Investigating the Mystery of Human Nature and Other Research Interests, Projects and Aspirations

This post describes my research interests and topics that motivate me enough to help me deal with the existential dread and waves of nihilism that force me to face the sheer absurdity of the universe and the human civilization in it with each passing day. I will start with some specific research areas I'm interested in, then move on to the bigger picture weaving them together into a grand overarching goal.

The update is more important for this post because of the simple reason that it's an update; I learn and improve my interests and don't narrow down much yet get more specific and how they all come together, so maybe check out the update if nothing else- search for 'update' on this page. I'm still interested in everything I've written in this post, just spending my limited time and resources on a few topics that I'm more interested in and that suit my values, abilities and experiences in several ways I describe elsewhere and later in this post.

The update describes my ongoing projects as of early 2023- it's March right now, I've been working on them since around 1.5 months now and going to work on them even more in the coming months. I added the month and year in case I forget to update it later and it's too outdated; it's going to stay for at least a year, and possibly, hopefully, even longer. You could always just reach out and ask me about my projects or anything specific related to them if you happen to be interested in anything I say and wish to learn more or collaborate or anything.

It's some super exciting projects that you might find interesting but then when I try talking about it to others they seem kind of bored so maybe it's just me, but you can check it out and judge for yourself, and let me know if you have similar interests, or maybe different interests with similar levels of motivation!

I am fascinated by how life emerged out of inanimate matter and gave rise to consciousness, the beginning of something that would later give rise to the qualia or subjective mental experiences as well as higher-order cognitive functions that makes humans so unique. Or perhaps it's the consciousness that has given rise to our reality; we don't know enough to say anything for certain. Humans are sapient beings, and this is nothing less than a miracle.

In any case, it has allowed us to make so many marvelous discoveries and inventions, gave us the ability to ponder on our own place in the universe, and provided us with everything including all our desires and our ability to form and maintain social connections that each of us values so deeply and that make our lives worth living.

We take most of it for granted because they are so common, but once you examine them more deeply and start trying to understand why everything is the way it is, your mind would be blown away. Feynman once compared it to a game that we happen to be put inside and now it's our task to figure out the rules and fundamental principles governing all the events that take place in this simulation by observing them and using our mental faculties to use logic and reason to understand the universe and arrive as close to the truth as we can.

I'm interested in investigating how people deviate from Economics models of rationality that studies how perfectly rational agents make the most optimal decisions based on their goals and constraints. I'm interested in how people deviate from rationality in the real world and make irrational decisions that affect them and the people around them. I want to figure out what are the ways of thinking and making decisions that enable a rational person to make the best choice in any given circumstance, so that we can implement those techniques to make better decisions in our own lives. For the same reason, I'm also interested in fields like the cognitive sciences, behavioural science, decision science and game theory.

I am also interested in using research from Behavioural Science to inform public policy and develop effective real-world interventions that can have a large-scale social impact. Even if AI and neuroscientific interventions would take some time to have an effect on the real world, we could still achieve some great results with the help of behavioural science and behavioural economics and use it to develop policies based on the principles that govern human behaviour to create a better and safer society for everyone.

I'm also interested in understanding neurodivergent individuals such as psychopaths and how they are not affected by emotions and as a result suffer from less negative emotions despite their increased risk-taking tendency. I enjoy learning about individual differences in cognition and experience, particularly for neurodivergent individuals, and the ways in which these differences can be objectively described.

More broadly I am interested in investigating the neural basis of higher-order phenomena such as cognition, intelligence, consciousness, creativity, memory and emotions using different methods and techniques, and understand how and why the brain works the way it does. Altered states of consciousness and the psychedelic revolution in the domain of mental health are also topics I find intriguing.

I got into cognitive psychology because I'm genuinely curious- naturally inclined and some role of personal experience I guess- about topics such as intelligence, memory, emotions, consciousness; the things that literally make us who we are, and allow us to experience the world, and I find it fascinating how a slight change in the underlying neurobiology could result in disorders such as depression and psychosis, and also neurodivergent individuals such as sociopathy and autism.

It just seems like a mysterious little complex organ that we don't know much about but that determines who we are, what we do and how our life turns out, the cause of all pleasure and suffering, and literally everything. So I'm interested in these things, their biological basis, as well as how we could use multiple tools to manipulate them and cure people who are deficient in these areas- psychological, biophysical, behavioural, cognitive, biological, technological, psychopharmacological, genetic etc.

Another topic I'm interested in is the field of Design. More specifically, Human Centered Design, Human Computer Interaction and Explainable AI (XAI). I like how these fields combine human psychology with technology to make technology easy to use and convenient for humans, and in the case of XAI to help them understand how AI makes the decisions it does to increase their trust in technology.

AI automates the tasks that are too repetitive and time-consuming for humans, usually tasks that use a structured set of instructions or algorithms to achieve a goal, so that humans can focus more on the tasks that are more important and that they are currently better able to perform that AI.

Even since before AI, humans have been repeatedly practicing a skill several times before achieving expertise, after which the learning process took place and the who process of executing the task becomes effortless requiring little to no conscious control, and that frees up working-memory space for further strategic planning about other things that require our attention and cognitive resources.

Examples- look at any chess grandmaster or experienced firefighter; they are likely to be very good at their job and their intuitions have been developed to the point that they can blindly follow their intuitions while making important decisions in that field without stopping to think twice and still achieve the desirable outcome most of the time.

Such expertise requires a predictable environment as well as repeated practice with constant feedback, so it's harder to achieve expertise in some tasks than others. Take for instance the stock market which is very predictable and whose forecasters have been shown to achieve the same results as monkeys blindly throwing darts, and contrast that with dentists who achieve an acceptable level of expertise fairly quickly.

Our brains weren't evolved to do higher level mathematics and ponder on complex abstract concepts; it has evolved to optimize for survival, and so it's not very well-suited for the requirements of the modern world. This is why AI is better at mathematical tasks and any task involving big data or logical reasoning than humans are. On the other hand, today's AI struggles to achieve seemingly simple tasks such as object identification, limb control or facial recognition, but humans are good at it because they need, and have needed these functions since very early, to survive and adapt according to the needs of their immediate environment.

AI helps us by automating the tasks that we are not very efficient at, and enables us to focus on tasks that are more important and that we are better are doing. People have a fear of AI taking over their jobs, but AI is best used to augment human abilities, because AI algorithms aren't perfect, and they need human judgement and expertise to function correctly. For instance, it's been found that doctors and AI don't perform as good on their own as they do together. We can't over-rely on AI, but we should also not dismiss it by saying it's flawed. We must put it to use for tasks it's best suited for, and use it as a tool to achieve a given goal more efficiently.

To achieve this, we need to to clearly determine in which circumstances it's best to rely on AI, things that humans aren't good at and AI does much better than us, or at least is much more likely to be right than we are, and also things that we have an advantage over AI. In this way we can know exactly when and how much to rely on AI, without over-relying or completely disregarding it's recommendations, so we can achieve the most efficient way of doing things by combining the best of both human and AI expertise working together.

