What’s popping people, it’s Dante. Currently going for a walk here along Penn’s Landing, and it looks really beautiful. I knew this would happen—I always seem to come here at the right time. Check it out: there’s so much fog ahead, and I really want to run! Man, these conditions are always the most exciting thing to photograph.
The Perfect Conditions
The rain just stopped, and even the bridge looks cool. I don’t want to miss it. These moments are fleeting. It’s going to be exciting to shoot in black and white this time. A few years back, I did a POV session in color with my Fuji, but now I’ve got the Ricoh GR IIIx. Shooting high-contrast black and white, small JPEG files.
P mode.
Snap focus.
Infinity.
The rain stopped at the perfect time, so now I don’t even need my umbrella. I can actually use my GoPro Mini to film some behind-the-scenes action. Let’s go!
Making the Photos
Walking down the stairs, trying to capture the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, I can’t help but feel time slipping. The fog might disappear at any moment, and who knows how long it’ll last. But for now, the scene is incredible—birds in flight, reflections in the river, and trees that look otherworldly.
“These conditions elevate the mundane to another place, creating a new world in a fraction of a second.”
I shoot verticals, horizontals, and anything else that works. You’ve got to shoot more than you think you should. That’s the trick—just keep making photos.
A Lucky Shekel
As I keep walking, I stumble across something: a coin. A shekel. Can you believe it? It even has Hebrew on the back. This is wild because I’ve been thinking about going to Jerusalem since my last trip to Rome. Maybe I should throw this lucky shekel into the Delaware River as a promise to myself. If not this year, then next.
Encounters on the Walk
I ran into a tourist named Ron from Australia, taking selfies. I offered to make some photos of him, and as I was doing that, I caught a bird flying in the background—a moment created through interaction. He even took a photo of me in return, standing in this beautiful foggy scene.
Moments like these are what it’s all about. Photography isn’t just about making pictures; it’s about being present, connecting, and creating moments.
The End of the Year
This walk felt like a fitting close to 2024. I’ve spent the past two years building my foundation—working, thinking, writing, making videos. Now, it feels like the right time to step back and focus.
“It’s time for me to disappear into the fog, to go beyond the horizon and build.”
I’m not sure what’s on the other side, but I’ll find out. For now, I’ll leave you with this:
Happy pure bliss, perfect end. Onwards and upwards.
What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante. Currently walking along the intersection between order and chaos.
Exploring Along the Schuylkill River
Here I am, just exploring Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River. I just found this pretty cool bridge—never been up here before. Check it out. There’s a nice view here.
Maybe I can make a photo through the fence or something—it’s kind of cool. A frame within a frame. Actually, I think just photographing the regular view is better. Wow.
I’m using the Ricoh GR3X. I’ve been using it for the past couple of months straight. Is the train coming? Wait, no—I just heard something vibrating. Oh, it’s a plane.
Gaining Perspective
This view, just elevating my physical body to a higher vantage point, looking down at the river slowly turning to ice—it’s amazing. Some of it’s already frozen, actually. It reminded me how open this world is, how much there is to see, do, and explore.
When you zoom out from your physical body and look at yourself from the perspective of an eagle in flight, or a plane soaring overhead, you gain a new perspective on life.
Having a view of the horizon and standing at an elevated vantage point makes you feel powerful, joyful, and abundant. I want to go out and conquer each day in the spirit of play—exploring endlessly. I absolutely love wandering. To me, this is where I thrive.
“Freedom of movement, to me, is perhaps the ultimate freedom.”
Freedom Over Possessions
I think what I seek most is ultimate freedom. The ability to determine where I want to be, how I want to live, and how I want to spend my everyday life—that’s more important than material things, fame, or possessions.
Material things and fame? They’re distractions from what we’re truly designed to do: create instead of consume. At the end of the day, the thing I’m most grateful for in life is photography. Photography allows me to continuously move, wander, explore, and find new ways to look at life.
The Power of Photography
I’m super grateful for this ability to make photographs. Photography brings me joy. It’s liberating to shoot in this format—using small JPEG files with high contrast black and white.
This streamlined approach helps me make something aesthetically beautiful straight out of the camera. Wherever I am, I know I can create something beautiful, and that’s a beautiful thing.
“You just move your body, look at things, recognize their inherent beauty or interest, and then photograph it.”
A Mythic Childhood Memory
A fun fact—or maybe a fun myth. When I was a little boy, my brother and I sat at that exact boathouse. You know, the one where you can watch the regattas or boat races or whatever.
We were little boys, maybe four or five years old, sitting on those bleachers, eating McDonald’s. I believe it was the early 2000s, maybe 2000 or 2001. And then it happened.
We saw a whale.
Or was it a dolphin? My brother and I, sitting there, saw a giant creature—a whale or dolphin—literally going down the river.
“True story. A real myth, a real legend: the whale on the Schuylkill River.”
