[FRIAM] natalism

[Steve Smith]

Glen -

I think I agree with this spirit...  and the invocation of a 
high-dimensional (but finitely so) landscape is not only the constraints 
we live in, but in some sense the ones we *choose* to live in?   I think 
excess/sloppy meaning might be another term for a local/temporary 
increase (or exchange) of dimensionality, effectively lowering the 
thresholds between basins?

In anthropological terms I think we are in "shaman" territory (the 
perspective/insight to selectively shift the dimensions around for the 
group as-needed)?  Also maybe the point of psychedelic/entheogenic 
substances?  We are reading Pollan's "How to Change your Mind" at the 
moment.


> Well, *if* one is constrained to inhabiting attractors to begin with, 
> then a mechanism for hopping between attractors is a "good thing". But 
> I'd argue that this is a mere band-aide, treating the symptom rather 
> than the cause. The real disorder is the tendency to inhabit 
> attractors ... or perhaps the intensity with which one gets trapped in 
> such ruts. There seems to be a tyranny of specialization ... 
> "siloization". If I have any hope for LLMs, it's to remove the burden 
> of depth and free us up for more breadth ... or at least those of us 
> wealthy enough to use LLMs. Let them eat cake.
>
> On 10/9/23 10:52, Steve Smith wrote:
>> It feels as if the very "excess meaning" (or sloppy meaning?) you 
>> ?disparage? in cognitive metaphor is, in fact, what makes them so 
>> "powerful". To the extent the point of "powerful speech" or "powerful 
>> thoughts" might be to jump over the threshold/saddle from one 
>> attractor to another, this makes sense (for better and worse)...
>