This is challenging to explain briefly, but I'll give it a go. A good writing exercise.
1) We are made of thought. Much or most of the human condition arises from the properties of what we're made of psychologically.
2) Thought operates by dividing the single unified reality in to conceptual parts. Nouns are a quick example.
3) The "me" is a key conceptual part.
4) Seen through thought, "me" seems very very small, and "everything else" appears very very big.
5) This perception gives rise to existential fear, a key source of most human problems.
6) We tend to bury the existential fear under a huge pile of SOS.
7) One way to translate the above out of theory and in to experience is to discard all the distractions for awhile. Example: Take a chair and a lunch out in to some quiet isolated part of nature. Get there at dawn, and stay until sunset. No devices, books or other distractions. To the degree possible, do nothing. Just observe one day of your life go by.
At the least such an experiment will probably make our addiction to distraction more clear, which can help prepare the ground for asking why we are addicted.
Well, I'm surprised you arrived at "existential fear" that way, but I agree. I would have said existential void, but yeah, I do agree that's the deeper reason for SOS (and many other seemingly unrelated trends of modern civilization). I happen to have an essay almost finished on this topic that goes back to Nietzsche's death of god as the origin of our existential dread and despair.
On an unrelated note, know that there will always be little interest in the beginning. Only time and improvement reward the thankless effort that we put in at the beginning. That's what I did and it worked out! In case you didn't see this: https://www.awritersnotebook.org/p/how-to-succeed-on-substack
Ok, fear of the void, fear of not existing. Fair enough.
I see the God idea, religion in general, as being a response to the fear of the void. So when "God died" as Nietzsche would say, people were left scrambling to find another response, and to a significant degree, that has been SOS.
As I understand it, the divisive nature of thought is the source of the fear. It's that divisive nature which creates the "me", which experiences itself as being separate from, and thus vulnerable to, everything else.
The sad irony is that religions and philosophies (like this post) try to explore, explain, and heal the fear in the medium of thought (ideas, doctrines, books etc) thus feeding the source of the fear, thought itself. It's kind of like an alcoholic trying to cure themselves with a case of scotch. :-)
This is related to AI in the sense that whatever is going on in the human condition is going to be inherited by AI. I'm not really trying to change the subject, but dive deeper in to it.
I agree, we can't solve our curse of being able to think with more thinking. And I agree that's what philosophers like Nietzsche tried to do but failed.
This is challenging to explain briefly, but I'll give it a go. A good writing exercise.
1) We are made of thought. Much or most of the human condition arises from the properties of what we're made of psychologically.
2) Thought operates by dividing the single unified reality in to conceptual parts. Nouns are a quick example.
3) The "me" is a key conceptual part.
4) Seen through thought, "me" seems very very small, and "everything else" appears very very big.
5) This perception gives rise to existential fear, a key source of most human problems.
6) We tend to bury the existential fear under a huge pile of SOS.
7) One way to translate the above out of theory and in to experience is to discard all the distractions for awhile. Example: Take a chair and a lunch out in to some quiet isolated part of nature. Get there at dawn, and stay until sunset. No devices, books or other distractions. To the degree possible, do nothing. Just observe one day of your life go by.
At the least such an experiment will probably make our addiction to distraction more clear, which can help prepare the ground for asking why we are addicted.
Longer Version Here: https://www.tannytalk.com/p/article-series-the-nature-of-thought
I intended to write much more at that URL, but there was so little interest I shifted my focus to hippy cartoons instead, my preferred SOS. :-)
Well, I'm surprised you arrived at "existential fear" that way, but I agree. I would have said existential void, but yeah, I do agree that's the deeper reason for SOS (and many other seemingly unrelated trends of modern civilization). I happen to have an essay almost finished on this topic that goes back to Nietzsche's death of god as the origin of our existential dread and despair.
On an unrelated note, know that there will always be little interest in the beginning. Only time and improvement reward the thankless effort that we put in at the beginning. That's what I did and it worked out! In case you didn't see this: https://www.awritersnotebook.org/p/how-to-succeed-on-substack
Ok, fear of the void, fear of not existing. Fair enough.
I see the God idea, religion in general, as being a response to the fear of the void. So when "God died" as Nietzsche would say, people were left scrambling to find another response, and to a significant degree, that has been SOS.
As I understand it, the divisive nature of thought is the source of the fear. It's that divisive nature which creates the "me", which experiences itself as being separate from, and thus vulnerable to, everything else.
The sad irony is that religions and philosophies (like this post) try to explore, explain, and heal the fear in the medium of thought (ideas, doctrines, books etc) thus feeding the source of the fear, thought itself. It's kind of like an alcoholic trying to cure themselves with a case of scotch. :-)
This is related to AI in the sense that whatever is going on in the human condition is going to be inherited by AI. I'm not really trying to change the subject, but dive deeper in to it.
I agree, we can't solve our curse of being able to think with more thinking. And I agree that's what philosophers like Nietzsche tried to do but failed.