And our orbits cross paths once again, on a really poignant topic. I love this piece, an I have one around this topic sitting in RoamResearch waiting for me to circle back, you know the drill.
I feel this 100% and I say the timing is perfect because today I am LITERALLY finishing up a grant proposal with Microsoft basically pitching this exact thing - so it’s to no surprise, like you, I also have complicated yet cognitively satisfying workflows, that are external scaffolding and I view AI as a cognitive partner, offloading executive functioning challenges. As a tangential aside, as a behaviorist, I am convinced there is a there there with how we naturally think and process and what AI NEEDS to get it to do the thing you want it to do.
I don’t know many people who use AI the way I use AI. It doesn’t decrease output time, in a lot of cases it makes outputs possible. So much I could say here. But wish us luck! Excellent piece.
Ahhh yes... recursive thinking and the latest tech to manage it. I'm looking forward to your post surfacing soon! I feel it right around the corner. ;)
"It doesn’t decrease output time, in a lot of cases it makes outputs possible." This is what others don't understand. And if (scratch that, BECAUSE) you're like me, I'm sure you have an iceberg of unpublished thoughts that will soon be shared once you find the right translation layer.
Your project here is fascinating. I love your comparison to a calendar. :)
When I started writing I compared the act to using the pensive from Harry Potter… a place to put thoughts and come back to them later. Your vision and project are on another level.
After binging a few of your essays in one go, I’m convinced our brains are quite similar… and that you might have the answer to a very specific question that’s baffled me for years:
Why can’t I remember complex plots (not even the dramatic endings of whodunnits)?
I loved Agatha Christie books as a child and I love the Marvel Universe in a similar way now, but ask me what happens in any given plot and I probably won’t remember the character names, let alone events between them. It’s something I find quite funny but also disconcerting.
Yes, you’re describing the different cognitive architecture. Some brains aren't wired to hold linear narrative threads. They're wired to hold worlds. Agatha Christie and the Marvel Universe are both worlds more than they are plot sequences. You likely absorb the texture, the relationships, the feeling of a story without retaining the A-to-B-to-C of it.
My theory (Working Memory Fragility) is that some brains organize themselves around this constraint in ways that are actually pretty remarkable, even if the experience of forgetting every whodunnit ending feels absurd.
The upside? I can rewatch my favorite movies and still enjoy them because I don't remember the plot from last time.
Thank you for the response!! I’m going to keep looking into the details of your theory; it makes a lot of sense to me. You’re right that the world is what I see and what I feel, not the plot. It’s like certain aspects of the texture of the world and the highest level meaning of it emerge very clearly, and the events remain extremely fuzzy.
And our orbits cross paths once again, on a really poignant topic. I love this piece, an I have one around this topic sitting in RoamResearch waiting for me to circle back, you know the drill.
I feel this 100% and I say the timing is perfect because today I am LITERALLY finishing up a grant proposal with Microsoft basically pitching this exact thing - so it’s to no surprise, like you, I also have complicated yet cognitively satisfying workflows, that are external scaffolding and I view AI as a cognitive partner, offloading executive functioning challenges. As a tangential aside, as a behaviorist, I am convinced there is a there there with how we naturally think and process and what AI NEEDS to get it to do the thing you want it to do.
I don’t know many people who use AI the way I use AI. It doesn’t decrease output time, in a lot of cases it makes outputs possible. So much I could say here. But wish us luck! Excellent piece.
Ahhh yes... recursive thinking and the latest tech to manage it. I'm looking forward to your post surfacing soon! I feel it right around the corner. ;)
"It doesn’t decrease output time, in a lot of cases it makes outputs possible." This is what others don't understand. And if (scratch that, BECAUSE) you're like me, I'm sure you have an iceberg of unpublished thoughts that will soon be shared once you find the right translation layer.
Your project here is fascinating. I love your comparison to a calendar. :)
When I started writing I compared the act to using the pensive from Harry Potter… a place to put thoughts and come back to them later. Your vision and project are on another level.
I look forward to following your journey.
After binging a few of your essays in one go, I’m convinced our brains are quite similar… and that you might have the answer to a very specific question that’s baffled me for years:
Why can’t I remember complex plots (not even the dramatic endings of whodunnits)?
I loved Agatha Christie books as a child and I love the Marvel Universe in a similar way now, but ask me what happens in any given plot and I probably won’t remember the character names, let alone events between them. It’s something I find quite funny but also disconcerting.
Welcome to the club nobody asks to join.
Yes, you’re describing the different cognitive architecture. Some brains aren't wired to hold linear narrative threads. They're wired to hold worlds. Agatha Christie and the Marvel Universe are both worlds more than they are plot sequences. You likely absorb the texture, the relationships, the feeling of a story without retaining the A-to-B-to-C of it.
My theory (Working Memory Fragility) is that some brains organize themselves around this constraint in ways that are actually pretty remarkable, even if the experience of forgetting every whodunnit ending feels absurd.
The upside? I can rewatch my favorite movies and still enjoy them because I don't remember the plot from last time.
(Sorry for the late response.)
Thank you for the response!! I’m going to keep looking into the details of your theory; it makes a lot of sense to me. You’re right that the world is what I see and what I feel, not the plot. It’s like certain aspects of the texture of the world and the highest level meaning of it emerge very clearly, and the events remain extremely fuzzy.
You should see the maps I have to sketch out for myself during an episode of The Traitor. 😜