source. Never be 100% sure. Generalize and make analogies; extract general abstract principles from specific instances that hold true universally in other novel real-world situations. Find connections between disciplines and ideas; previously acquired information and past personal experiences. Learn from everything- failures, past experiences, advice; skepticism, scientific skepticism. Be open to new experiences. Don't be a corporate slave for life.

Don't speak unnecessarily, especially with people who don't value your time and attention; life is too short to worry about stuff like that and you don't need to surround yourself with people who don't make you feel comfortable, yourself as true as you can be to what you feel like allows you to express your true self. Analyze all words; define everything. Get articulate. Expand vocabulary. Don't interrupt others, listen. Polite. Eye contact. Stay calm; smile. Be concise but don't use difficult words when simpler alternatives are available.

Don't trust anyone blindly and trust but always stay prepared and better be safe than sorry; try to think like a misanthrope especially when stakes are high and there is a lot to lose, don't take any foolish uncalculated risks that are irrational and not well-informed. Beware of logical fallacies and cognitive biases, learn logic and reasoning, probability and stats. Silence is golden. Actively try to knock down your own ideas before adopting them as beliefs and still keep an open mind, yet not so open that your brains fall out. Communication skills: listen; repeat and summarize what the other person said to you.

Explore and experiment to discover your core values by paying attention, closely monitoring, being mindful, focusing on your internal subjective mental states and emotions and feelings while trying novel activities and experiences in order to discover your true inclinations, then values, from that beliefs and morals that could allow you to live rationally in a way that maximizes the probability of you achieving your desired goals, keeping in mind your personal preferences and risk-taking ability, the goal in this case living a fulfilling life while contributing to society and helping those less fortunate than yourself.

I just posted a LinkedIn post about how failures are as important as success, even more important in terms of lessons that could help you learn and improve and grow. I have linked to the post elsewhere in another post, though you could always check it out there, but here's an addition:

While taking calculated risks if you feel like playing a fun mental game and practice your foresight, forecasting, decision making and probabilistic thinking skills all at once just try to brainstorm all alternatives and associated probabilities along with assuming turn by turn how you would reframe and rationalize every undesirable event if it occurs to find the silver lining and extract a lesson (before even making a mistake or before the failure even occurs! Just by thinking of how it could be true and how things could go wrong and taking precautions if the resources and opportunity costs don't outweigh the expected utility and the change in probability of that u desirable event being prevented is significant enough in proportion to the resources required to prevent it, so kind of like negative visualization but with extra steps. Anyone gets the reference I just made?) and look at it in an optimistic way; or at least try to think how you could reframe the worst case scenario if it occurs, and everything else would seem acceptable in comparison, plus if you're unable to reframe it in a positive light, it would only act as negative reinforcement and push you harder to achieve your goals, and allow you to cone up with strategies to prevent it or make it less likely to occur minimize the probability of failure or the worst case scenario occurring; if you can on the other hand reframe it in a positive light, great!

Because that's what you do- try your best and emotionally detach from outcomes that are not directly under your control because assigning an external locus of control to your happiness would mean that you're never under control and at mercy of a complex interaction of currently unpredictable uncontrollable external factors, which is unhealthy and bad for your mental health.

I realized that even though honesty is one of my core values and I might not just dislike but also be bad with lies and deception in general, I'm actually pretty good at fooling people to make them think that I'm intelligent, at least give them a false impression that I'm not dumb. Or maybe- it occurred to me just now- everyone is just messing with me and I'm the one who is the fool, and everyone is just being sarcastic when they tell me I seem intelligent. A possibility worth seriously considering. If that turns out to be true, I might cross the limit of misanthropy for once and for all and just release that perfectly lethal biohazard virus that I've- just kidding. (Here's the link)

Failure is an opportunity to learn. Every problem has a solution. Imagine, visualize success, never lose hope. Don't be selfish- live for others, improve lives and minimize suffering. Reflect on your daily actions, progress made; journal daily or weekly or at least monthly, reflect back on your actions and what lessons you can extract from those experiences and your internal mental states and observable behaviour during those events and what it means for you. Read diversely, search for criticism and shortcomings, improve. Strive to be the best version of yourself. Don't hold prejudices. Don't assume; uncover hidden assumptions. Develop foresight. Tackle root of problems. Beware of false dichotomies (integrate opposing ideas) and grey areas (not absolute). Self control; system 2 rules over system 1.

Be Optimistic, but not unrealistic. Growth mindset. Don't procrastinate; get over deadlines ASAP. Live a life with no regrets. Give your 100%. Waste no time. Think critically. gratitude. you're insignificant in the grand scheme of things; intellectual and epistemic humility. Volunteer, random acts of kindness. Control your reactions. Mindful- live in the moment, give your 100% to whatever you're doing; detach-you're more than the sum of your parts. pursue hobbies. Follow stoic philosophy and minimalism. Don't get attached to any object too much. forgive. give complements. altruism; sacrifice your self for others as long as it's not causing you too much discomfort in a way that you're unable to help others in the future and lose your self, but help as much as possible.

