I. Philosophy has lost much of its energy, focus, and glamor in our modern era. What happened? I’d suggest that five things went wrong: 1. Historical illegibility. Historically, ‘philosophy’ is what you do when you don’t know what to do. […]
Year: 2017
Against functionalism: why I think the Foundational Research Institute should rethink its approach
The following is my considered evaluation of the Foundational Research Institute, circa July 2017. I discuss its goal, where I foresee things going wrong with how it defines suffering, and what it could do to avoid these problems. TL;DR version: […]
Taking ‘brain waves’ seriously: Neuroacoustics
Our research collective has been doing a lot of work touching on brain dynamics, resonance, and symmetry: see here and here (video). Increasingly, a new implicit working ontology I’m calling ‘Neuroacoustics’ is taking shape. This is a quick outline of that new […]
Why we seek out pleasure: the Symmetry Theory of Homeostatic Regulation
Why do we seek out pleasure- what Freud called the “pleasure principle“? More accurately: why do we seem to seek out pleasure most of the time, but occasionally seem indifferent to it or even averse to it, e.g. in conditions such […]
Symmetry Theory of Valence “Explain Like I’m 5” edition
When someone on Reddit says “ELI5”, it means “I’m having a hard time understanding this, could you explain it to me like I’m 5 years old?” Here’s my attempt at an “ELI5” for the Symmetry Theory of Valence (Part II […]