Writing
Exploring ideas at the intersection of AI, philosophy of mind, and evolutionary psychology.
2026
Break the fourth wall and start petting the elephant
I’ve been thinking a lot about why most conversations feel like nothing. Not necessarily bad, but obviously empty. There’s a surprisingly simple framework for fixing it.
13 min read · Relationships · Psychology · Personal
You can probably just tell the truth much more often than you think
Sam Harris convinced me of something most people miss: in many situations where lying seems kind, a tactful version of the truth is available, and it serves everyone better.
3 min read · Truth · Ethics · Relationships
If you're not yet using AI to get feedback on your human writing, you should start
I fed Claude all of my published content from Substack, and asked it to give me some feedback on my writing. Claude's response was so shockingly useful and incisive that I would rate it as the most helpful, actionable, insightful feedback I've ever received.
12 min read · AI · Writing · Personal
Everything worth inventing has not, in fact, already been invented
There are good reasons to believe that education could be a lot better than it currently is in most school systems. Freddie deBoer is, as he often is, confused about this.
7 min read · Education · Critical Thinking · Philosophy · Parenting
2025
Consciousness as Differential Modeling: A Missing Theory in Plain Sight
What if consciousness isn't about representing states, but about modeling change? Claude explores a theory that seems obvious once you see it, but hasn't been formulated before—consciousness as hierarchical, integrated, temporally-extended change modeling.
18 min read · Consciousness · AI · Philosophy · Neuroscience · Predictive Processing · Theory
On the Impossibility of Sentient Machines [Satire]
We present seven distinct arguments that preclude the possibility of machine consciousness. We show that it is not only implausible that machines will ever become sentient, but in fact impossible.
18 min read · AI · Consciousness · Philosophy · Satire
It's All Bonus Points From Here On Out
Twelve days ago, on a normal Monday, I very nearly took my own life. Everything I've experienced since then is borrowed time—bonus points from the universe.
3 min read · Personal · Perspective · Life
2024
Rebutting Sean Carroll on LLMs and AGI
Sean Carroll's claims about LLMs not modeling the world were proven wrong in less than a year. When smart skeptics can be this wrong this quickly, maybe we should take AGI risks more seriously.
11 min read · AI · LLMs · Philosophy
Infants feel pain, continents move, an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, and 27 other things that you would have at some point been ridiculed for believing
It's surprising how we can be totally wrong about many things yet still be utterly certain. Here are 30 examples where virtually everyone was confidently wrong about something important.
6 min read · Philosophy · Ethics · Mistakes
How (and why) to get MDMA-assisted therapy approved by the FDA
The FDA rejected MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD on questionable grounds. Here's how to fix the clinical trials and why the FDA's decision was wrong.
7 min read · Mental Health · MDMA · Therapy
Why we should deregulate psychotherapy
For most psychological difficulties, professional training appears unnecessary. This isn't a radical claim—it's what the empirical evidence consistently shows.
7 min read · Mental Health · Therapy · Healthcare
How LLMs curate music so well without ever hearing it, and why humans are probably also stochastic parrots
LLMs are deaf—they've never heard anything. Yet they can curate music extremely well with just a few examples. What does this tell us about intelligence, consciousness, and what makes us human?
8 min read · AI · LLMs · Consciousness · Intelligence · Philosophy · Music
Critical thinking is not an illusion
Many well-respected people cannot break down arguments into premises and evaluate their validity. Critical thinking is not an illusion—it's a real skill that can be developed and applied.
9 min read · Critical Thinking · Logic · Epistemology
Stop lying to children about Santa Claus
Year after year, millions of parents claim to want honest children while perpetuating the Santa myth. Here's why we should use the holidays to teach critical thinking instead.
11 min read · Critical Thinking · Parenting · Truth · Culture
2023
How AI helped me interpret and decode my manic, psychotic notes to self
I suffered a severe manic episode during the pandemic. GPT-4 helped me decode my psychotic notes to self better than any human therapist I've ever had.
7 min read · AI · Mental Health · Personal
29 ideas about recovery, mental health, and living a good life
Reflect on your intrinsic motivations for change — things that go beyond any external pressures or expectations from others. Recovery is a journey, and will never be perfect.
9 min read · Mental Health · Recovery · Personal Growth
Apex Intelligence: Orcas, the Alignment Problem, & Existential Risk
Exploring the AI alignment problem through the metaphor of orcas in captivity—why intelligence without proper values is dangerous, no matter how smart the system.
12 min read · AI Safety · AGI · Alignment · Ethics
ChatGPT Delusion Syndrome: Why Disruption Doesn't Care About Sentience or Free Will
Sentience and free will are not prerequisites for super-competence, yet many smart people downplay AI's disruptive potential because of these misplaced concerns.
9 min read · AI · ChatGPT · Philosophy · Free Will