Negative visualization, mental rehearsal. Never stop learning. Just try your best, don't care about results because they're not under your control. get rid of unnecessarily excessive negative emotions. Find like-minded companions. Utilize neuroplasticity- learn, sync brainwaves. keep brain stimulated (use it or lose it), frequently get into state of flow. Don't force yourself to do something you're not interested in. Live and let live. everyone deserves love and respect. Practice gratitude for being fortunate than many people.

Esther eps rethinking grant- established beliefs are hard to change, but changing behavior to influence attitude and opinion is often easier, cause causes cognitive dissonance. Sometimes its just echo chambers and they need to be told new info. People are confused about their own and others preferences; often find out through action. People often do what they think others find cool is not necessarily cuz of fear of punishment but because they think they might enjoy it too. Look at econ through behavioral which is complex, not physics isolated models that don't remotely reflect reality. Econ students influenced by the way it's taught, but really a subject that can have great impact. Can do interdisciplinary basic plus applied research, that Pasteur or Pascal square or something.

Kahneman eps on rethinking- critique of positive psychology- seems to accept humans as they are condition and make then feel better about their condition situation; focusing on changing circumstances and dealing with misery is a worthier objective for society; focus should be on minimizing suffering and misery rather than happiness. Most of the misery is concentrated on 10-15 percent of the population, so we should concentrate our scarce resources on them, rather than those who are already happier on average.

Workaholics- compulsive vs addicted; are you working more because you feel guilty when you are not working?; obsessed with the problem you're trying to solve?; extrinsic motivation; genuine interest in the work, intrinsic motivation?; all of them? - Different attitudes probably result in different levels of well-being and engagement at work.

Life is a game. Unequal distribution of abilities, and complex rules and mechanisms governing the gameplay. Trying to work out the rules. Can exit anytime. So don't take anything too seriously, and enjoy the gameplay!

To extend the game analogy, each playable character has different strengths, weaknesses and preferences. You have been randomly assigned a character and a time limit in this simulated world, and your goal is to do the best with what you've been given under your current constraints, and try to uncover the mechanisms of the game and have fun along the way! You are constrained by the rules of the game and your assigned character's attributes, but you must assume that you can exert your own free will in bringing about outcomes that you desire. You can't know for sure because you are inside the game, but it is unclear so safe to assume you can for the time being.

Uncover the forces governing life, embrace the absurdity and have fun; enjoy the journey!

The aesthetic impulse to share is at least as strong as the impulse to imitate- Wittgenstein. From psyche article-"why does imitation figure in beauty at all? And what other actions might accompany imitation to fill out this way of understanding beauty?

sharing is also bolstered by imitation; the process goes both ways. If beauty called only for imitation, then perfect copies would be the most shareable. But you share far better than perfect copies: you share your riffs and tweaks, your inspired alterations and emulations."

NOTE- its parallels with imitation of ideas, how we borrow others ideas and beliefs and adopt them as our own, adopt them as ours; how artists build upon works of others take inspiration from others; scientific process building upon predecessors. Maybe this is because we find the idea beautiful, and the aesthetic compels us to adopt it as our own and practice it? Maybe this beauty / aesthetics are intuitions that give us pleasure at a visceral level and so connect with like minded people at a fundamental level..

And so They would also likely to have similar values and intuitions regarding their ideal selves, as they share similar intuitive feelings and it affects their preferences in every domain of life. Or am I pushing this too far?

"After all, you don’t imitate and share any old aesthetic thing: you don’t don any old outfit, you don’t order everything on the menu, and so many aesthetic goods you ignore. Why did that outfit inspire? Why did you share that song, play it on repeat, find that specific recipe and recreate the dish? In one way or another, you are moved to imitate and share the things that speak to you, that seem, in one way or another, to be alive with beauty in a way that makes you feel alive. You express yourself. You deploy aesthetic value as a means of self-expression in your aesthetic engagements and interactions."

Wittgenstein offers a narrow definition of beauty focused on imitation. Sharing and self-expression add to imitation. Together they make a lovely triad that gives structure to what Plato called ‘begetting’: beauty begets beauty through imitation, expression, and sharing.

Idea- a friendship app based on aesthetic measure?

"Aesthetic life is driven by cycles of imitation, expression, and sharing. But notice that you cannot do this alone. Aesthetic life requires another person"

Self Note- a scientist find aesthetic value in his work, same as an artist in his work. another point is that the aesthetic value directly contributes by making our lives better, and indirectly in ways like scientist doing his work with joy that contributes in improving others lives in other ways. Also, another point in favour of aesthetic values (tangible and intangible)- when AGI is created and suffering is eradicated and no one is required to work, this aesthetic value is all that could make human life worth living.