The thing is, the research that involves understanding the processes taking place in the black box are very hard to uncover, and it's basic fundamental scientific research, so by nature there is very less grants and funding going towards that sort of stuff. There is more money going into the applied AI side, because it's solving real world problems and giving short term immediate returns to the investors.

But what people are failing to do is taking the long-term view. I have been thinking that if we understand the process of intelligence completely, by slowing down on the applied side and focusing more on the basic side, trying to understand both biological and artificial intelligence, we can create much better AI capable of solving real world problems much more efficiently, but the thing is that slowing down seems almost impossible at this point.

There's the problem of AI alignment, figuring out the right AI policies, the important problems in AI ethics, but we are very likely to develop general AI much before we can completely understand intelligence, and that could be disastrous for society if we make some miscalculations in developing the AI or if it falls into the wrong hands, people for whom solving the problems of society isn't in their best interests.

That's why democratized AI is so important, so everyone in the general public gets to have a say in the matter, because after all they are the ones who would be the most affected. Just look what's happening in these wars- the rich and influential people who have power sit back and live in comfort while the poor and unfortunate sections of society have to suffer from their actions without them having any say in it. Experts are important, but consensus is important too.

I am a proponent of the safe development and alignment of AI with values favourable for humanity well before we reach the technological Singularity, a prospect that makes me optimistic for the future of our civilization and grateful to be living in such a momentous time.

The field of basic neuroscience and intelligence research, which I describe later, is facing the same issues by not receiving enough public attention and funding. We are paying more attention to real-world application of AI rather than understanding intelligence, and we may develop AGI much sooner than uncovering the mysteries of intelligence, which may turn out in one of several possible ways depending on how much progress we make on the AI alignment problem, AI Policy, governance and ethics, in addition to contemporary issues related to Bioethics and the philosophy of science and biology.

How we can understand human and non-human intelligence, and pin it down at the right level of abstraction to implement it in a different substrate such as machines, or use other approaches such as the current research being done in the fields of deep learning, artificial neural networks and neuromorphic engineering.

I'm also interested in the AI Alignment problem, AI ethics and policy. This is what I talked about that day when the by going fast you go slow question was asked by the Infosys design professional. It's about building AI aligned with human values and goals before we develop Artificial General Intelligence or Artificial Superintelligence and hit the technological singularity.

I'm also interested in XAI- Explainable AI, that is understanding and explaining how and why AI works the way it does, because currently people don't know much about it and so over-rely or completely disregard the role that AI can play in making their tasks more efficient. By understanding how AI arrives at it's decisions, how humans interact with such machines, in what circumstances it's best to rely on them and when not, AI can greatly increase human productivity.

If we could transcend the limits of biological intelligence, we could enable every human being to realize their full potential without worrying about sustenance and making ends meet, and force humanity to re-evaluate what they value in life, and change the way we work and live, for the better or worse, depending on the actions we take now.

I am also interested in social entrepreneurship, and I find the process and idea of coming up with innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing solutions a very interesting one. I hope to combine my other interests with entrepreneurship to have a large-scale impact on the society someday.

I wish to study biological intelligence in both humans and non-human animals to understand the similarities despite different structures, and develop mathematical and computational models of intelligence to capture it at the right level of abstraction so it can be implemented in machines to build better AI that can solve real world problems more efficiently, such as ANNs more closely resembling the brain, which could bring us closer to AGI. It's also related to the work being done in areas such as Deep Learning and Neuromorphic engineering and computing.

I’m also interested in developing a reliable Turing test for intelligence in AI, as I suspect that our current view of intelligence is too anthropocentric, and intelligence may manifest itself in a completely different form in different substrates, so we would need to come up with reliable objective measures to detect and measure it. Similarly we need a test for consciousness and sentience, so that we can know whether or not the AI is capable of feeling any sort of emotions or suffering, and proceed accordingly, though no one has any idea what such things would be like for an AI.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) are very fascinating topics for me, because even though they seem to be things straight out of something from sci-fi, they are more realistic goals than that, considering the current pace of development in the field. I like the idea of a such a future where society hits the technological singularity and is forced to face all the important problems that humans have been wrestling with since the start of the civilization.

Once we get AI to automate all the drudgery that currently humans are required to engage in just to meet their basic needs, we could achieve much greater progress with much less human input, and create a society where no one has to do work they are not interested in just for survival. People could pursue activities that would enable them to live a fulfilling life, and we could build a more egalitarian society where no one has to go through unnecessary suffering.

Okay, back to reality. I know that sounds like a very unrealistic utopia, and you're right, I think so too. After all it's still philosophy and there could be thousands of things that could go wrong along the way once we actually try to develop and implement this, and we could never be certain unless we experimentally try it. But that's a great thing, because we can also never been certain that it's impossible unless we experimentally try it, and the potential upsides of achieving such a goal are too great in comparison to any difficulties we might face, and to just give up and not even try.

Being an aspiring polymath with an interest in a lot of topics, I am excited by the potential impact that social entrepreneurship and innovation done right could have on improving lives. I like the idea of uncovering connections and analogies between seemingly unrelated fields and using tools of one field to solve problems of another; collaborating with people with different interests and exchanging ideas to see how they could be applied to solve the problems I'm interested in, and also trying to apply my expertise to solve problems they are interested in.

I also like writing and articulating complex topics not in an over-simplified, yet eloquent manner such that they retain the attention of the reader but does not exist for solely that reason, and sparks a genuine interest and curiosity to learn more about the topic being presented, because I believe that every topic presented in the right way can be interesting to any person. This relates to my interest in Education and Science Communication, as well as my interest in combining Science, Humanities and the Arts to bring together everything that I find beautiful about this world and try to share the beauty with other people so that they too can experience the joy that it stirs up inside me.

I am working on my skills on science communication and science journalism too. Popular science books are good for an introduction, but I'm noticing that an increasing number of books in this genre and scientific articles and blogposts are using sensationalist and clickbait headlines and content to capture and maintain the audience's attention, because this is what the journalists are paid for; they aren't paid for making people understand a concept or spread valid scientific news obtained from reliable resources.

It is only through science and the scientific method that we can understand the world, alleviate suffering and create a better society for everyone. It would be disastrous if majority of the society were to develop an unhealthy skepticism towards science due to all the fake news and misinformation prevalent in all forms of media today, which has become even easier to spread and harder to detect with the development of better natural language systems.

Put in a simplified manner, I wish to understand human nature and improve the human conditions, while trying to be the best version of myself and find like-minded people who share my values or interests. I'm also interested in issues such as overpopulation, climate change, euthanasia, and the education system, as well as ideas like transhumanism, longevity, the hedonistic imperative, technological singularity and digital immortality, and each one of them deserves a blogpost of their own.

And that is the reason I'm interested in learning all the tools and techniques to describe complex scientific concepts in a simple, captivating and easy-to-understand manner, yet not too simple so as to lose it's essence. My interest in multiple disciplines would help me make connections and analogies between them to explain such topics, and my training in language would help me be as accurate and clear as possible.