Debunking the Memory
Fast forward to today. I decided to revisit this memory. Could it be true? Did a whale really make its way to the Schuylkill River in the early 2000s? I turned to research, and here’s what I found:
In 2005, a beluga whale named Helles was spotted in both the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers.
It’s entirely possible that this is what I remember.
Dante: ”So there was a whale in the damn Schuylkill River. What are you talking about?”
ChatGPT: ”Yes, Helles. A beluga whale was indeed spotted.”
This isn’t fiction. It’s fact. My memory, vivid and photographic, captured a piece of Philadelphia’s aquatic history.
Revisiting the Scene
Today, as I walked along the bridge, I reflected on the power of memory and how it shapes us. Photography, to me, is about reliving these moments—capturing them again, even if just in my mind. The sights, the sounds, the smells. Everything leads back to the essence of being present.
I thought about fame and material things. They’re fleeting. Standing here, hearing the hum of the plane overhead, I zoomed out in my mind. Suddenly, I wasn’t just myself anymore. I was an eagle, soaring high above the city, above the river, looking down at the streets and the people.
From that height, nothing seemed permanent. Not the buildings, not the traffic, not even the memories I hold so tightly. But that’s the beauty of it. What matters isn’t holding onto things that vanish—it’s finding the moments that speak to something eternal.
“We’re all just passing through, like the echo of a plane overhead. But in those fleeting moments, we are everything.”
Helle is a figure from Greek mythology whose story is intertwined with the myth of the Golden Fleece. She is best known for her tragic fall into the sea, which later bore her name. Here’s an overview of her tale:
Family Background
Helle was the daughter of Athamas, a king of Boeotia, and Nephele, a cloud nymph created by Zeus.
She had a brother named Phrixus.
The Conflict
Athamas later married a mortal woman, Ino, who grew jealous of her stepchildren, Helle and Phrixus. She schemed to eliminate them so her own children could inherit the throne.
Ino sabotaged the kingdom’s crops and bribed messengers from the Oracle of Delphi to declare that a sacrifice of Phrixus was required to end the famine.
The Golden Ram
As Phrixus was about to be sacrificed, Nephele, their mother, sent a miraculous golden ram to rescue her children.
The ram had been a gift from the god Hermes, and it could fly. It carried Helle and Phrixus away from danger, soaring across the skies.
Helle’s Fall
During their escape, as they flew over a narrow strip of sea between Europe and Asia, Helle lost her grip and fell into the water.
She drowned in the strait, which was thereafter named the Hellespont (meaning “Sea of Helle”). This strait is now known as the Dardanelles.
Phrixus and the Golden Fleece
Phrixus continued the journey safely to Colchis, where he sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave its golden fleece to King Aeëtes. The fleece became the central object of Jason’s quest with the Argonauts.
Symbolism
Helle’s story symbolizes themes of innocence caught in the crossfire of jealousy and familial conflict.
Her fall and the naming of the Hellespont serve as a poignant reminder of human vulnerability amidst divine interventions.
Legacy
Helle’s tale is less celebrated than her brother’s, but it remains an integral part of the mythology surrounding the Golden Fleece and the Argonauts.
The Hellespont has retained its mythological significance and historical importance as a key maritime passage.
Helle’s story is both tragic and enduring, representing the fragility of life in the face of divine and mortal forces.
Was a whale named after her that was spotted in the schuylkill river in 2005?
Yes, the beluga whale spotted in the Schuylkill River in 2005 was named Helles, which is likely a nod to Helle from Greek mythology. The choice of this name could symbolize the whale’s unexpected and almost mythical journey into unfamiliar waters, much like Helle’s dramatic fall into the Hellespont.
This connection between the whale and the myth adds an intriguing layer to its story, blending nature, mythology, and local history. It’s a poetic choice for such a rare and memorable event.
I eat the most nutrient dense foods. Just eat meat and eggs until satiation, and you won’t feel hungry the next day.
Succumbing to hunger in the day feels like weakness to me. When people always complain about being hungry I find it amusing. What are you a little kid?
Life is physical. Before I do anything in my day, I make sure to stretch my body through simple yoga poses, doing three sets per each pose. I think it’s best to focus on mobility before even leaving your home, and especially focusing on the legs, as this is what drives you out there into the world and moves your body. The power starts from the ground up, from your feet to your legs, and up your spine through your posture.
Why?
I stretch to feel good. When I stretch my body, my legs, my back, I feel blissful. Once you’re done with the routine, there’s a sense of lightness and calm.
I stretch to prevent injuries and to fortify my body.
Stretching is not just about preparation—it’s about maintaining a connection with your body and ensuring it can handle whatever the day throws at you.
Your Body Is the Vehicle
I like to think of the body as a vehicle, as it is ultimately what drives you.
Think of a car and the maintenance involved: oil changes, lubrication, pumping air into the tires, etc. Before you go on a long trip and hit the highway, wouldn’t you wanna make sure that your tires have pressure, and that everything is in tiptop shape?