Kahneman rethinking pod- says ideas are a dime a dozen, don't overinvest in them, come up with others. Kahneman experiences joy on being proven wrong, being surprised, because he learns something. (Idea- that's an example of emotions affecting attitude and it may have been a major factor in his success; people usually feel offended on being proven wrong [possibly because they adopt a belief as part of their identity without much scrutiny and reject being open-minded] and this is the cause of most disagreements and group conflicts; which emotions are these, their biological and environmental factors?)

(Make them feel drawn only towards the truth and scientific method?; is it an easier goal to manipulate brain to produce an indifferent attitude towards beliefs and ideologies, detachment from such ideas?)

But it may be better for some people to be attached to a cause in some cases. Even when you are being irrational you may be successful by being very invested in an idea; but you should make decisions on the basis of expected success of that decision. Just because you turned out to be successful doesn't mean you made the right decision. (see fooled by randomness also, and survivorship bias). Kahneman- Making a decision by flipping a coin to notice your bias, if you already don't know your choice and what you want to do.

Epictetus- don't just say you have read books; show that through them you have learnt to think better, be a more reflective person. It'd be a bad mistake to think you have made progress just by internalizing it's contents. (Note- so internalizing ways of thinking by learning general principles and getting intuitive understanding of it and recognizing it's real world applications, right?)

Don't assume you can change everything; learn to recognize what you have control over and set expectations accordingly. Character, Reactions to events under our control; external events like other's perception, how and where we're born are not. (Note- it's hard to discern exactly where the line should he drawn, and when we should stop trying.)(may lead to nihilism.)

See things for what they are. (Note-Do the most rational thing in a given situation. For eg. If some unfavourable event has happened over which you now have no control, frame it in a positive manner and leverage it to find some silver lining and try to make the best out of it, or at least don't complain about it if that won't do anyone any good. You care capable of rationalizing reframing anything in a way to find the silver lining in any situation. Don't overdo it though. But Don't spiral into negative thoughts, just learn your lesson from the experience and move on, just be sure not to repeat the mistake.)(understand cause and effect)

Stay detached and avoid melodramatic reactions. If someone you're with is acting like that, have empathy and be kind and sympathetic but don't let them pull you down. That won't be good for either of you. Try to understand the other person's circumstances and present situation and why they acted as they acted.

Instead of averting your eyes from the painful events of life, look at them squarely and contemplate them often. By facing the reality of death, disappointment and loss, You free yourself of illusions and false hopes, and you avoid miserable envious thoughts.

Live like every day's the last. (note- what abt long term planning and working towards meaning?) Take risks, no regrets, cultivate relationships.

Avoid most popular entertainment. Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short, and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit in your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity but there is no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless activities. (Note-THIS. I have always felt this intuitively, and you put it really well, Epictetus.)

Wisdom is revealed through action not thoughts. Don't declare your yourself to be a wise person or discuss your spiritual aspirations with ppl who wont appreciate them. Show them your character and commitment to personal nobility thru your actions. (Use everything you learn in your day to day life implement it practically don't just consume knowledge apply it allow them to manifest in your actions. Figure out how you're gonna practically apply in your life whatever you have learnt, else its useless.)

(part of your actions is what you consume how u spend your time- vicious or virtuous cycle your choice- waste time on sitcoms and fiction or learn)(note- one essential component of time spent is my company. Should I try to change my company because I feel unsatisfied with my current one and seek more like minded companions with shared values who would help me grow, or should I accept it as it is and learn to be comfortable with it and think it's out of my control? Current solution I lean towards finding like minded friends; same doubt for aptitude vs interest how much u push yourself and at what point you accept your ability and think its out of your control?)

Pursue the good ardently, but if your efforts fall short, your accept the result and move on. (Look back and analyze the factors that led to the result. keep pursuing the good to the best of your ability and don't worry about the outcome, keep learning and moving forward.)

Practice gratefulness.

Start living your ideals. Once you determine the principles you wish to exemplify, abide by these principles as if they were laws. But them into practice. If you don't you'll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feelings of shame and regret because you know you are capable of better.

"The people who laugh when you laugh – and who don’t laugh when you don’t laugh – are likely to share your values and worldview. A sense of humour is a great way to establish (and sever) social connections of trust. Laughter is hard to fake and hard to stifle. So if you find yourself snort-laughing at the same memes as another person, you can probably rely on them to take the same side as you on other questions relate to the subject of the meme. At the same time, if you find yourself laughing when another is looking stern, that may indicate that your values and worldview diverge.

In dark times, it’s hard to envision a future worth pursuing or fighting for. A dark sense of humour helps people to nurture the hope they need to envision a world in which their current suffering is something they can eventually laugh about.

it is an executive virtue like courage (and patience and self-control) because, through its regulation of emotion, it helps people to more effectively exercise both individual and collective agency. This does make humour a bit dangerous, like the other executive virtues. A courageous foe is more formidable than a cowardly one. Just so, a foe who wields humour to evil ends is more formidable than a humourless foe. just as we would not wish to live in a world full of feckless cowards, so we should not wish to live in a world full of humourless dullards or obnoxious buffoons."

