A major cognitive illusion is that, when we hear a dissenting opinion, we must pass judgment.

The healthier alternative is to simply take notice, as in: "Someone had a life experience that led to that opinion. The person might be right and, even if not, their view might bear relevant information."

Appreciation for universal themes in literature comes with age, as we weather life's great storms. There is comfort in contemplating the recurrence of our dilemmas, tragedies, and inner turmoils. Literature shows us how to be resilient, and provides guidance for moral and contextual clarity.

One thing I have been thinking about philosophical style.

For some reasons, I'm put off by most academic philosophy. My thinking style is more essayistic.

This has led me to shirk from speaking publicly about philosophy, for a fear of judgment from my academic peers.

However,
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Reflecting on how numerous are the connections between computer science, mathematical logic, formal semantics, and Chomskian linguistics. Mid 20th century MIT was a powerhouse within this intellectual space.

Europeans and Middle Easterners studied Plato's and Aristotle's works for over a millennium, but until Modernity failed to produce any true innovations.

This illustrates how dependant human creativity is on a suitable group environment. When you see a genius, always look for a community 'scenius'.

Human history is consistently abnormal, absurd, surreal, and thus entertaining to read about – in absentia.

But one can hardly match the prime entertainment of Trump's incessant barrage of ridiculous policies.

For all that his platform might be worth, his mind & entourage are one big tragicomedy.

Despite our vast neurological resources, our System 2 cognition is sequential, has a small working memory, and has trouble dividing attention or multitasking.

Why? Are there general constraints that induce this architecture? Will we find it necessary to replicate this in artifical agents?

Curbing my admiration for Chomsky: Despite his firm anchoring in scholarship and official documents, he is perceptibly arrogant and proceeds much in the way of a lone wolf, and is therefore assured to have fallen into unchallenged ideological huts.

Career success and social recognition are tied to compliance with ideological and institutional systems.

Intellectuals ought to be careful when condemning practical actors for complicity with power and adherence to abhorrent aspects of common sense.

Conformity is the human condition.

Reflecting on the forces that determined my life's trajectory so far, it can definitely be said that an authoritarian mindset in my family has curtailed my intellectual development and social insertion as a public intellectual.

A major reason I quit my academic philosophy career was the inability to fit in.

Nearly all research programmes I was interested in – mainly science-oriented philosophy – were not pursued or even recognized anywhere in Brazil.

The absence of a thriving community was a real let down.

The introduction of chat LLMs will lead many to stop thinking. But this is looking at what we'll lose from the status quo.

In a world were chat LLMs were the status quo, their removal would rob us of a wise companion and supervisor, which sounds equally bad.

Status quo bias is the human condition.

In online environments, humans are inept at estimating the relative proportions of advocates of different positions on a spectrum. We come across one radical / intolerant / unreasonable opinion and assume it is widespread and coming to get us. So we get defensive or aggressive for no reason.

O crime violento é uma decisão. A marginalização fabrica adultos assim dispostos.

Via de regra, o crime violento não surge de deficiência moral inata, mas de fabricação ambiental.

Me espanta que a política de segurança mais popular no Brasil seja punitivista, e não preventiva e restaurativa.

Thinking about presentism vs. eternalism & personal identity

If time does not pass, then our conscious states are stuck in time. Does this mean we will never experience the future?

My current view on personal identity is that we are not conscious states, but our brains, which undergo such states
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