Culture’s Motivation
Culture is a complex set of ‘living patterns’ that unifies/binds a group of people. This group can be an entire society or any concrete organization. Being motivational means that it has its own volition ― a challenging situation. Please read first: Motivation at the Center of Life Culture ― motivation ― life? Several insightful philosophers Read the full article…
Motivation at the Center of Life
Motivation is life. Life is motivation. More than a philosophical nicety, this is relevant to everyone, everywhere, always. Please see beyond the philosophy and into the crucial pragmatic importance. From the start of life Life starts where some structure (such as the precursor of a proto-bacterium) tries to consolidate itself. To do so, this structure Read the full article…
From Tool to Autonomy
When can a tool – gradually – become an autonomous agent, and how must we deal with this? What is an agent? And what is a tool? For instance, is your body (or your left hand) a tool of your brain? Is your entire body – including your brain – a tool of your mind? Read the full article…
About Philosophical Zombies
What do they teach us about consciousness? Real zombies don’t exist. In this mind experiment, a ‘philosophical zombie’ acts and speaks entirely like you or me, but has no soul, no deep feelings, or no feelings at all — probably depending on the year of invention. This confusion is also important for our argumentation. More Read the full article…
Nirvana, What about Feelings?
Nirvana, Buddhist ‘heaven’ where the candle has stopped burning. What about feelings? What can this teach us about feelings in general? This is symbolism. It’s not about what might happen in another, magical world. It’s also not about what might happen in this world with just a few minor changes. Symbolism readily touches the heart Read the full article…
Implicit vs. Explicit Knowledge
The resulting mindscape is central to many things in the past, present, and future. Explicit lives in the power of the thinker. Implicit knowledge is not readily available for further processing. Nevertheless, with the right tools or insight, it may become more so ― thus gradually becoming more explicit while the source remains the same. Read the full article…
Who Needs Free Will for Moral Behavior?
“If there is no free will, I am not responsible for my actions.” I utterly disagree. Responsibility is not guilt. Without free will, you are not guilty. With free will, you are not guilty. Responsibility is something you can take within any circumstance. If there is no free will, then you can take responsibility within Read the full article…
Engaged versus Accountable
In theories about which of both is most effective, the pendulum swings over many years from the one to the other to the one — usually without much depth involved. Terminology Engaged: emotionally involved or committed. Accountable: holding oneself or being held responsible. This is related to the ‘locus of control’ ― putting responsibility for Read the full article…
Against Reductionism
Science is about a search for simplification. The danger is an oversimplification — reductionism. In this text, I use the term ‘reductionism’ as a synonym for the oversimplification we are discussing. Parsimoniousness That’s the highbrow term for the above genuine search. In the philosophy of science, it is seen as one of science’s ultimate goals. Read the full article…
Autosuggestion in Mental Pattern Recognition and Completion
Cognitive neuroscience increasingly proves the mind/brain to be a prediction machine. This points to the immense possibilities of autosuggestion. Please read about the predictive brain. An excellent scientific book about this is The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality, by Andy Clark (2023). Pattern Recognition and Completion (PRC) is the way the Read the full article…
My Dark Side of Compassion
This personal note doesn’t mean that I’m the only one. I hope there are many and dedicate this blog to them. Am I Compassionate? I try. Let’s say it’s in me. ‘Compassion’ is not pity. At least, not in this sense of Compassion, basically. But that doesn’t mean an overlap in recognition of others’ suffering Read the full article…
How can A.I. Become Compassionate?
Since this may be the only possible human-friendly future, it’s good to know how it can be reached, at least principally. Please read Compassion, basically, The Journey Towards Compassionate A.I., and Why A.I. Must Be Compassionate. Two ways and an opposite In principle, A.I. can become Compassionate by itself, or we may guide it toward Read the full article…
Growth or Genes
Does our genetic make-up determine who we are to such a degree that there is little room for mental growth? A mini-course of influence As a general principle, to effectively gauge the influence of a concept’s different features, you need a correct categorization. If the features are handled inappropriately, the concept might seem to be Read the full article…
Patterns + Rewards in A.I.
Human-inspired Pattern Recognition and Completion (PRC) may significantly heighten the efficiency of Reinforcement Learning (RL) — also in A.I. See for PRC: The Brain as a Predictor See for RL: Why Reinforcement Learning is Special Mutually reinforcing PRC shows valid directions and tentatively also realizes them. RL consolidates/reinforces the best directions and attenuates the lesser Read the full article…
Reinforcement Learning and AURELIS Coaching
Reinforcement Learning is a way of thinking that applies to the animal kingdom as well as A.I. Also, it is deeply related to AURELIS coaching. Please read about Reinforcement Learning (R.L.) R.L. in AURELIS coaching Such coaching is always (auto)suggestive. The coach doesn’t impose or even give plain advice. The coaching is tentative without being Read the full article…
Why We NEED Compassionate A.I.
It’s not just a boon. Humanity is at a stage where we desperately need the support that possibly only Compassionate A.I. can provide. This is not about the future. The need is related to the inner dissociation that we (humanoids, humans) have increasingly been stumbling into since the dawn of conscious conceptualization. That’s a long Read the full article…
Therapy in Psycho-Somatics
Scientific evidence shows a huge influence of the mind in many psycho-somatic domains, yet little of this shows in practice. How can we best translate scientific insights into using the mind as cure? Mind-body unity If you haven’t yet made the step toward mind-body unity (not as two parts but two views upon one unity), Read the full article…