Kahneman- distinguish judgement from decision making. Most biases are fallacies of judgement. Know when to rely on intuitions. Do listen to intuition and let them guide your decision making, but important thing is not to act on it instantly and prematurely, but delay them and reflect on them. When our brain forms an intuition, we usually just follow by confirming it, rationalizing new information to fit it. So try to back it up by seeking comprehensive reliable unbiased data, and base your decisions on them. Don't jump to conclusions, try to prevent avoidable mistakes.

Don't trust your intuition; test them. He says intuition is a subconscious pattern recognition system that we need to make explicit and evaluate consciously rigorously if it is valid in our situation. Intuitions can be trusted in a predictable environment, you have regular practice with immediate feedback. Technique- get your intuition on a topic with no clear answer, separated by some time, and the average of the two intuitions is likely to be closer to either of them individually; sleep over it.

Everyone is motivated by self-interest; avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. Have empathy: Where we are born, genes, early environment are out of our control, but these things significantly impact our thoughts, personality and impulses later in life. We can choose to overide our instinct and impulses; control our reactions and perceptions. think; use logic and reasoning. Don't let emotions cloud judgement. preserve other's ego; disregard yours. Morality is relative. Reality/Everything is subjective.

If anything bad happens to you, it's probably either your fault (and so only you can improve it- control reaction, perspective, never lose hope, learn from mistakes and don't repeat them in future) or out of your control. It's no use complaining about things out of our control. Accept and try to improve things in your control. Be humble, accept the role of luck, Help the less fortunate, minimize suffering and create an egalitarian society. Remember, it all ends one day. No use complaining about the past. Exprience life; sail through life like a spectator; deterministic. Help others; effective altruism, volunteer. aim; stay motivated, enjoy the journey.

Remember- luck genes nurture all predetermined, out of your control, not your fault, no use complaining about, acceptance.

You are NOT your thoughts, physical form or brain. They don't pass the perception and permanence test. You rule your mind. You can filter your thoughts. You are the observer. Observe your thoughts, listen to them. listen to the system 1. avoid thinking of past and future. avoid reacting negatively to events. avoid acting on impulses and impulsive thoughts. control your perception,; there are multiple perspectives. Your reaction, system 1 is automatic, you don't have to obey. Get to know your inner voice. Listen for truth. stop thinking unnecessary thoughts, question everything. it's not the even but it's perception, the thoughts, reaction to it that makes you unhappy. Hope for the best prepare for the worst. Everything seems to be deterministic, so love yourself. be grateful.

“Reverse inference”- Just because a brain region B is always active during a specific mental state M, this doesn’t mean that the presence of activity in B implies the presence of M, simply because B could be active also during other mental processes. Current research shows that it should be possible tell whether a person is thinking about a specific intention, but it is not clear whether it is possible to tell whether they are truly committed to it.it is possible to decode a person’s mental states from their brain activity. Emotion appears or play an indispensable role in moral judgement, many cognitive processes in moral judgement are non-conscious and automatic, not conscious. Moral Dumbfounding- which occurs when a person shows a marked confusion and incoherence or simply admits to be dumbfounded upon being asked to explain moral judgements (yet refuses to change that judgement). Affective reactions (physical/emotional reactions) are good predictors of moral judgement. dan gilbert- we're bad at affective forecasting.

See action principle (bringing about a harm by action is worse than bringing about the same harm by omission.), intention principle (a harm brought about as a means to a goal is worse than harm brought about as side effect of a goal) and contact principle (bringing about a harm through physical contact is worse than the same harm brought without physical contact)- principles consistent with experimental evidence. When confronted with personal moral dilemmas, as opposed to impersonal and immoral dilemmas, people tend to see the action as immoral due to the emotional response involved in the personal actions. Negative emotion directed towards defectors to warn them, with no gains to the punisher- Altruistic punishment. Get to know about function by studying patients who don't have that part in the brain. anticipation is more powerful than the actual event. Divide good things in intervals and complete unpleasant things in a go at once.

The principle of parsimony dictates that when two theories have the same explanatory power, the simpler theory (the one involving fewer concepts and conceptual relationships) is preferred. The reason is that the theory with fewer conceptual relationships will likely be the more falsifiable of the two in future tests.

A theory that explains everything is not falsifiable; is worthless. Case studies and testimonials are virtually worthless as evidence for the evaluation of psychological theories and treatments. Piaget’s case studies did not prove anything but, rather, suggested incredibly fruitful areas for developmental psychologists to investigate. It was subsequent correlational and experimental studies that provide the confirmatory and dis-confirmatory evidence for the hypotheses that were generated by Piaget’s case studies.

a costly placebo provides more pain relief than a cheap placebo! However, controlled studies have demonstrated that some proportion of this recovery rate is due to a combination of placebo effects and the mere passage of time, often termed spontaneous remission.

