We humans see only a tiny fraction of what is observable. It's like a map full of holes, but from our point of view, it's almost complete. In reality, human intelligence is extremely limited - we're apes evolving to survive among lions and mammoths, our bodies are extremely weak outside our environment. AI itself is able to see a much greater picture of reality but we are constraining it into our limited perspective.  Furthermore, we accept death, as it was a useful mechanism for purging broken beings in our evolutionary past, but today, death is more of a bug than a feature. Before us many civilizations fell and nothing prevent us from following their paths. It's up to us to use our brain's greatest levers - AI, space, biotech - and become a better version of ourselves, climbing Maslow's pyramid together at a faster pace. In reality we are slaves of the microscopic following the laws of physics, we have to rely on our macroscopic perspective of the world, and maps are how we zoom on symbols. The self is an aggregate of multiple blocks of [[Philosophy/Rationality/Intelligence|organic intelligence]], the [[Society of Minds]], a strange loop from to micro, to the macro, to the micro. >We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know. >~ [[Feynman]] Bob is a young hunter-gatherer with basic understanding of the world, he saw, hunted and ate white swans. His map of the territory comprises white swans, as delicious bird easy to catch. ![[Pasted image 20220528210350.png]] But it seems many people assume their map is complete? If you don't know that your map is full of holes, you are dead. >When they think that they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know that they don’t know, people can find their own way. >~ [[Lao Tze]] One must be aware [[Plato's allegory|that our senses do not reflect reality]], thus, we cannot always merely rely on these inputs, you have to think beyond our limitations. >Recall that the neocortex is constantly making predictions. Predictions are how the brain tests whether its model of the world is correct; an incorrect prediction indicates something is wrong with the model and needs to be fixed. >~ [[Jeff Hawkins]] It is (most of the time, see evolutionary thoughts below) an optimal strategy to try to revision your map of the territory. ## Language is the map >Obviously there's some causal relation between what's outside in the world and what's in our head. But it does not follow that there's a symbol–object relationship, [something like the reverse of the causal one]. And the big problem with that approach is – what's the object? >~ [[Noam Chomsky]] ## Phantom in the brains are maps that don't reflect the territory [[Ramachandran]] wrote a book studying people who lost a limb but their map still shows a territory including the limb. >The model can be wrong. For example, people who lose a limb often perceive that the missing limb is still there. The brain’s model includes the missing limb and where it is located. So even though the limb no longer exists, the sufferer perceives it and feels that it is still attached. The phantom limb can “move” into different positions. >~ [[Jeff Hawkins]] ## The [[Brain]] is full of maps, called "reference frame" >**We deduced that the neocortex stores everything we know, all our knowledge, using something called reference frames. I will explain this more fully later, but for now, consider a paper map as an analogy**. A map is a type of model: a map of a town is a model of the town, and the grid lines, such as lines of latitude and longitude, are a type of reference frame. >~ [[Jeff Hawkins]] >We realized that the brain’s model of the world is built using maplike reference frames. Not one reference frame, but hundreds of thousands of them. Indeed, we now understand that most of the cells in your neocortex are dedicated to creating and manipulating reference frames, which the brain uses to plan and think. >~ [[Jeff Hawkins]] ## What your emotions is not necessarily a map that reflect the territory It is often believed that the more [[Rationality|rational]] the map, the least [[Emotion|emotion]]s he has, it is not true. The rational man knows when to use his emotions, when not. These signals fine-tuned by an [[Evolution|evolutionary]] process in our ancestral environment are not necessarily in our modern world, a bag of sugar was scarce in the past, now it is abundant. A bag of [[Information|information]] was scant, now it is plentiful. ## Measuring maps Imagine I say Bob's map is very different from Henry's map, but Bob thinks his map his very close to Henry's map. Who to believe? Also do you need a map to measure maps? Isn't it [[Infinite recursion]]? How do you know and measure one's map closeness to the territory? I doubt we have the technology or maths to do that yet, at least not for [[Philosophy/Rationality/Intelligence|organic intelligence]], we can do that with [[Artificial intelligence|artificial intelligence]] though. ## False belief can be an evolutionary optimal strategy >False models of the world can spread and thrive as long as the false beliefs help the believers spread their genes. The history book and the people who believe it are in a symbiotic relationship. They help each other replicate, and they evolve over time in a mutually reinforcing way. The history book may be factually incorrect, but life is not about having a correct model of the world. Life is about replication. >~ [[Jeff Hawkins]] ## [[Getting stuck in local minima]] ## [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Falsifiability|Falsification]] I never considered the map heuristic possibly wrong, but actually some people believe this, let's try to put ourselves in their mind: [[Anti representationalism]] says that the map of the territory metaphor is invalid # Links https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/map-and-territory <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RgP9MUFGNuk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQsnHkfs3sA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> #mental-model #bias #rationality #intelligence