Why Weightlifters Must Stretch
I noticed that if I do not practice any sort of yoga before I do my weightlifting, I feel 10 times worse and have less range of motion with my movements. Stretching out my legs, my arms, my back, and my full body, for at least 10 minutes provides my body the chance to warm up.
I think maybe we overlook warming up, setting your body up for success before doing anything.
Even if you don’t do any weightlifting in the day, just doing simple stretching or yoga can go a long way.
If you’re not feeling up to it, just prepare your body for the following day.
Personally, I make sure to stretch in the morning and before I go to bed. Anytime I go to do my weightlifting, I do a quick set of stretches. So honestly, I’m stretching about three times per day.
I think this is the secret to longevity, and not becoming burnt out through weightlifting every single day.
I think it’s possible to lift every day and to walk all day, but you just gotta make sure you take care of your body first.
The Dhammapada is one of the most significant texts in Buddhist literature. This ancient collection of verses encapsulates the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, offering profound wisdom on ethical conduct, mindfulness, and the path to liberation. In this post, we’ll explore the structure, key themes, and core lessons found in the Dhammapada.
Structure of the Dhammapada
The Dhammapada, part of the Pali Canon, is organized into 26 chapters with 423 verses. These verses are poetic in nature and are intended to guide practitioners on the path to enlightenment. Each chapter centers around specific themes, such as mindfulness, anger, happiness, and the nature of the self.
Key Chapters and Their Focus
The Twin Verses (Yamaka Vagga): Introduces the idea of how thoughts shape reality.
Vigilance (Appamada Vagga): Stresses the importance of mindfulness and diligence in practice.
The Mind (Citta Vagga): Highlights the restless and trainable nature of the mind.
The Wise (Pandita Vagga): Focuses on wisdom and the qualities of a true sage.
The Path (Magga Vagga): Details the Noble Eightfold Path as the way to liberation.
Core Teachings and Themes
1. The Power of Thought
The opening verses of the Dhammapada emphasize the role of the mind in shaping our experiences:
“Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.”
Conversely:
“If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.”
These verses stress that our thoughts and intentions create the foundation for our actions and their consequences.
2. Vigilance and Mindfulness
The Dhammapada emphasizes the importance of living with awareness.
“The heedful are awake, ever vigilant. The heedless are dead, as if they were asleep.”
This calls attention to the need for constant mindfulness in every action and thought. Without vigilance, one drifts into ignorance and suffering.
3. Overcoming Anger and Hatred
The Buddha’s teachings encourage cultivating patience and forgiveness:
“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”
This timeless wisdom reminds us to break the cycle of anger by responding with compassion and understanding, a cornerstone of Buddhist practice.
4. The Nature of Happiness
True happiness, according to the Dhammapada, arises not from material possessions but from inner contentment:
“Happiness is having no sickness, contentment is the greatest wealth, and trust is the best relationship.”
The text challenges readers to find joy in simplicity and freedom from attachment.
5. The Path to Liberation
The Dhammapada repeatedly emphasizes the Noble Eightfold Path as the way to enlightenment. This path consists of:
Right View
Right Intention
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
The Buddha teaches that following this path leads to the cessation of suffering and ultimate liberation.
Lessons for Modern Readers
The Dhammapada remains profoundly relevant today. Its teachings on mindfulness, ethical conduct, and inner peace can help individuals navigate the complexities of modern life. By focusing on cultivating a pure mind, practicing kindness, and walking the path of awareness, one can transcend suffering and find lasting fulfillment.
Conclusion
The Dhammapada is not just a text but a guide to living a meaningful life. It inspires readers to turn inward, take responsibility for their actions, and strive for enlightenment. Whether you are new to Buddhism or well-versed in its philosophy, the Dhammapada offers timeless insights into the human condition.
Welcome back to the exploration of wisdom, imagination, and transformation. In this session, we delve into the interplay between ritual and wisdom, examining how rituals cultivate intelligence, enhance our connection with the world, and lead us toward deeper meaning. By understanding the imaginal through both horizontal and vertical dimensions, we unlock tools for living a wise and fulfilled life.
The Imaginal: Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions
The imaginal realm, as explored by thinkers like Corbin, operates on two planes:
Vertical alignment: Integrating all forms of knowing—propositional, procedural, perspectival, and participatory—into a coherent whole.
Horizontal transformation: Bridging the gap between the present self and a future, aspirational self.
The coordination of these dimensions is central to the development of wisdom. This process calls for intentional practices that weave reflection and immersion together in transformative ways.
The Wanton vs. Reflective Individual: Striking a Balance
Drawing on Velleman’s The Way of the Wanton, we encounter a critical challenge:
The wanton acts impulsively, driven by desires without reflection, losing agency.
The overly reflective individual, akin to Hamlet, becomes trapped in perpetual hesitation, disconnected from the world.