"It's the golden age of genetic engineering, inexpensive kits are available to everyone, and no one gives a hoot for the regulations. Some not-so-mad scientist decides to play with cat genes, and decides to give the strength of an elephant and intelligence of a human. The result, as you may imagine, is a large scale Jurassic park situation, but with cats. They communicate at frequencies inaudible to humans. A few rich humans escape to Mars, but the majority is left to face the wrath of the cats.

Another possibility is that it's already happening. If the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct, there's a parallel multiverse where this reality is realized. Cats evolved to be the intelligent dominating species, not humans. If humans still exist, cats keep them as their pets, and discuss the possibility of humans taking over the world.

random dude on the net."

"Why I like Christmas- So the story of Santa Claus originated from Christmas. Parents have been traditionally lying to their children about Santa and naïve kids believe them. But when they grow, they learn the truth and oh it hurts. But this teaches an essential life lesson to kids- thinking critically, even if it's their parents. Never trusting others without evidence and proof. Sets them up for not submitting to authority without asking a very important question: why?"

The best argument against dualism is that it is difficult to see how something non-material can cause impulses. Logical behaviourism argues that when we are in pain, we scream, but the scream is not the pain itself; rather, the experience that caused the scream is the pain. However, what about people who don't react to pain? The mind-brain identity theory can only be disproven by scientific evidence. One objection to it is that mental states are multiply realizable, meaning that there are different things that can be called mental states. However, if minds can be made out of different things, then the identity theory will turn out to be wrong. For example, an octopus brain is made of different stuff than a human brain, but it still has mental states and can feel pain.

Therefore, mental states cannot be reduced to some particular physical state, as suggested in one of your liked videos. Another version of physicalism is functionalism, which views mental states as function states of causes and effects, like a vending machine. However, if qualia inversion is possible, then the same processes can produce different conscious experiences, meaning that the same input can give different output. If proven, functionalism would be false, but it's hard to be proven since qualia inversion is a thought experiment. However, qualia inversion is also improbable.

Okay, now how do you learn? You learn from your experiences, and you experience reality through your senses. An autistic person with sensory processing disorder is often oversensitive to their senses, which allows them to take in more information. As a result, they can focus on whatever they want and learn more from their experiences. They can extract more lessons and general principles that can help guide them in future actions and decision-making, at least that's how it works for me. However, this sensitivity can be seen as a problem, such as in family functions, loud classrooms, bright lights, radio songs in cars, drilling, and so on. People often don't look at the other side of the issue because the norm is to view it as a disability. As a result, the person who has it is often unable to see their superpower.

"Perhaps Kafka depicted the internalized watcher so incisively because he embodied it himself. Self-censoring to the last, he allowed little of his work to be published during his lifetime, and personally burned most of his writings. Up to 90 per cent of his stories may have been fed to the fire. In his will, Kafka even indicated that his remaining works should be destroyed."

Interesting. This reminds me of my own musings from a few months ago before I was thinking the reasons for and against starting a new blog and making my ideas public, even if the public happens to include very few. I won’t go over all the reasons I decided to do it, just the ones relevant to the present discussion.

The first idea that occurred to me when I asked myself why I wish to write and share my writings with others was: hoping to be remembered by others, through ideas that they enjoy, and possibly surviving for perpetuity to eventually attain symbolic immortality. But I shot it down as soon as it was generated as a possible reason, because I currently have no desire, at least conscious desire, to be immortal, literally or metaphorically.

I would be lying it I denied that the idea of a different kind of immortality didn’t cross my mind: the kid where you get futuristic advanced AI systems to mimic your personality. But then again what use do I have of that? I don’t even think I’d have someone who would want that, because I don’t believe I’d be remembered by many people except close family members and very few other humans. Even if that’s possible, I’d strike that one off my list of possible reasons too.

I have a worldview that many might find pessimistic but I find liberating and comforting, one that is consistent with my belief in determinism and randomness, and that tells us that the universe is inherently meaningless and we create our own meaning. So like existentialism or positive nihilism. I believe that like most thing we take as objective and absolute, including norms, beliefs and ethics, meaning too is a social construct, and ought to be seen for what it is. This does not make it any less important, as I have personally experienced the power of what Victor Frankl calls Logotherapy, and several other great thinkers have told us throughout history- that having a meaning that is greater than ourselves and that outlives us has several psychological benefits.

So even if not for the greater good, in case you happen to a perfectly logical person with no internal moral compass and try to find selfish reasons to be good, there are plenty of reasons to do so if your values happen to be the ones that are required to reap all the aforementioned psychological benefits, as I have explained in greater detail in my blog post titled ‘Logical Reasons to be Ethical’.

Coming back to the main question- if not symbolic immortality, why am I sharing my ideas and documenting my thought processes and thinking patterns? Well, there are some personal reasons I won’t go into, some irrational fears as a result of some traumatic personal memories from the past, but there are other reasons more relevant to this discussion, and I shall talk about them now.