I'm also interested in linguistics. I'm not interested in linguistics per se, but more in the context of psychology and it's applications in the real world; topics such as psycholinguistics and applied linguistics, because I'm interested in questions like how symbols and sounds represent ideas and map to objects in our mind, and how we're able to get an idea of what the other person might mean just from such symbols and frequencies; language shapes our thinking processes and perception of the world, how it differs among cultures with different languages, what's the structure and significance of wit and humour.

Things that are employed by people in power in order to influence the masses such as rhetoric, and how natural language could be made more accurate and logical, or formal logic more accessible to the general public. How we could make language less ambiguous in high-stake situations, and employ linguistics and language to allow people to express their thoughts more clearly, describe their experiences more accurately, and use language in a way that is able to convey what they wish to convey clearly to other people. Also, how it could be used in creative writing, literary analysis and criticism, debate, stuff like that.

Other topics I'm learning about include Logic, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Behavioural Science, Genetics, Sociology, Probability theory and Geopolitics. Logic and Philosophy to build my critical thinking and reasoning skills. Cognition and Behaviour to understand human nature. Probability for forecasting and making decisions under uncertainty. Geopolitics to understand strategy and decision making. Genetics, Cognitive Science and Sociology to understand the major forces that determine how our life turns out.

I also feel attracted towards the idea of being articulate; being able to describe my experiences and express my thoughts clearly and eloquently, and the idea of being able to use language to describe them in a manner as accurate as language permits, with the objective of making myself clearly understood to other people. Communicate complex ideas without too much oversimplification and still structure it in a way so as to preserve it's aesthetics and make it convincing and appealing.

And that's just for daily common use of language. To express more complex thoughts, I'll need to use more complex vocabulary to describe them as accurately as possible. And there's a point where even that won't suffice due to the shortcomings of language. At that point nothing other than mathematics and mathematical logic would be adequate to express my thoughts, so I'm trying to achieve at least an elementary level of proficiency in mathematics, logic and programming.

My interest in language and speaking also includes topics like debate, public speaking, non-verbal communication and other persuasion tactics, because we all know that people often act irrationally and base their decisions on their emotions, which gives rise to problems such as scope insensitivity and negligence towards important global issues.

I'm constantly looking out for the ways in which I could combine both science, humanities and the arts to bring out the beauty of science for the general audience, in a time when most of the science is either too complex or too oversimplified and sensationalist for the general public that breeds mistrust and unhealthy skepticism towards science.

I'm talking about something like using mathematics to come up with novel and touching music pieces, or maybe doing that using AI algorithms and concepts from mathematics, or using creative writing to combine elements of fiction fantasy as well as complex scientific concepts to disseminate them to young kids in an engaging way, or writing beautiful poetry or prose about scientific phenomena.

I also like stargazing and the deep space pictures occasionally posted by NASA are just beautiful beyond words. It reminds me that nothing is permanent, and that one day I- or rather everything that I consider my 'self'- is going to be a part of this greater universe and in the grand scheme of things, nothing matters. Not in the pessimistic way, but in a sort of liberating and comforting way. We are such tiny beings in a tiny part of the cosmos, and things we unnecessarily worry and create a fuss about aren't that significant anyway.

Also reminds me to live life to the fullest and seize the day. And I haven't even mentioned how mysterious and wonderful the fact is that the universe as it exists.. exists. I mean, why does it even exist, and how is it so organized and ordered, as if organized by something, almost like a simulation.. are we in a simulation? And what about the Fermi Paradox? And how did these conditions that create this mysterious human life and experience from immaterial matter come into existence?

There's also other astronomical phenomena I find fascinating, such as the theory that black holes may be gateways to parallel universes and provide evidence for the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics- what's inside black holes? white holes? Asteroid mining- possible and feasible? Is colonizing Mars a good idea? What lies outside the expanding universe? Is the universe really expanding or is it just anti-gravity? Also, astrobiology..

I have great respect for mathematicians and researchers in the mathematical sciences, because even though I enjoy the subject, I seriously doubt I'd be able to survive a major in it, let alone a PhD program.

That was something I'd have told you if you had met me an year ago, but now I have much better control over my mind and I'm better able to detect when it's being irrationally afraid and underconfident in my own abilities, so even though I won't be unrealistic and say I could be a great mathematician with as much confidence as I can say the same for the cognitive sciences, I'd say I could manage to survive if I put my mind to it. Still have great reverence for mathematicians.

Which topics of mathematics are you specifically interested in? Some of my favourite topics are mathematical logic, probability theory, statistics and real analysis. There might be a few more but there are the only topics I can recall right now.

I mainly like mathematics for it's beautiful logical structure that holds true universally and provides us with general abstract principles that could be applied to any situation and solve problems from any disciplines, also why it's applicable to almost everything, and called the queen of the sciences.

It's also absolute and unambiguous unlike natural language, and the biological and social sciences, which is a great thing in most cases- except in cases where natural language is employed for purely aesthetic reasons as in poetry and creative writing, or biological sciences for it's complexity.

Why am I interested in all these topics? Yes, it's true that I enjoy learning for the sake of it, and each of these topics is intrinsically motivates in and of itself to understand it deeply and satisfy my intellectual curiosity. Moreover, I used to think that fields like the fine arts and music are only good as hobbies but don't have any tangible impact on the world. Now I have realized that everyone is interdependent on each other, and artists directly contribute to all of humanity by creating beautiful works that seem to appeal to an ancient part of our psyche.

Also, I think that it's the same sense of aesthetic beauty and sense of satisfaction that a scientist finds in the process of scientific discovery that an artist derives from creating and sharing pieces of art. Both are just the same thing expressed in different ways, and both contribute to the overall well-being of society.

But that's not the only reason I am interested in these topics. You may have come across the idea that thinking in processes is better than setting goals. So after finding what you like doing, you set goals according to that so even if you don't achieve that goal, you have no regrets because you enjoyed the process and would have done it anyway. You were motivated by the journey, not just the goal, and that's great because it's the journey that matters the most, and the temporary high you get from achieving a goal won't last long before you start setting other goals and are never satisfied.

So what is my overarching goal? It's to do everything I can to minimize the influence of external factors out of our control on our life, and reduce the accident of birth in determining your life outcomes. We are often not even aware of all the cognitive biases, biological constraints, social norms and expectations as well as other things related to how we think and act that led us to make better or worse decisions, or that shape our preferences.

For example, all your current personality traits, interests and cognitive abilities are a product of where you happened to be born; your genes, your brain as well as your early environment, all of them things that you never had control over until later in life when they already had a significant influence over you and how your life would turn out to be, and even then you can't change many of these things.

If we could understand all such factors, such as how genes influence traits and behaviour, how the brain develops in young children and what role chance and randomness plays in all of it, or at least understand exactly how many of these factors are under our control, and how much aren't, so that we don't waste time obsessing over factors that we can't control and focus all our attention towards those that we can.

For instance, the brain is the origin of the various aspects of our personality that dictate who we are and how we behave, what we aspire to be and everything that we value in life. It also forms mental models predicting how we expect the world to behave, and it also gives rise to our conscious experiences. But why are some people so creative, other so calm, intelligent, neurotic, or any one of the several traits associated with neurodivergent people?