Wisdom lies in balancing these extremes, achieving what Velleman refers to as a state of flow. This flow state combines immersion with creative adaptability, fostering a dynamic relationship with the environment.
Flow State and Serious Play
The flow state, as described by Csikszentmihalyi, is a profound experience where effort and grace intertwine. It is characterized by:
Clear feedback loops.
High demand on skills and engagement.
A cascade of insights, or “aha” moments.
Through serious play, individuals access this state, achieving transformation and deeper connectedness with their environment. Activities like rock climbing, jazz improvisation, or martial arts exemplify this optimal experience.
The Role of Ritual in Wisdom
Rituals, as argued by Jennings in On Ritual Knowledge (1982), offer a unique form of knowing that extends beyond the ritual itself. They teach not only how to act within the ritual but also how to conduct oneself in life. Effective rituals enable:
Transferable insight: Behaviors and attitudes learned in the ritual context apply to broader life situations.
Decentering: Shifting perspective away from self-centered viewpoints, akin to the “Solomon effect.”
Participatory knowing: Engaging deeply with the patterns and forces of the world.
Rituals as Non-Propositional Masterpieces
Anthropologists Williams and Boyd (1992) emphasize that rituals are not merely tools for transformation but are often seen as non-propositional masterpieces. They argue:
Rituals evolve over time, balancing tradition and innovation.
The agent is shaped to align with the “work of art” that is the ritual.
This interplay between repetition and selective innovation fosters a dynamic religio—our sense of connectedness to the world.
Ritual, Ratio, and Religio
Kevin Schilbrack’s work in Ritual Metaphysics highlights the inherent normativity of rituals. Effective rituals:
Transfer insights broadly across contexts and deeply within levels of knowing.
Enhance non-propositional intelligibility, revealing aspects of reality inaccessible through other means.
Cultivate reciprocal opening, counteracting the narrowing effects of parasitic processing.
Wisdom Through Ritual Practices
At their best, rituals create a positive causal network—a dynamic system that fosters well-being by reciprocally enhancing:
Inner peace and self-coherence.
Deep contact with reality.
Transformation and flourishing.
Such rituals lead to falling in love with reality itself, aligning personal and collective growth with the pursuit of wisdom.
What rituals do you practice to enhance your wisdom and well-being? By integrating ratio, religio, and ritual into daily life, we open pathways to a deeper understanding and a life well-lived.
Welcome back to our lecture series on intelligence, rationality, wisdom, and spirituality. Today, we will wrap up our discussion on rationality and delve into wisdom and spirituality. As we’ve explored, discussions on intelligence and rationality naturally lead to reflections on wisdom and spirituality.
The Second Rationality Debate
The second rationality debate builds on the conclusion of the first: rationality is bounded. However, the debate splits into two perspectives:
Top-Down Optimization: Assumes a constant speed-accuracy trade-off and focuses on formal procedures for optimization.
Ecological Rationality: Rejects the constancy assumption and emphasizes heuristics tailored to specific contexts.
A Concrete Example: Locating the Home of a Serial Killer
Two methods highlight this debate:
Centroid Method: Trace the locations of crimes to find a central point. This heuristic is simple and traditionally used by humans.
Probability Method: Uses an exponential decay function and complex math to estimate the probability of the offender’s home location.
While the probability method is formally optimal, it performs worse than the centroid method when the number of crimes drops below nine. This challenges the idea of a constant speed-accuracy trade-off and highlights the contextual dependency of rational strategies.
The Underdetermination Problem
The underdetermination problem, rooted in philosophy of science (Reichenbach, Quine, Laudan), states that:
For any finite set of data, there are infinitely many logically consistent explanations.
This forces us to rely on non-logical criteria to choose between theories, such as simplicity (Occam’s Razor). However, simplicity faces the bias-variance dilemma:
Bias: Underfitting data by oversimplifying.
Variance: Overfitting data by incorporating noise.
Finding balance is crucial but inherently involves trade-offs.
Disruptive Strategies in Artificial Intelligence
In training artificial general intelligence (AGI), non-inferential disruptive strategies are essential to combat overfitting:
Dropout: Disables random nodes in a neural network to prevent overfitting.
Noise Injection: Adds randomness to disrupt overfitting.
Humans employ similar strategies:
Moderate Distraction: Helps in solving insight problems.
Dreaming and Psychedelics: Disrupt overfitting in the brain’s cognitive models.
These strategies rely on the system’s ability to self-organize and reconnect—a dynamic described as frame-breaking and frame-making.
Rationality for Small and Large Worlds
The second rationality debate also distinguishes between:
Small Worlds: Well-defined problems with known risks.
Large Worlds: Ill-defined problems with inherent uncertainty.
In large worlds, abduction (proposed by Charles Sanders Peirce) becomes central:
Abduction is the process of generating a fundamental insight to frame an ill-defined situation, enabling further reasoning and decision-making.