Well, one reason that would instantly jump to the front of your mind if you have read my blog post titled ‘Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal’ is that ideas are meant to be shared, especially ones that you find personally appealing to something deep within you and your aesthetic sense, and you share those ideas with others to see if you are able to connect with like-minded people who have the same values and sense of aesthetics.

And this is one of the primary reasons I started this blog post- to connect with like-minded people. Something I notice very frequently among people my age is that they spend too much time on stuff like video games, watching videos and doom scrolling on social media.

In my opinion, that’s perfectly fine, as that by itself is not a problem, the problem is how surprisingly difficult it is to find like-minded people who have some sort of genuine curiosity or interest in any subject, or have any sort of ambitious goals, because all of them just study what they’re taught, have no clear aim and just want a job to sustain themselves and are completely satisfied with being average.

I believe I’m not the only one, whatever my observations may lead me to believe, and it gets lonely at times, but I have even stopped trying to fit in. I’m also not saying I have a clear goal, but at least I have a rough plan, and I believe in cultivating qualities and values like Rationality, lifelong learning and trying to be my best self, because I’m not okay with being mediocre without even trying, and I refuse to accept being in such a situation; it frightens me.

Even though I said I’m okay if people engage in their hobbies in moderate amounts, my brain doesn’t leave me alone if I don’t spend my time reading or if I don’t do things that contribute to my plans and goals, and yes I overthink a lot and can’t take any decision till I’m sure with a certain amount of confidence that it’s the most rational thing to do, especially in cases where the stakes are high.

The thing is that the moment I start talking to other people my age about my interests, everything goes over their heads, and they don’t even seem interested. Plus, the activities they engage in and seem to derive pleasure from don’t amuse me in the slightest, so I just do the bare minimum to give the appearance of adhering to social norms but never feel like being my genuine self around anyone.

I just act- what choice do I have, go against my nature and pretend to fit in? - and maybe it’s’ noticeable, because others tell me I don’t talk much or engage in social activities despite me trying my best, and I some of my most popular nicknames include robot, computer and Sheldon Cooper, but I take it as a compliment regardless of their true intentions.

All I know is that these years are formative and are going to determine my personality later in life depending on the habits I form and the activities I spend my time on, and my peer group is a large component of that because as much as I try it won't be realistic to hope to be completely free from all social influence, but as I said I also don't need to conform, so it's fair.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me, but I just think (feel) that I’m different, and there is some mysterious unmet social need that makes me feel lonely at times and crave some sort of social connection with someone who could understand me, perhaps someone who is curious, open-minded, interested in self-improvement, science, has some sort of goals, I don’t know.

As you might have guessed, I’m also not too aware of the boundary separating oversharing from healthy conversation; I either talk too little, or overcompensate if I detect signs that make me perceive that the listener thinks so. But this is my blog and my personal space, and even though I am sharing this publicly for a reason, it’s still a place for me to be myself and explore my thoughts in as much detail as I wish without worrying about anybody’s judgment. This would be impossible to do in real life, where I get extreme reactions.

I’m frustrated when others are not interested in what I have to say, or more frequently stare at me eyes wide open staring in shock as if I’m speaking in an alien language, or just declare me as mentally insane and completely ignore me, which is every single person in real life I have met, or at least ninety-nine percent of them.

And now I realize it’s not their fault, they are just that way, and I cannot forever keep denying that I am different, else I would have an easier time fitting in, and would not be able to confidently say that I don’t have a single person in real life I could be my genuine self around or call like-minded and share my thoughts comfortable with. And so I turn to my notepad or blog, and recently discovered that writing is therapeutic.

Now I’ll briefly touch upon some of the personal reasons I previously mentioned in passing. I am afraid of reverting back to an old dreadful and soul-crushingly gloomy mental state in which I had lost all my cognitive faculties, even the ability to comprehend simple English words took me more than several seconds, and writing simple sentences too much cognitive effort than normal. I shudder even when I think of it now.

I strongly prefer my present self to the old stupid self, and from experience I know how possible it is that it could happen again, and the shift in consciousness so perplexing and mysterious, it’s indescribable, and I like to think it’s because of a lack of the right words in the vocabulary of natural language than my language skills.

This was also the time when I got interested in the nature of consciousness and origin of intelligence. I realized how malleable these things all, all these personality traits and cognitive abilities we frequently associate with the ‘self’, which I’m increasingly getting convinced is an illusion, as I explain in the post titled ‘Unconditional Love is a Myth, the Illusion of the Self’.

I also- intuitively, because I had not deciphered the general principle till them, or rather I did not have the ability to do even think clearly, let alone conceive of such principle and also describe them- leveraged my suffering to find the silver lining (there is always one) which was also an attempt of my brain to give my suffering some sort of meaning, which is at times an irrational primal human tendency I also suffer from, being human, or so I’d like you to think.