There's also the problem of self- everything is changing and malleable, as I know from personal experiences I might describe in another post, and so we can't really know what is out real self, so my question is this: how do we discover our true desires, values, interests, abilities, preferences, inclinations etc. and equally important: how do we know if these desires and interests are truly our own or shaped by society and early environment, and the abilities and inclinations by our genes?

Are there even any interests or desires free from all genes and environment? A self truly and completely free from all external factors? If so, how could we find them, and if not- what are it's implications? And how could we understand how these factors interact in what ways and how we can manipulate them to decrease suffering and enable everyone to self-actualize?

Should we manipulate them in ourselves, and predict and manipulate them in babies who could suffer but whom we could prevent by intervening and manipulating? What does this tell us about ourselves- if we could shape our intuitions and desires and abilities at our will, is there anything absolute about anything at all; or is it just different combinations and intensities of intertwined external factors that determine our personality traits, cognitive abilities and everything that makes us.. us?

As Nagel put it in his now classic paper on the hard problem of consciousness, What's it like to be a bat? You have no idea if the other person experiences the world in the same way as you do. If they experience the colour red the same as you do, or if they experience the same levels of stress you do when you are required to appear for an exam, or if they share the same strong sense of excitement you feel when discussing certain social issues or any other topics. We can't quantify and measure them, and some people even say it's altogether out of the realm of science itself.

Once again, why study these factors? Well, these factors make life easier for some than others. You may notice that some highly intelligent people seem to be capable of grasping complex topics quicker than others, some people are able to maintain their calm attitude under demanding situations that helps them make decisions with a cool mind, and some people are more prone to experiencing intense negative emotions such as high amounts of anxiety and depression that affects their daily functioning.

If we could pin down all the biological and social factors including the genes, neural makeup, social environment, as well as all the other biological, psychological and behavioural aspects that contribute to such things that are more favourable for some and less for others, we could minimize the role of chance and blind luck to alleviate suffering, or at least determine all such factors and determine to what extent it's possible to control them.

I am motivated to uncover all such factors that have a significant influence over some of the most important outcomes of our life; I am driven to understand the rules that govern the game of life, and use them to minimize excessive unnecessary suffering and enable every individual to realize their complete potential and live a fulfilling life. Use the scientific method to investigate philosophical questions like what constitutes a good life, or a life well-lived?

How could we discover our true abilities, interests, beliefs, values, and set worthwhile goals? How could we alleviate suffering, or at least minimize it, and is such a scenario even desirable, or is there any truth to the idea that suffering gives meaning to life? If it's only suffering in moderate amounts, what's the optimal amount of suffering that's required for human flourishing? To extend Feynman's game analogy described earlier in this post, what are our character's true attributes, how do we change the difficulty level, have fun while not making it too challenging, and how do we win?

If we could achieve this, we could create a society where no one is disadvantaged based on the accident of birth. It also relates to Rawl's idea of the Veil of Ignorance, which asks you whether or not you would be fine with being born in any part of the world and section of society without knowing whom you would be born to and what your environment would be. If the answer is no, which it is and I think very few would disagree with that, then things need to change in the society.

In the next few paragraphs, I'm going to describe my interests related to consciousness. I'm also interested in the neurobiological basis of consciousness and it's origin- how did consciousness arise from nothing? How did life begin from immaterial objects? Are all animals conscious? What separates sentience and consciousness? What exactly is consciousness and how can we measure it? Origin of NDEs and OBEs?

And altered states of consciousness- psychedelics, alpha beta gamma bands, meditation states, lucid dreaming, sleep etc. how psychedelics and mind-altering substances alter our perception of the world and our other cognitive abilities, like the effect of psychedelics on artistic appreciation and creativity, and ego dissolution. Could we simulate all of it artificially?

And how can we use all this knowledge to treat people with disorders of consciousness? What about people with a completely distorted sense of what we know as reality- schizophrenics and psychotic patients, for instance? Can psychedelics help cure mental disorders like anxiety and depression?

Also the more fundamental questions related to the nature of reality- what is consciousness- is it something that precedes reality as in allows us to experience reality, or is reality a consequence of having consciousness? Also there have been studies in support of determinism that show that consciousness is just a continuous stream of memories perceived a few microsecond later. Is that true? And if so, what are it's implications on society and how could our understanding of memory be tied with consciousness?

Also, could we use neurotechnology, psychological and pharmacological tools, plus those from physics and engineering, to manipulate consciousness and artificially induce altered states of consciousness at will- as in the states which are most useful for learning, or meditation, or relaxation, or even lucid dreaming.,?

And does every conscious being suffer, and how would consciousness look like in a different substrate? Does everyone perceive the world in the same way? How do we figure out what goes on in the subjective mental experience of other people- and could we somehow capture them so others could experience them and we could cultivate greater empathy?

Also, as Nagel put it in his classical paper, what is it like to be a bat? Plus, what's it like to be a plant, an ant, or a cat? Which ones are simple input-output organisms that simply respond to stimuli without feeling anything, and which ones actually make decisions, or at least are able to comprehend their situation and think that they make decisions, like humans are capable of doing..?

How could we be sure of the answer to that question, when both the organisms act in a similar kind of way. How can we be sure humans other than us, me or you, are not what scientists call philosophical zombies, p-zombies, merely giving the impression of being sentient and conscious but actually responding to stimuli without having any sort of subjective mental experience in there?

What would consciousness look like in AI, and could we detect it, so we don't accidently create conscious AI that is capable of suffering? This is important, because we have a very anthropocentric view of AI, so we must not create such AI until we are certain it won't suffer.

Plus it's connection with free will and determinism. There are experiments that show that we can accurately predict someone's actions a few microseconds before they make the conscious decision to do it, but there have been some flaws with it, nonetheless the current evidence says there is no free will, and I feel like that makes sense.

Also, what's the subconscious mind and how could we know what's in it? How do our system-1 intuitions arise, and what factors influence them? How could we manipulate or modify our intuitions to be more in line with reality and rationality, and even if we could, should we? This is important to discover a person's true interests and desires, and enable them to self-actualize.

And avoid irrational snap-judgment decisions, because if these intuitions are made more correct and accurate, we could create a better society, perhaps even eradicate all prejudice and subconscious biases that lead us ashtray and compel us to act irrationally.

I'm interested in their biological basis as well as developing interventions using tools and techniques from multiple disciplines to cure mental disorders, especially those related to cognitive deficits, intelligence and altered states of consciousness.

Also how we are able to pay attention in subconscious states such as lucid dreaming, how we could use lucid dreaming to improve our lives and discover about ourselves, because being in a lucid dream is like exploring your own mind, and talking to character in the dream like talking to the part of your mind that normally escapes consciousness.

What is learning and how could we speed it up using tools right from the biological level to behavioural, psychological, pharmacological, tech and other tools such as neurofeedback training? How do we internalize general concepts while learning, which concepts are best to internalize that teach us how to think rather than mere facts, and what type of training is transferable to real-world situations? For instance, does playing dual-n-back improve working memory in real world? Chess, strategic video games and strategic planning?