This contrasts with deduction and induction, which rely on established frameworks.
Proleptic Rationality: Rational Aspiration
Laurie Paul’s concept of transformative experiences highlights decisions requiring perspectival and participatory transformations, such as becoming a parent or entering a long-term relationship. These decisions involve serious play:
Imaginal Practices: Use imagination to enhance perception and participation.
Rituals: Facilitate procedural, perspectival, and participatory transformation.
Examples include Stoic practices like the “view from above,” which shifts perspective to foster rationality and wisdom.
Rationality and Serious Play
Imaginal practices and serious play are essential for rational transformation. Activities like Tai Chi Chuan or guided meditations enhance awareness, integrate mind and body, and cultivate wisdom. These rituals are not merely neurotic repetitions but profound engagements with transformative processes.
As we continue this series, we will explore how these practices and principles culminate in wisdom and spirituality. Stay tuned for our next discussion as we delve deeper into these profound connections.
Understanding the Tension of Rationality and Human Error
Human beings are inherently irrational—or so experimental research often suggests. This raises a profound question: If we are so prone to errors in reasoning, where do we derive our standards of rationality? Philosopher Jonathan Cohen, in a seminal 1981 article, argued that these standards must come from within us, yet this creates a paradox. How can a species riddled with errors set such high benchmarks for logic, mathematics, and probability?
The Euthyphro Paradox and the Source of Norms
The philosopher Plato addressed similar concerns in the Euthyphro Paradox:
“Is something good because God says it’s good, or does God say it because it is good?”
If rationality comes from an external source, it risks being arbitrary. True rationality must be participatory—something we actively engage with and internalize. Cohen’s insight that humans are the source of rational norms is crucial. However, it leads to a deeper question: If we set the standards, why do we frequently fall short?
Competence vs. Performance Errors
Cohen’s distinction between competence (our inherent capability) and performance (our execution under various circumstances) provides a potential answer. For example:
A drunk person’s slurred speech represents a performance error; their competence in language remains intact.
Conversely, brain damage may represent a competence error, affecting the underlying ability itself.
This distinction clarifies that many human errors arise not from flawed competence but from circumstantial interference in performance.
However, later research by Stanovich and West (2000) challenged this view. They introduced the concept of systematicity in errors, demonstrating that the mistakes people make in reasoning tasks are often consistent across contexts. This indicates that errors may arise from competence itself rather than mere performance issues.
Rationality Beyond Logicality
A critical insight emerges: rationality is not equivalent to logicality. While logical reasoning is essential, human rationality encompasses far more:
Logicality is the manipulation of propositions according to strict rules.
Rationality, derived from the Latin ratio (proper proportion), involves balancing multiple cognitive processes, including relevance realization and perspective-taking.
Stanovich further argued that intelligence is necessary but not sufficient for rationality. People can be highly intelligent yet profoundly irrational. Rationality, therefore, involves a unique cognitive style that goes beyond mere intellectual capacity.
Active Open-Mindedness as a Cognitive Style
To cultivate rationality, Stanovich emphasized the importance of active open-mindedness, which involves:
Recognizing cognitive biases.
Training oneself to counteract biases.
Engaging in dialogue with humility and good faith.
This aligns with practices like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Stoicism, which teach individuals to reflect on their thought processes and develop habits that mitigate self-deception.
“Active open-mindedness is not just about thinking differently; it is about participating in a way of knowing that challenges self-deception and fosters growth.”
Rationality in an Ecological Context
Stanovich’s model of rationality, while groundbreaking, has limitations. It primarily focuses on the individual and neglects the role of the environment in shaping rational behavior. This leads to the concept of ecological rationality, which emphasizes:
The interplay between computational limitations and environmental constraints.
The importance of dynamic, context-sensitive reasoning.
For example, in real-world scenarios, heuristics often outperform formal optimization strategies due to their adaptability to uncertain and changing environments.
Toward an Ecology of Practices
To develop rationality, individuals must engage in an ecology of practices that balance different modes of cognition. This includes:
Mindfulness practices to reduce interference from inferential machinery.
Active open-mindedness to enhance self-awareness and bias correction.
Dynamic practices like Tai Chi or contemplation to foster cognitive flexibility.
These practices cultivate a proper proportioning of attention, aligning with the deeper meaning of ratio—not merely logic, but balance and harmony.
Rationality, Technology, and the Future
As artificial intelligence advances, the distinction between intelligence and rationality becomes increasingly urgent. We face a choice:
Silicon Monsters: Machines that are highly intelligent but prone to self-deception.
Silicon Sages: Machines that embody rationality and wisdom.
“Our moral obligation is to become wiser and more rational—not only to guide emerging technologies but to serve as templates for their development.”
By cultivating rationality and wisdom within ourselves, we ensure that future technologies enhance, rather than endanger, human flourishing.