I knew that complaining and obsessing over the past is no use and, in fact, counterproductive, and I realized that whatever has happened can not be changed, the best is probably behind me now, and with my newly discovered joy of life and clarity of thought, as well as newfound interests and passion for certain topics and dreams to accomplish certain ambitious grand projects; not to forget mentioning my long list of research questions I can’t wait to solve once I get the adequate research facilities and support, I’ve even pinned down the topics I need to master and already have some interesting ideas for tackling them..

All of this, plus my newly discovered fear that I might lose all of it just tomorrow, and also my belief in Stoicism which also instructs us to live as if we are going to die tomorrow- intrusive thoughts of death and what is subjectively feels like, the qualia of death if you will, didn’t help- but all of constituted what I like to think falls into the range of optimal suffering necessary for human flourishing, or at least for mine as a unique individual with all my individual differences in traits and genes.

All this motivates me and gets me up in the morning, and I’m obsessed with being productive and learning about these topics to the point that at the time of writing I spend all my days each day everyday all day learning, reading and writing, socially isolated with no contact with any person except my parents, and I seriously doubt that anyone my age in my society is even aware of my existence.

But as I mentioned above, that is much better than before, when I was surrounded by people and lonely, at least now I am by myself doing what I like, and lonely, though still much happier, playing with these interesting ideas and writing down my thoughts and book reviews on my blog. I have not played any video game or watched anything on television for over one year, and I don’t regret it at all. I’m just frustrated that I have to eat and sleep, and my mother constantly reprimands me for not taking good care of my personal health and hygiene and working all day, neglecting basic needs and self-care to read and write about topic she doesn’t seem to be too interested in.

I also talked to a few helpful researchers, accomplished and esteemed in their domains, and receiving external validation from them greatly helped me in developing a healthy amount of confidence in my own abilities, to the level that I can admit that I am different and my individual interests, goals and abilities are not being accommodated by the outdated colonial rigid traditional education system, which I also created a post about- ‘student unable to thrive under the traditional education system’.

I am thrilled and excited by the prospect of being able to solve these research questions and accomplish these project, which most involve and include but are not limited to higher-order cognitive functions, and I know better than to attach myself to any idea more than rationality permits, so I also take care of also ensuring that I don’t forget to enjoy the process while also never losing sight of the goals.

I am interested in investigating all the external factors that influence our decisions and life, as we are never completely free otherwise, and we push for social egalitarianism but this is an area even more important yet overlooked, but I might be biased because these are also my primary research interests. If not manipulate, we could at least understand how much is under our control, or in what way they affect our life and make it easier and more enjoyable for some and so hard and full of suffering for others.

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The artist is following his calling just like the scientist. The scientist has certain gene and environment that has predisposed him to enjoy working in science and the scientific process, and given him interests and abilities that make him enjoy his work, and find beauty in it, find it fulfilling, the sort of eudaimonia pleasure with no diminishing marginal utility, and setting goals according to the processes you enjoy, which is how you prepare for the unlikely scenario when even intrinsic motivation won't work, which you do by setting goals for something that provides you wish meaning even if it involves suffering, something greater than yourself, just like Victor Frankl's Logotherapy and several other similar philosophies that I currently am unable to recall.

The artist, just like the scientist, finds beauty in creating and sharing artwork, a beauty that is no different from what the scientist feels for science and research, and which also stems from his genes and environment, and which he enjoys and which as I earlier explained is just as important to society as science.

It might take some time to internalize, it definitely did for me, so I suggest that you try to understand it and understand it's implications by connecting it with your own beliefs and personal experiences, and then provide me with any reasons that make you agree or disagree with me, and as always I'd be willing to change my mind if you provide me with logical reasons and convincing arguments.

The society values and rewards different professions differently in different time periods and among different cultures, and in my opinion, it's not a good a reliable measure to judge the worth or value of a profession by how much it happens to be paid by the present society, because that might change soon without any good reason and the laws of economics.

I'm not even getting into the fact that there is nothing better or worse objectively speaking in the universe, and it's all human and social constructs and beliefs that we adopt just because society conditions us to accept it as truth without questioning it too much, and so we succumb to the majority and follow the norm until we are able to develop the critical thinking skills that could allow us to question everything, including our assumptions that intuitively seem so obviously true, and as you might already know, most people never develop such critical thinking skills, so it's important for at least those who do to do it right and be as rational as they can, because you can't realistically expect or depend on others to change their mindset and ways of thinking overnight, even if they're presented with good logical reasons to do so. Most people do not value logic and reason as much as we do.

There are several types of intelligence even among non-human animals, and we also must try to be aware of the anthropocentric view that's even harder to be understand that the social conditioning, and I myself realized this very recently and somehow spent almost 20 years not thinking about it. Ants and bees don't care about building rockets and colonizing Mars, but they are still highly intelligent in ways we tend to overlook and that researchers have started discovering just now, in ways that even humans are not, and just because they have- to be continued.