Mathematics and logical thinking, video games and spatial intelligence or reaction time, computer science and algorithmic thinking, even IQ tests and real world IQ- do they all just improve performance on that specific task or also in all the tasks that require that ability, by causing direct changes in the brain? Could we not try different training methods and use brain scans and behavioural tools to measure the most effective ways to train such skills? If we could do that, we could not just help children with cognitive deficits and learning disabilities, but also enhance learning for those who are struggling and need extra support to function better in their daily lives.

In addition to the best concepts to internalize, how can everyone learn the concepts in a way that they are internalized and not just memorized or even just learned for one specific situation or case, is universally true and general that is, and also aligned with a student's inclinations and interests? And could we directly manipulate the system-1 intuitive brain itself, so we could automatically detect such principles or concepts in novel situations and solve problems in the real world by identifying analogous situations in the real world, in the process also training students in thinking and decision-making tools to navigate a complex world effectively and also help those who are less fortunate?

It could be a system of not just exploration and experimentation to discover your true inclinations and finding out your true values, beliefs, interests, abilities and desires, but it could be an AI-powered database that uses biomarkers, genetic, behavioral and psychological, and neurotechnological tools to directly map and identify such values. It could also be an ideal companion and friendship application, something similar to what I'm currently working on, but in the mental health space for now.

We get all our information from our senses, and what I just talked about has been related to information processing and manipulation, mainly higher-order executive functions and cognitive processes, so now turning to information acquisition: we acquire all our information from our environment through our senses. What exactly are our senses, how could we discover them and distinguish them from each other, how about enhancing (as in hyperphantasia), extending (what's it like to be a bat, or sense direction?), combining the senses (as in synesthesia) so we could acquire more info and get greater insights by manipulating such novel information?

If each one of us decides to have novel and unique experiences, we could connect our personal experiences with acquired information, all the concepts we have learned, make mistakes and learn, and more importantly, document if all in clear and accurate language to express clearly your thoughts and describe your experiences so that everyone all over the world could benefit from them, and the future generations too, not just to explore the world from a different perspective, but also learn what people have learned from their past experiences and mistakes, and that too in detail such that it's a collective database that could be built upon. Is that possible? It could be made even more helpful if people could be taught to separate objective descriptions from subjective value judgments, and also make life more fun for everyone, as I describe in other blog posts such as 'absurdism'.

I also wish to advance the field of psychiatry and psychology by developing more scientific and objective measures to detect, diagnose mental disorders as well as pin down phenomena such as intelligence, creativity and emotions.

I wish to understand the origin of thoughts and intuitions, how they lead to irrational decisions and behaviour, as well as topics currently investigated by positive psychology such as self-actualization, happiness, meaning, values, desires, abilities and interests.

I am interested in topics like prejudices, perception and belief formation, and other topics that come under social psychology. I'm also interested in understanding intelligence not just in humans but also non-human animals and machines like Artificial Intelligence systems, but I'm primarily interested in the human brain.

On one hand I'm driven by pure curiosity and a strong desire to understand certain topics, and on the other help all sentient beings- more specifically, eradicate unnecessary suffering, enable humans to discover their true interests, abilities and values, self-actualize, and eventually modify or enhance to transcend the limitations of biology.

I have formed a rough plan of what I wish to do in the future. It doesn't fit any of the conventional careers present today, the fields it involved are very new and there aren't many people working in them at the moment.

I'm interested in some topics that are investigated by computational and cognitive neuroscience through the lens of multiple disciplines, such as intelligence, memory, consciousness and emotions. I'm curious to understand these phenomena, but also to eventually be able to have an impact in the field of disorders related to deficits in cognition and intelligence, and cognitive enhancement.

Other than that I'm also interested in topics like genetic engineering, brain-computer interfaces, neural implants, altered states of consciousness and the psychedelic revolution, synthetic biology, Longevity, Gerontology, nanoscience, biocompatible nanomaterials and personalized healthcare/ precision medicine, singularity and transhumanism, cognitive enhancement, Moravec transfer, cryonics and molecular nano assemblers.

My interest understanding intelligence also relates to my desire to implement it in machines at the right level of abstraction independent of substrate to develop AGI, or at least more efficient AI, and investigate systems like ANNs and neuromorphic systems to understand the brain more clearly, as well as use tools such as ML to gain new insights into the works of the human brain so we can create more brain-like AI and so on, so both of the fields could be mutually beneficial to each other.

Get in touch if you're interested in discussing any of the points I touched upon in this post, or if you have similar aspirations or interests, I'd like to know more about them! Also this is just the brief version of the project plan. Let me know if you're interested in learning more about it.

Edit: My current projects and interests in brief: My primary academic interests lie in the intersection of neuroscience and AI, specifically artificial neural networks, neuromorphic computing, and AI alignment, Human-Computer Interaction, and bioethics. I am also interested in entrepreneurship and currently working on an AI and healthcare project to help people with BPD, collaborating with researchers from IIT-D, Cornell, UChicago and the University of Toronto. I am also active in the Rationality, EA and neurodivergent community, and planning a few projects revolving around them.

I am also a member of the WEF AI Youth Council of India, and a research scholar in a community led by a physicist and mathematician at Cambridge. I also lead an initiative to help students develop research projects and get them published, and planning a project to promote confidence in individuals with high-functioning Autism or Asperger's syndrome and dispel societal misconceptions, being a part of the community myself. Read the doc for a detailed version and other accomplishments.

Update:

Affective neuroscience. Our state of flow is determined by emotions. Our values we discover from experimentation and exploration and introspection, paying attention to our internal mental states while trying new activities and see how we feel about it. That's how we determine our core values, beliefs, needs, desires, interests, inclinations in general, what we are predisposed to like, and that is also why you don't pay as much attention to ability as interests, as, if you're interested in something, you'd have fun, enjoy the process, the journey, and not assign your happiness an external locus of control to outcomes that are affected by external factors not directly under your control.

All our desires, values, even logic, seems to be driven by emotions. You rationalize and justify using logic what you feel is right, and you can be as open minded as possible but values and right and wrong don't exist in the real world in the external observable universe, and even to follow the scientific method you need to like logic and science in the first place, the right emotions. Same for all values, honesty, morality, open mindedness, compassion, kindness.

All desires and values. It's emotions. You would almost certainly be less rational and suffer due to it if you are illogical and unscientific, but when it's not as obvious or necessary for survival, you would be prone to falling prey to irrational pseudoscientific beliefs and cause harm to others too. We also need to keep in mind that just because the majority in predisposed to feel strong emotional affect for something doesn't necessarily mean that it's also the "right" or aligned with the more objective reality. When normative theories depend on values that seem to have no basis in the mathematical observable external universe made of matter and processes governed by physical laws, it usually seems to depend on emotions, that stem from the brain shaped by genes and the early childhood environment or upbringing, and can be influenced by manipulating the right emotions through any means.