Conclusion
Rationality is not a fixed trait but a dynamic process of self-correction, proper proportioning, and participation. It is deeply tied to our environments, our practices, and our aspirations for transcendence. As we strive to become more rational, we not only improve our individual lives but also shape the collective future of humanity.
Welcome back. This journey continues as we explore the intersections of intelligence, relevance realization, predictive processing, generative modeling, and religio—the sense of connectedness that forms the foundation of meaningful experiences. In our last discussion, we integrated relevance realization with predictive processing, a concept detailed in a 2022 paper I co-authored with Brett Anderson, Mark Miller, and John Vervaeke.
Today, we delve deeper into meaning in life and the dual dimensions of religio—horizontal and vertical alignment—while addressing how religio can also predispose us to self-deceptive, self-destructive behaviors.
Horizontal and Vertical Religio
Religio embodies two interconnected dimensions:
Horizontal Religio: The connection between agent and arena, such as our interaction with affordances in the environment.
Vertical Religio: The alignment of propositional, procedural, perspectival, and participatory knowing, interwoven into a cohesive framework.
When horizontal and vertical religio mutually afford and reinforce each other, they create a profound sense of connectedness—a grounded and meaningful existence.
Dimensions of Meaning in Life
Cognitive science identifies three primary dimensions contributing to a sense of meaning:
Coherence: The environment’s ability to make sense and hang together meaningfully.
Purpose: The organization of goals into a structured hierarchy that supports overarching objectives.
Significance: The depth of connection and the sense of realness, grounded in an inexhaustible, intelligible reality.
Interestingly, coherence and purpose are often emphasized, but recent studies, including those by Costin and Vignolis (2019), show that mattering—being connected to something real and valuable beyond oneself—plays the most critical role in creating meaning in life.
The Shift from Self to Other
The idea of mattering involves reversing the relevance arrow: rather than asking how the world is relevant to us, we explore how we are relevant to the world. This shift is vital in cultivating connections that transcend egocentric preferences.
The Threat of Bias
Despite religio’s potential to create profound meaning, it also opens the door to biases and distortions. These cognitive shortcuts, or heuristics, are essential for avoiding combinatorial explosion but can lead to:
Confirmation Bias: Seeking evidence that supports existing beliefs while ignoring disconfirming data.
Framing Effects: How information presentation impacts decision-making, even when the data remains logically identical.
Belief Perseverance: Persisting in beliefs even after the evidence supporting them has been debunked.
These biases often operate within a self-organizing, recursive framework, reinforcing themselves in patterns known as parasitic processing—a process where distortions take on a life of their own, narrowing cognitive flexibility and problem-solving abilities.
Addressing Bias with Meta-Perspectival Practices
Addressing biases and foolishness requires interventions that go beyond one-shot solutions. A complex ecology of practices—dynamic, recursive, and multi-leveled—can effectively disrupt these self-reinforcing loops.
Dialogical reasoning, where perspectives are shared and integrated, has proven effective. For example, in the Wason Selection Task, reasoning accuracy improved dramatically when participants engaged in collaborative dialogue rather than individual problem-solving.
Love, Mattering, and Meaning
Philosophers like Iris Murdoch and Susan Wolf provide insights into the connection between love and meaning:
Murdoch describes love as the acknowledgment of something real beyond oneself, fostering reciprocal opening and self-transcendence.
Wolf emphasizes that meaning involves being connected to something larger than oneself, something real and valuable beyond ego-centric concerns.
This agapic love, a creative force, turns the relevance arrow outward, cultivating connections that enrich life’s depth and significance.
Conclusion
Religio holds the dual potential to ground us in profound meaning and to lead us into biases and distortions. By fostering an ecology of practices and embracing dialogical reasoning, we can transcend these limitations and deepen our connections to reality. Love, mattering, and an openness to reciprocal transformation become the bedrock of a life well-lived.
In our next discussion, we will explore how rituals and collective practices enhance rationality and meaning, challenging the notion of reasoning as a solitary, monologic endeavor.
Stay tuned as we continue this exploration of meaning, bias, and the pursuit of wisdom.
Welcome back. In this post, we explore the foundational challenges of intelligence, focusing on the meta-problem of relevance realization and how it connects to predictive processing. This journey takes us through biology, cognition, and the deep principles that link life and mind.
The Deep Continuity Hypothesis
The deep continuity hypothesis, proposed by Evan Thompson, suggests a profound connection between the principles governing biology and cognition. It posits that:
Cognition operates similarly to biological processes.
Intelligence arises from being a living organism, even though not all living things are intelligent.
A key feature of life—and by extension cognition—is evolution. Organisms evolve by reproducing, adapting, and surviving through a dynamic system of feedback loops.
Causes and Constraints: A Crucial Distinction
Alicia Juarrero’s Dynamics in Action introduces a vital distinction:
Causes: Events that change what happens (e.g., pushing an object to make it move).
Constraints: Conditions that change what is possible (e.g., the object’s shape, a flat surface).
