Hampus

Anil Seth handles a lot of topics and some things that resonated with me:

1. We haven't got a good measurement of consciousness, and it isn't apparent if it is a scalar (“like temperature”) or vector property (“like position”). One of the interesting approaches is to do a literal zip compression of a Dirac pulse to the brain, which is a good correlation.

2. Most people confound consciousness and intelligence and can (probably) be mutually exclusive - one could have (any) one without the other.

3. The brain isn't a top-down “sensor-summarizer” reading and “interpreting” the “real world,” but instead does bottom-up “controlled hallucination” and tries to predict what input it will get next time stamp, and course correct with the data coming in. And, it is the same for inner bodily states as for the world around.

4. Emotions might be a proxy/summary of inner states and can be tricked. An example in the book is a woman asking a question on one of two bridges; one scary and one not - and then giving her number. Men on the “scary bridge” tend to call her afterward as they (maybe) have confused their heart palpitations and (stress) arousal as if they are interested in her (when they are just a bit scared).

5. Acting on something (or considering to act) might be vital to thinking correctly, as when acting changes how the brain handles the signals. Interestingly enough, we use signals to calibrate instead of an expected end state. The example given is great cricket players don't run where they think the ball will be but run to preserve/achieve a certain angle of the ball to visual input.

Being You is an excellent summary of where we currently are with consciousness research, and the author reads the audiobook, which is delightful.

It is easy to think of the US and China as opposites, but Dan Wang does a great job in showing the similarities and differences. Both are pragmatic, materialistic societies with a “get-it-done” mindset, strong national pride, and admiration for technological prowess.

But, naturally, there are huge differences. Dan Wang gives each state a moniker to highlight it: China operates as an “engineering state”, emphasizing rapid, large-scale infrastructure and social projects—often at human or environmental cost. The U.S. is a “lawyerly society”, characterized by procedural caution, litigation, and slower progress. The strangest thing is that in the US, people are considered important, but the more wealthy you are, the more. In China, the heads of the regions are measured in numbers: jobs, construction projects, companies, etc.

There are also two amazing chapters on the One Child Policy and Zero Covid in China. Those were two that most clearly show how China's method isn't working. They might build more and have more equality built in, but if they keep having top-down control, people will leave or at least not flourish.

I felt it was an amazing book to understand how both countries are failing in their ways.
Both nations are on a spectrum: one excels in execution but falters in freedom; the other protects rights but struggles to build. He suggests an optimal synthesis—a US that builds more, balanced by legal safeguards, and China that governs with more procedural and cultural restraint.

That was a disappointing disaster!

Ryan Holiday is amazing at picking big and everlasting subjects, such as courage or ego, and writing a book filled with great quotes and views on the subject. In Perennial Seller, he attempts to do the same, but the problem is that the book feels like more like a bunch of blog posts and some oppose each other (“spend almost all your energy on the craft and not marketing it” and then “marketing, building a platform, constantly selling your work is the biggest difference between success and oblivion.”)And, the list of advice is more or less: 1. Write a great book A: pick a niche subject, know your audience, have a strong view point. 2. Write a great book B: work on it a lot, you need an editor, it will take time and a lot, lot, lot of energy. 3. Market the hell out of it - and use new tactics, reach out, build a platform of followers, etc, etc, etc (and a lot of other good, but fairly generic Seth Godin-esque tips.)The book does have wonderful quotes from artists alive and long gone, and it is an easy read, but I would say that a book about writing ([b:Bird by Bird 12543 Bird by Bird Anne Lamott https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631772636l/12543.SY75.jpg 841198]) and one of Godin's books probably solves the problem better.

Mark Gober has summarized all science research on paranormal/psi/ESP the last century in this book. It is an amazing feat and it asks one clear question; if ANY of the research is right, we can't use the materialist model to explain how time, consciousness, and people work.

Sadly, it is not an enjoyable book to read. Page by page, it quickly states different researchers, famous people, and reports; all to just get the reader to notice that we can't ignore this. Intentions are perfect, the experience isn't.

I haven't changed my mind: I still think we're part of the big whirlpool of consciousness, and it isn't just an epiphenomenon and emergent property of a lot of neurons going about their day. I can't explain it tho :D