It's also relevant to my quest to discover the true nature of the self, investigate the mystery of the self, if it's all genetic and social influence, with no room for free will, the deterministic view, or if there is any, then what it is, and if it's determinism, how we can manipulate the factors to achieve desirable outcomes for everyone, should we, the societal implications, and so on.

We also need to keep in mind that everything may have hidden functions, unintended butterfly effects, cause and effect, negative and positive consequence that must be taken into account while investigating and tinkering with an organ like the brain, the very organ that determines our perception of reality, cognition and consciousness, traits and abilities, everything we value, and people do not realize that so much is possible when we learn how to control it. All unnecessary suffering could be eradicated, states of consciousness that we cannot imagine, levels of cognition and intelligence we cannot comprehend, a safer and more egalitarian society, one where we teach children important life skills and thinking skills transferable to the real world, as well as abstract general principles or intuitive concepts extracted from several specific real-world observations; asking the right questions, decision making skills, discovering their true inclinations, and so on, augmented with AI.

All desires, philias, compulsions can be grouped under the umbrella term emotions or emotional affect. Dahmer felt the need or desire to kill and look at those shiny organs, he felt desirable emotions that were overpowering his sense of morality which was already weak because he happened to have genes that predisposed him to sociopathy, but then again even if someone doesn't have those genes but felt desirable emotions for traits associated with psychopathy and wanted to emulate them and cultivate such traits in themself, the result would be I'm guessing almost indistinguishable from someone who naturally is one.

If he didn't feel such a strong emotional affect for such things, he could have been a great surgeon, maybe. If I didn't feel great emotional affect for psychology and the cognitive sciences, maybe I'd be like other kids watching shows and playing games, and I'm afraid of such an event occurring in real life, but that's again emotions. I feel undesirable emotions for this so I feel unhappy wasting time on stuff I don't like.

If I felt this emotional affect for mathematics, I could have published some papers already, because it's easier for mathematics than topics involving language and real world that could be misinterpreted to be made controversial. Just like one of my friends who did just that and got into Caltech. Same goes for other friends who are very active in the AI and tech field and like programming and computers a lot.

This could also help in another patented idea of mine which involves loneliness. Social psychology tells us that birds of a feather flock together. As I explain in one of my posts and videos, you try to meet people and see what qualities, interests, traits or abilities or any aspect of their personality you like that interests you- generates desirable emotional affect in your brain. And you try to emulate them again by methods I describe in my video like emulation by observation through deliberately applying principles or following algorithm, surrounding yourself with such people, internalizing by active recall and spaced repetition to automatically detect in novel situations, neurofeedback or similar training brain areas to enhance transferable to other life situations, and finally the most effective and also difficult one, direct interventions.

But even without that, people with similar interests and positive emotions for similar stuff, similar likes and dislikes and beliefs, all of which can be determined by emotions, genes and brains, can be allowed to meet new people who are more likely to be good friends or partners.

We could through my patent idea of the process involving neurotechnology and AI create a database where we detect and document which brain areas and genes are associated with which inclinations, values, interests, desires, and this way it would help in early detection, rehab, treatment and prevention, and for neurotypicals too help them self actualize by helping then discover their true inclinations.

Just till the last two months or so, I used to value intelligence greatly, place it much higher than everything else, and I still do but I used to completely disregard emotions. I still like the idea, the neural areas and the higher order cognitive process and it's manifestation in real life in the form of a personality trait, of Intelligence, but not I realize that emotions are- you cannot imagine the amount of evidence and logic it took to overcome my intuitive preference, distaste, personal dislike for emotions (which is also an emotion by the way)- much more important than intelligence. Intelligence is a trait, just like other values, we feel something about it- say if you're a sapiosexual, you'd feel positive emotional affect when you meet someone you perceive as intelligent. I am still interested in biological intelligence- cognitive science.

Emotions are also central to one mental disorder that's one of the hardest to solve and debatably involves the greatest suffering- indeed it's just unnecessary excessive negative emotions that are the root of all suffering known to not just humans but all possibly sentient beings- and another problem I'm trying to solve with my patent and one of my ongoing projects- treating BPD with AI.

I'm eventually going to extend it to neuroticism to allow everyone to be calm and indifferent and apathetic so they can recover from traumatic events much more quickly- related to another one of my projects for those with PTSD and childhood trauma- just like monks and psychopaths but without requiring you to feel the need to give up everything and quit society or manipulate or murder people, just the good part, though there could be some hidden downside we are currently unaware of, perhaps a known unknown but more like an unknown unknown. Just like every project and ambition of mine, it's about solving a problem, not the solution, which can change to be made more realistic, practical, efficient, effective, feasible, in general better and more likely to solve the problem.

Emotions are root of fear that main aspect of BPD which results in anger, shame, guilt, anxiety, and compels people to act in ways that might cause harm to them or others around them and great mental suffering to them and their close ones. We could make everyone much more calm and happy and this way make it easier for everyone to live fulfilling lives and create a safer, more peaceful and humane, kind and compassionate society where everyone loves their fellow beings and is much less likely to harm them for foolish reasons.

Same goes for neuropsychology. And behavioural genetics. How these biological components give rise to such traits and abilities, higher order cognitive processes and aspects of personality, not just the hard problem of consciousness, how such matter gives rise to these internal subjective mental experiences or qualia.

That too, but also what certain brain regions, genes, and neural processes interact with environmental factors to give rise to certain abilities and traits that manifest themselves in the real world through observable characteristics such as appearance, height, intelligence, motivation, curiosity, grit, perseverance, kindness, compassion, empathy, creativity, consciousness, humour, neuroticism, anxiety, fear, pride, shame, guilt, and everyone that makes a person who they are and things that we associate our 'self' with or that makes them suffer, but that has their basis in the brain and genes and environment.

So that we could allow everyone to live more fulfilling lives according to their inclinations and make it easier for them to discover their true inclinations, values, interests, desires, and develop a framework so they can act in ways that maximizes the likelihood of them successfully achieving their desired goals.

And psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. Our language shapes our perception of the world and make better or worse decisions that could make it more or less likely for us to achieve our goals. Our language also determines how we think about people and our place in the social world, subjective value judgements too- it's how we think about someone's intentions or actions based on our personal preferences and intuition and feelings and emotions, but the point is that those feelings and emotions themselves depend on some extent to your culture and language, and as we know emotions lead to how we use logic to rationalize or justify based on our desires to achieve what we want.

I describe my interest in psycholinguistics above, but here's more: I am interested in immersing myself in different cultures just to learn the way people who think differently due to growing up in an environment and culture different from me; the subjective experience of learning about a different worldview and getting to exercise my powers of empathy- not just cognitive, but affective too- and learn how different traits and abilities manifest themselves in different ways. The practical part of the theory I enjoy studying- topics from psychology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, sociology.

Having new experiences and observing all sensory data and events happening around me and being curious asking questions that occur to me to try to understand their worldview, and then trying to do what I enjoy, something that would make more sense if you read my other posts: trying to extract abstract general principles from specific instances and trying to see how different events are connected at different levels of abstractions; solving my research questions from an interdisciplinary perspective by using tools from various disciplines and trying to come up with general principles built upon apriori logic that hold universally true and are logically convincing. That's the brief and oversimplified version, anyway.