In Darwinian theory, these principles manifest as:
Enabling Constraints: Variations that open up possibilities.
Selective Constraints: Scarcity that limits possibilities.
Together, these constraints create a self-organizing system—a virtual engine of evolution that cycles between variation and selection.
The Sensorimotor Loop and Opponent Processing
Cognition mirrors evolution through the sensorimotor loop:
Sensory input guides movement, which in turn affects sensory input.
This loop continuously evolves, toggling between opposites like exploration and exploitation, foregrounding and backgrounding, and gestalt (whole) and featural (parts) processing.
This dynamic is called opponent processing—two opposing systems working in an integrated way to maintain adaptive balance.
Example
To read the phrase “The Cat”, your mind toggles between:
Identifying individual letters (features).
Recognizing the whole word (gestalt).
This continuous toggling integrates both perspectives, enabling understanding.
Relevance Realization: The Core of Intelligence
The key to intelligence lies in relevance realization—the ability to identify what matters in any given moment. This process is:
Dynamic: Constantly evolving in response to changing environments.
Self-organizing: Arising from feedback loops without a central controller.
Multidimensional: Balancing competing priorities through opponent processing.
By linking relevance realization with predictive processing, we see how cognition anticipates and adapts to the world. It involves:
Compression: Generalizing patterns to apply knowledge broadly.
Discrimination: Identifying specific details that matter in context.
Together, these processes guide attention, decision-making, and learning.
Predictive Processing and Anticipation
The predictive processing framework offers a powerful model of anticipation:
Predict yourself, not the world: Focus on internal patterns rather than the overwhelming complexity of the environment.
Prepare through prediction: Use predictions to complete patterns and adapt proactively.
This framework explains how the brain integrates sensory input (bottom-up) with imaginative models (top-down), achieving a balance between generalization and specificity.
Religio: The Binding Force of Intelligence
To capture the dynamic, self-organizing nature of cognition, we use the term religio (from Latin, meaning “to bind together”). It represents:
The evolving “optimal grip” on reality.
The deep connection between mind, body, and environment.
The integration of relevance realization and predictive processing.
Religio is the nexus of intelligence, linking biology, cognition, and meaning in a constant process of adaptation and anticipation.
Conclusion
General intelligence is not static or algorithmic—it is a dynamic, self-organizing process of relevance realization and predictive processing. By embracing the principles of religio, we see intelligence as deeply connected to life itself.
Next time, we will delve deeper into the relationship between meaning, rationality, and wisdom.
This lecture explores the core dimensions of intelligence, rationality, wisdom, and spirituality, which collectively form the foundation of cognitive agency. These dimensions define what it means to be a self-directed knower and actor, central to the concept of personhood.
Key Definitions
Agent: An entity capable of determining the consequences of its behavior and altering it to achieve a goal.
Cognitive Agent: A self-directed knower and actor who adapts their behavior to achieve goals in response to meaning.
“A person is a cognitive agent expected to act in an intelligent, rational, and virtuous manner.”
The Core Four: Intelligence, Rationality, Wisdom, Spirituality
1. Intelligence
Intelligence refers to the general capacity to solve problems across a wide variety of domains.
Spearman’s Positive Manifold: Performance in one domain predicts performance in others, highlighting general intelligence (G) as an underlying ability.
Intelligence is meta-problem solving, addressing the shared components across various problems.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Current AI systems lack the adaptability of human intelligence.
AGI aspires to replicate human-like general problem-solving abilities but remains limited.
“You are an actual, not an artificial, general problem solver.”
Problem-Solving Framework by Newell and Simon
Components of a Problem:
Initial State: The starting condition.
Goal State: The desired outcome.
Operations: Actions that transition from the initial to goal state.
Path Constraints: Conditions ensuring solutions don’t cause greater problems.
Heuristics vs. Algorithms:
Algorithm: Guaranteed problem-solving method (e.g., counting people in a room).
Heuristic: Guides problem-solving with increased chances of success but no guarantee (e.g., controlling the center in chess).
No Free Lunch Theorem: Every heuristic enhances performance in some areas but degrades it in others.
2. Rationality
Rationality is distinct from intelligence and is not merely about being mathematical or logical.
Goldilocks Zone: Adaptive intelligence lies between exhaustive algorithmic processing and random guessing.
Rationality involves relevance realization, focusing on what’s relevant while ignoring extraneous information.
“Rationality can’t mean being comprehensively mathematical and logical, nor can it mean ignoring logic altogether.”
3. Wisdom
Wisdom integrates intelligence and rationality, focusing on self-regulation, understanding, and virtuous behavior.
Wisdom requires problem framing, the ability to:
Identify and adjust mental framing.
Use failures as learning opportunities to improve insight.
Humility: A critical virtue for fostering wisdom, enabling openness to failure and flexibility in thinking.
“Wisdom is not optional. You either pursue it explicitly or haphazardly.”