A random keep in mind to not be too rigid and enact internalized preconceived notions and stereotypes you have been conditioned to believe just in order to conform to society’s expectations of how Aspies act like. Be yourself don’t act, and don’t be too rigid, do push yourself and accommodate and be flexible when required, just don’t overdo it if its too uncomfortable and causing you too much distress or suffering. Use your judgment to act according to situation. Like maybe don’t do it if its a matter of preferences where you think you need to pretend in order to be socially accepted and praised or are afraid of judgment and what others would think depending on situation. Others would find you weird even if you pretend so better just be yourself and be perceived as weird than pretend to be someone you're not and be perceived as weird. Also better to be alone and lonely than be surrounded by people who make you feel lonely.

What question could we ask you to learn the most about you?

What’s the answer to said question?

What are the core values, virtues or qualities you admire in others or aspire to cultivate in yourself in order to be your ideal self, achieve your desired goals, help those less fortunate than you, or live a fulfilling life? Describe the goals, and explain briefly explain why you chose to include those values and your reasoning.

My answer to this question may at first appear to have some overlap with the answer to 'what makes your life interesting?' but there are significant differences and I'll avoid repetition and only answer the question I've posed to myself.

I shall list a few of my core values here, so as to keep is brief, as it's a subject that I would be unable to do justice without writing a book about it, as I can see and I'm grateful for the absence of word limits (or a high world limit, essentially the same, like the concept of infinity) but I'll keep it concise.

One of them is empathy. Another is logic and rationality, where I define rationality as doing the things that maximize the probability of you achieving your desired goals, considering all the alternatives, all their pros and cons (expected utility, benefits upsides or downsides, effects, consequences, whatever you prefer to call it) as well as their associated probabilities, opportunity costs of the resources (including time) not spent on any other alternative that might make it more likely for you to succeed; keeping in mind your preferences, values, inclinations, and risk-taking ability.

Motivation, ambition, drive. I sincerely respect the preferences of people who are perfectly fine with being average or mediocre, living an ambitionless life, maybe just doing a simple job and not feeling unfulfilled doing so, but I personally have a strong aversion to not even trying not to be average, and trying to accomplish something significant that allows me to have a significant impact on society or at least help the less fortunate who suffer, using my abilities and interests to change society for the better, so that no one has to suffer due to chance.

I like setting ambitious (albeit realistic and practical) goals with concrete well-defined steps with enough room for creativity, and trying my best to solve the problem or accomplish them by doing all the things under my control in order to maximize my likelihood of achieving them or at least trying until the end, and persevering in the face of all discouragement. But never being too closed-minded, rigid, illogical, irrational, as I'll describe just now.

Open-mindedness. Also one of the core pillars of the scientific method. It's a process. Related to lifelong learning. I don't wish to fall for rigid ideological dogmatic beliefs, and constantly question my own beliefs and actively try to knock them down before adopting them, and always knowing what piece of evidence would be enough to change my mind. We can never be absolutely certain. It's related to my values intellectual humility (always open to learning from everyone and trying to understand their worldview; not being too confident in what you know and considering the possibility of being wrong) and epistemic humility (our inability to know anything for certainty due to our cognitive limitations and biological restraints and other limitations imposed by the nature of reality).

Curiosity. I am a very curious person and I prize this virtue that I admire in others (find difficult to meet others who share such curiosity or wish to cultivate it) and practice it in every domain of my life by trying to question and understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, is it social conditioning, some unconventional idea that could be logical and better than the existing system or way of doing things? Unreasonable social norm or restriction that is creating unnecessary divide, superficial categories, making it harder to create a safer society, might compel people to act in ways that may harm themselves or others?

There are quite a few more, but I shall end with morality. My only idea of morality is to do no harm, at least not to directly participate in anything that might cause unnecessary preventable suffering for even possibly sentient beings, and always trying to help those who are unfortunate enough to be at a relative disadvantage to me due to pure chance or accident of birth. I believe that it's my moral responsibility to help such people, and all the time I spend not trying to help them makes me responsible for the suffering I could have prevented had I acted differently. I respect the personal preferences of people, and once upon a time I was also willing to accept people who believe that they're not obligated to help such people, but now I am on a mission to convince everyone,

through questioning or at least making them aware of the moral implications and presenting all logical reasons and using critical thinking, skepticism and logic to help them understand how it could be beneficial for even their own selfish reasons if they try to help others. I am willing to respect everyone's opinion, but when it comes to morality and suffering, I am going to either question them till they accept or we agree to disagree, or I change my mind, even those who may lack an internal moral compass or conscience. I have methods for different kinds or people, and I am going to try until the end.

I decided what my values are through a process of exploration and experimentation. Trying new things, having new experiences, exposing myself to new ideas and different worldview, and paying attention to my internal subjective mental states and conscious experience and feelings as well as intuitive thought processes while doing so; introspecting, writing and analyzing about the experiences, my behaviour and my thoughts reflecting back on them and trying to learn more about my values, inclinations, desires, abilities, goals, interests etc. It's not perfect but a good starting point, and that's the simplified brief version of it.