And if the emotional attachment to your culture is strong enough, it might even override science and logic altogether which could lead to harmful behaviour that could cause unnecessary preventable suffering, which is one of the primary reasons I'm interested in this intersection of cognitive science and linguistics, and also applied linguistics, but not linguistics for the sake of itself, per se, but it's applications and relevance to the real world, connection with human nature, significance to improving the human condition. How language shapes our perception of the world emotions, traits and abilities. Also experiments such as teaching mathematics or formal logic as the primary language or mother tongue to a kid during the critical periods of his life.

Cognitive and behavioural robotics, deep learning, neuromorphic engineering. Because I'm interested in how we could try to replicate biological neural processes in machines to try to understand the human brain better, create better, more efficient AI that could allow us to solve real world problems more effectively, and also allow us to investigate the human brain so we can understand it better and create better AI, like a virtuous cycle, a positive feedback loop, the intersection of neuroscience and AI. And perhaps eventually create AGI and hit the singularity and solve all of society's pressing problems and eradicate unnecessary suffering and implement UBI to allow everyone to not slave away at corporate jobs all their life just in order to make ends meet and just live a fulfilling life according to their inclinations.

How certain symbols and frequencies and seemingly objective events in the external observable universe atoms rearranging can evoke such a diversity of intense internal subjective experiences or mental states, emotions and feelings, and how they shape our perception of the world and judgment and decisions, that's decision neuroscience. How such matter seemingly lifeless unconscious can evoke such emotions and experiences, it's wonderful and absurd, not to praise it just because it's a mystery because it being a mystery is just an indicator of our biological limitations, cognitive limits of intelligence and current scientific progress, but in the universe if it exists that even knows itself perfectly well, imagine it were sentient, then it's just a gap in our understanding and we can get closer to truth which is what the scientific method is built upon, why probabilistic thinking is important, because we can never be absolutely certain, just move from being less wrong to more correct, closer to truth, update our belief system and mental model of the universe to be more in line with reality.

Decisions are important because we constantly make decisions in life; everything can be rephrased or reworded as a decisions, as we are constantly working towards some goal even if we don't know it, we try to act in ways that maximizes the probability of us being successful in achieving our desired goals, whether we rely on intuition, emotions, logic, reason, or the scientific method. That's also the reason I like decision theory and game theory, which us just decision science with several players or competitors.

Everything is a decision. Even not making a decision and trying to figure out best decision to maximize chances of achieving desired goals is a decision. Deciding to do nothing or follow intuition and do what you feel like is a decision, regardless of whether or not you decided if this is a situation where intuition is likely to help you arrive at the best decision and if the time, resources and opportunity costs associated with thinking more deeply are worth the expected utility or increase in confidence or likelihood of achieving your desired goals.

I 'll share some resources related to neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience that I've acquired over the past few months from my own research and talking to some neuroscientists from all over the world working on decision-making, such as some interesting books, links and articles. (and also explain why I strongly dislike the term 'neuroeconomics' and prefer 'decision neuroscience' even though both study essentially the same topics.) I might take a while to update this post with the resources (or create a new one) so feel free to reach out if you're interested in similar topics.

For a very brief overview of my ongoing projects, you could check out my CV (on this website Bio or else LinkedIn profile) I wish to help people and believe it's my moral duty and responsibility to help those less fortunate than me who suffer due to accident of birth or chance; victims of external factors out of their direct control that influence their thought process and put them into undesirable subjective mental states, and compel them to harm themselves or those around them.

To help the less fortunate people who suffer due to being at a relative disadvantage due to accident of birth, blind luck or random chance; investigating all the external factors that influence decisions and compel people to act irrationally in ways that make them more likely to harm them or people around them; and to see how much is under our control and what is the ‘self’- genes, brain, society, and see if there is a self, what it is, and is not, deterministic implications on society and how to manipulate to create better society; allow everyone to live a fulfilling life according to their inclinations, predisposition, proclivities, as determined by their genes and environment, and ‘fix’ those who are inclined to gain happiness from hurting other sentient beings. That's the brief oversimplified version.

~

When anyone asks me about my ongoing projects, I try to explain how and why I’m doing everything I’m doing, and they tell me I’m doing too much stuff at once, I need to be more focused and concentrate. I agree with them, not because I actually agree, but because it’s mentally exhausting and emotionally draining to explain to neurotypical individuals how all of them are interconnected and intertwined with each other, my overarching ambitions, core values, personal experiences, research interests, and future goals.

This also happens while I’m talking about any topic. I go off on tangents to seemingly unrelated topics and people think I’m talking about completely unrelated subjects but to me the connection is very clear.

I like finding connections and analogies between seemingly unrelated fields and using tools and methods from one to solve problems of another, and my list of research questions which I’m going to solve as soon as I get the adequate research support and facilities are also composed of questions that are interdisciplinary in nature.

I agree that I need to narrow down, but I’m exploring, and I like being interdisciplinary and having a bird’s-eye view on how every discipline fits together in real life because some questions need to be tackled through multiple viewpoints and someone needs to know how current breakthroughs in several fields relate with each other and can be recombined in novel ways to solve pressing contemporary social issues, which is what my patent publication and preprint research paper is all about.

I will eventually narrow down to a few, but I believe in being a jack of all trades, master of some. I like reading widely but I have some specific narrow obsessions and research interests, and I’m going to explore and update my plans accordingly with the new information I acquire about my own interests and abilities and knowledge of the world, and I’m getting close to that already.

Undergraduate years are supposed to allow students to explore, unlike the current education system in my country where it’s a rat-race and your career choices for life are restricted when you choose a ‘stream’ for grade 11, unlike the West where you can choose multiple majors and minors, combine and even design your own curriculum.

I know that I need to narrow down eventually, and I’m going to do so, but I am going to explore, and I’m going to do all my projects regardless of all the discouraging comments I might get from people who are unable to comprehend how all of my projects and interests fit together. I have some unconventional and rare interests, and I dream of a career in fields which either don’t exist yet or are at a very nascent stage.

If you’re interested in the specifics, I’d be happy to explain. I'm attracted to the idea of being a polymath; having a general knowledge in a wide range of disciplines- as I like learning about everything a bit and about new topics- and narrow in very few that I’m more interested than the others. I can't withstand the thought that I can't learn everything about everything- so many books, so little time- so I try to the best I can.

I'm going to update this section with my ongoing projects soon. I intended to do so with this update itself, but due other stuff came up and it won't be possible to give it as much time as I'd like to, as this is one of those posts that I doubt anyone would even read yet I want it to be as perfect as possible, as this one specifically involves my plans and future aspirations, and I cannot compromise on this, even though that's how I treat all ideas in my other posts too.