4. Spirituality
Increasingly embraced by those identifying as “spiritual but not religious.”
Spirituality relates to meaning and morality, connecting deeply with wisdom and rationality.
Questions explored:
What does spirituality mean in a scientific, technological age?
How is spirituality distinct from, yet connected to, religion and intelligence?
Relevance Realization: The Meta Problem of Intelligence
Key Concept
Relevance Realization: The ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring the irrelevant. It underpins categorization, reasoning, and adaptive problem-solving.
The Frame Problem
Highlighted through the example of a robot tasked with retrieving a battery:
Determining unintended side effects is computationally explosive.
Humans intuitively frame problems to focus on relevance, something machines struggle to replicate.
“You find things obvious because your brain generates relevance. How would you give a machine the ability to find things obvious?”
Insight and Problem Framing
Experiment: Mutilated Chessboard:
Framing the problem as a parity issue rather than a covering issue drastically reduces complexity.
Notice Invariants Heuristic:
Pay attention to what’s consistent across failed attempts and adjust framing accordingly.
The Role of Categorization and Chunking
Categorization:
Begins with pre-categorical grouping, followed by noticing shared relevant properties.
Relevance realization enables grouping and noticing.
“Similarity is not about logical identity but about psychologically relevant properties.”
Chunking:
A process in working memory that groups related items for efficient processing.
Highlights the role of relevance realization in memory and problem-solving.
Representations, Rules, and Reasoning
Representations (e.g., words, images) presuppose relevance realization to determine what aspects are salient.
Rules:
Require relevance for application. They do not specify their own conditions of use.
Reasoning:
Involves selecting relevant implications from a vast set of logical possibilities.
Closing Thoughts
Relevance realization is primordial, foundational to intelligence and cognitive agency.
Artificial intelligence faces significant challenges in replicating this meta-problem.
Understanding relevance realization provides profound insights into human cognition and problem-solving.
“How do humans reliably zero in on the relevant in a world of overwhelming possibilities? That is the central mystery of cognitive agency.”
In street photography—and photography in general—I think it’s important to learn the rules first. You’ve got to start with the basics:
Learning how to operate a camera manually.
Photographing with intention.
Understanding rules of composition, like the rule of thirds, leading lines, form and shape, and geometry.
Learning how to create layers: foreground, middle ground, and background.
It’s all about timing, storytelling, and creating photographs that are visually coherent and emotionally impactful. It’s not easy. It takes time to make photographs that really work.
“It is difficult to make photographs that are both visually coherent and emotionally impactful. But that’s where the mastery begins.”
Discipline Is Key
Mastering the art of photography requires discipline. You’ve got to go out every day, stay focused, and keep pushing yourself to improve. For me, this journey started early. I learned using film cameras like the Nikon FM and Leica M3. I started with landscapes and moved into street photography, honing my craft through the tradition of photography.
I transitioned to digital cameras—shooting with the Ricoh GR and Fujifilm X-Pro—and spent seven to eight years hammering away at making good photographs. I treated that time as a way to refine my skills and develop my eye.
It wasn’t about luck; it was about intention.
A Practical Approach for Beginners
If you’re starting out, here’s what I’d recommend:
Stick to one camera and one lens.
Decide whether you want to shoot in color or black-and-white.
Use a flash or don’t—make a choice and commit to it.
Pick between film or digital (I recommend digital for the faster feedback and lower cost).
“When you flip-flop back and forth with your approach, it stunts your growth.”
Consistency is the path to greatness. Get the basics out of the way so you can focus on making photographs.
Breaking the Rules
Once you’ve built a strong foundation, you can start breaking the rules. For me, this is where the real fun begins. I feel liberated now, free to tinker and experiment. I’ve moved past being bound by the traditional rules of composition and focus more on creating my own game.
“Once you learn the rules, you earn the permission to break them.”
Experimentation and Discipline
In the first year of photography, I think it’s important to experiment:
Try color and black-and-white.
Play with different focal lengths.
Test out different cameras and approaches.
But after that, discipline becomes crucial. Learn the tradition. Master the craft. After a few years, start breaking the rules and creating your own style.
Photography isn’t about quick results or instant gratification. It’s a long-term process. You have to detach from fast dopamine hits and embrace the time it takes to create something meaningful.
An Autotelic Process
To truly grow as a photographer, approach the craft in an autotelic way—create for the sake of creating.
“Make photographs to make photographs. Enjoy the process along the way, detached from the outcome.”
This mindset has allowed me to build a body of work over time. I’ve learned not to tie myself to the results but to focus on showing up every day and putting in the work.
Final Thoughts
Learn the rules. Break the rules. Stay disciplined. Experiment. Photography is a journey, and the process itself is where the magic happens. Keep going out there, enjoy the craft, and stay focused.
Maybe something in this post will benefit you. If it does, great. If not, that’s cool too. Just sharing some random thoughts this morning.