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Some of the stuff I've written about is part of my patent, copyright, preprint. Same goes for my videos, and so some people might think I'm being irrational or foolish sharing it openly before it's final. But I considered this and realized that by doing this I'm not being inconsistent with my goals, values and preferences, so I'm being rational. My copyright allows anyone or everyone to use my ideas freely as they wish only on the condition that they give me credit as the original author or inventor or the ideas, the person who initially conceived of it, and I want this in order to avoid legal disputes in the near future. I don't really care that much because I don't have ego issues and I just want to solve the problem, and my solution is just one way, might be flawed, and need to be updated and improved in order to be made more feasible, practical, efficient or realistic.

So I'm not emotionally attached to the solution, but the problem, and I'd be happy to see it solved, no matter who solves it. But I still decided to get the copyright and patent because I wish to avoid a situation where a person steals my ideas and accuses me of stealing their (my) ideas. In this way, not only would anyone be unable to steal my ideas and accuse me, but they'd also be obligated or legally required to give me credit where it's due, wherever they take inspiration and build upon my original ideas.

Even though I said that I don't care about anyone using my ideas, even without giving me credit, I have taken several measures to ensure that no one can accuse me of stealing their (my) ideas, and so it logically follows that if I find anyone using my ideas without giving me credit, and I accuse them of doing so and hence violating my copyright and patent, they won't be able to refute that claim, and so guarding against anyone not being able to accuse me is essentially the same thing as guarding against people using my ideas without giving me credit.

But I won't be offensive and attack anyone if they're using my ideas constructively and developing them to be more realistic, as long as they're not accusing me, even though in such a case I'd prefer to collaborate or at least hear from them directly what they plan to do and how they plan to use my ideas, at least at this point of time it's not necessary as I don't have ego problems and just want to see the problem get solved, not who does it. Just like a doctor should be happy if all diseases were to be eradicated, or all policemen should be happy if crime rate were to drop to zero, even if they're not incentivized to do so, I believe that they should- they should be incentivized to be compensated so their incentives are aligned with the goals the social institution they are working under was established for, and consistent with the integrity of their profession. But let's not get into that there.

I'd be happy to see people take it seriously as a viable solution, or at least understand the problem and try to come up with a better more innovative and realistic solution on their own, that's more likely to successfully achieve the desired outcome or likely to solve the problem. But I don't need to worry about people accusing me for stealing any ideas, and my copyright and patent would legally protect me and guard me from such situations if such undesirable events happen to take place in the near future. I have time evidence too: my blog posts, YouTube videos and reddit posts.

~

Hamming's 'you and your research' is also very inspiring even if lengthy read, and it's basically about how if you wish to be a good researcher, and solve the research questions or problems you want to solve, you need to think about them, live them, it needs to be a part of your life, thinking about them till you can solve them, not like a corporate job. It requires dedication, concentration, focus and being free from all distractions, utilizing your valuable and limited time and resources in a way that could make you most likely to solve your questions.

Another technique is one that's used by Musk and Wolfram: Learning, memorizing, internalizing and retaining conceptual knowledge from selected books and resources (requires cognitive skills that can be learned with practice for those who don't have it naturally), and having enough basic knowledge of a subject to be able to ask specific questions to experts who can help you solve your problems in any project you're working on, related to a topic that you don't have expertise in. Ask the right questions from professionals, sucking the experience out of them, if you will. Networking. (I wonder what it'd be like to suck knowledge from such a person themself, and what'd happen if a group of highly motivated musk who love knowledge, and have different expertise in different domains further from other experts, come together?)

You don't need to learn all topics by yourself and find all connections between disciplines by yourself; you don't have that much time and cognitive resources, and there are people who can do it better and enjoy it more; so just focus on topics that excite you and that you are good at, choose a few questions or problems and projects. Hire people experts in their field, assign tasks only you know how they cone together, maybe narrow AI multiple all working in conjunction; you start by having a research question or problem to solve, start doing your own research and developing a rough plan and working on a solution or prototype, when stuck, you do a google search or ask GPT for resources, or online forums such as Reddit, and if you still don't find a solution to the problem, you brainstorm, and ask for help from experts in the narrow domain.

Reach out- or hire the experts and delegate the tasks to them depending on your financial status and specific requirements- and repeat the process till you get a realistic feasible solution likely to solve the question or problem you started out with, which might require interdisciplinary input in disciplines or domains that are not your areas of expertise or interest. So you hire or collaborate, or if you want to solve it yourself, or seek help or guidance, by asking specific questions and extracting the right knowledge from a group of experts and learn what topics you'd be required to learn to tackle the problem, or ask for them to solve a narrow problem and exactly what and how you are stuck.

There's another technique which gets rid of the problems of academic research: the gentleman scientist, or independent scientist. The idea of being a polymath and autodidact who is able to solve problems from an interdisciplinary perspective, using tools and methods from several disciplines even if seemingly unrelated, and having the financial means to do so without any distractions that make them less likely to be able to achieve their desired goals or solve their research questions, problems or projects they're working on.

I am wary of the current academic model that is not exactly too conducive to producing good research, I have some interested startup ideas and I'll also need to fund my own research which happens to lie in the fundamental / basic sciences domain and there is not a lot of funding for such areas because people are usually after quick gains and too short-sighted, and I can't depend on such people forever. Plus I just like the idea of polymathy / being an independent scientist, like D.E. Shaw, Demis Hassabis and Stephen Wolfram.

Okay I was trying to not do this but I won't resist cause this is an idea worth sharing so here's a quick crash course on independent scientists and what I like about this idea. This is the idea of the gentleman scientist: a financially independent scientist who pursues scientific study without direct affiliation to a public institution such as a university or government-run research and development body. The expression "gentleman scientist" arose in post-Renaissance Europe, but became less common in the 20th century as government and private funding increased. You could look it up on wiki or medium or somewhere.

The point is that in the modern world there are very few such people and those who are rich if not wasting their money on fleeting pleasures then on short term gains but very few who do it for basic fundamental science research. Two I came across are D.E. Shaw and Wolfram. Both have PhDs- D.E. Shaw in computational chemistry- started hedge fund became billionaire then used funds to fund his basic chemistry research.

Started with research, created products or services and started organizations that provide them with funds to carry out basic research.. not constrained by academic problems like constantly asking for grants, teaching duties, publish or perish, toxic competition for a few spots. There is very little funding towards basic research, so it's a more feasible option, and I like the idea to be able to be financially independent to sustain your love of learning and scientific pursuit without giving a care about what the world thinks or gives them funding for, what's the current funding grants or the 'hot trend' as fundamental research in AI alignment, AGI and basic neuroscience research is just as important, and in some ways even more, as people don't realize it's important until it's very late. I have a few interesting links on this topic if anyone is interested.

I'll continue with my future aspirations and my plans to achieve them later. For now, I'll leave it at this: I intend to get certain advanced graduate degrees in the near future, as currently that seems to be the best decision in order to make it more likely for me to achieve my goals, including solving my research questions and implementing my projects in society. I've decided the degrees and arrived at this decision after lot of deliberation and a rigorous cost-benefit analysis being as objective as I could, and I've realized that it's more aligned with my interests and goals than something I was considering earlier that wasn't aligned with my aptitude and that I was only partially interested in.