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Anthropomorphic intuition has its advantages - it cuts down the ideas search space with its learnt heuristics. We are intuitive beings, and system 2 thinking is

Anthropomorphic intuition has its advantages - it cuts down the ideas search space with its learnt heuristics. We are intuitive beings, and system 2 thinking is very deliberate and not so natural to us. Secondly, it might often be intractable to process things with sys2 thinking. That said, I don’t think anthropomorphic intuition is necessarily static; I can learn new intuitive skills with enough practice - for example, a person grown in a tribe with very rudimentary speech cannot intuit how to communicate even mildly non-simple ideas, but I can do half a decent job very intuitively. And finally I think even if you don’t care for intuition, it cares for you. I mean, if you play with y=mx+c long enough, you’ll gain an intuition, intuitively. So, with these devices (like visualisers etc.), we’re essentially trying to gain an intuitive understanding deliberately, which I see nothing wrong with. It’s just meta intuition.

makerdiety 2y ago
A preference for level two is what got us a general theory of relativity and, subsequently, working global positioning satellite technology. Having a cognitive bias toward visual presentations of planes in 3D and higher space leads to techno-scientific stagnation.
- sqeaky 2y ago
  I think you have this exactly backwards. Einstein applied his intuition to find gaps in special relativity. He had built an intuition for how light works and asked what happened in corner cases so he could rapidly understand the boundaries of. Then after finding those cases busted out the math to create a rigorous solution. Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/how-albert-einstein-developed-the-theory-of-general-relativity https://www.britannica.com/story/how-albert-einstein-develop... "Level two" ? As if there is a single best way to think and we should all climb towards it? There are advantages and disadvantages to every approach. Find what works in a domain and keep experimenting.
  - makerdiety 2y ago
    Karl Marx said something along the lines of "Each man does a job according to his abilities." Something like that. I take it, then, this modern society and civilization wants to specialize in low level technician style work and wait for aliens or angels to come and do the hard work of inventing faster than light travel? You know, intuition is the best scientists and engineers can do and all.
    - xanderlewis 2y ago
      "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
    - sqeaky 2y ago
      I feel that you can't or aren't being serious. We just covered the go to example of a smart person doing the go to example of smart thing advancing advancing humanity's knowledge using intuition and other modes of thought. No one is saying we shouldn't also have other kinds of intelligence. You just started bashing one kind of intelligence, and provided quite possibly the absolute worst possible example. Thought, in the general sense, isn't a solved problem or even all that clearly understood yet. We don't yet have a working mathematical model of it and aren't even sure that will be a thing. At present we know of many kinds of intelligence and we can see then work differently on different problems.
      - makerdiety 2y ago
        Since you insist in human intuition being a "required step in the process of knowledge discovery," I can safely say that your time preference you have is what led to the segmentation of the human species into categories such as races. When, really, any human baby born on Earth, absolutely any human child or man, that is, has the same genetics as a high level athlete like the famous Lebron James basketball player. There's no real difference between the races or types of humans. And, similarly, there's no difference between the "types" of intelligences that human intuition can help grab hold of. Quantum mechanics is a magical system, to you, only because you're limited and guided by your human biases and preferences. Dumping intuition is the way to go for seeing past the toys and child's play that is modern science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- cityofdelusion 2y ago
  Intuition is just a starting point — and one that changes with experience gained. Two students can start to learn piano either “intuitively” or mathematically and both end up at the same level of skill 30 years later. There isn’t some linear path of progression based off where you start — that’s what’s amazing about the human brain, it’s incredibly parallel and mesh based.
  - makerdiety 2y ago
    The problem is that learning to play the piano isn't innovative. (So, technically, a monkey could eventually do it.) Because innovation is stifled by intuition. Particularly intuition meant to serve human ends. It's a simple equation: take away intuition and you're left with revolutions in technology and science.

makerdiety 2y ago

A preference for level two is what got us a general theory of relativity and, subsequently, working global positioning satellite technology. Having a cognitive bias toward visual presentations of planes in 3D and higher space leads to techno-scientific stagnation.

sqeaky 2y ago
I think you have this exactly backwards. Einstein applied his intuition to find gaps in special relativity. He had built an intuition for how light works and asked what happened in corner cases so he could rapidly understand the boundaries of. Then after finding those cases busted out the math to create a rigorous solution. Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/how-albert-einstein-developed-the-theory-of-general-relativity https://www.britannica.com/story/how-albert-einstein-develop... "Level two" ? As if there is a single best way to think and we should all climb towards it? There are advantages and disadvantages to every approach. Find what works in a domain and keep experimenting.
- makerdiety 2y ago
  Karl Marx said something along the lines of "Each man does a job according to his abilities." Something like that. I take it, then, this modern society and civilization wants to specialize in low level technician style work and wait for aliens or angels to come and do the hard work of inventing faster than light travel? You know, intuition is the best scientists and engineers can do and all.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
  - sqeaky 2y ago
    I feel that you can't or aren't being serious. We just covered the go to example of a smart person doing the go to example of smart thing advancing advancing humanity's knowledge using intuition and other modes of thought. No one is saying we shouldn't also have other kinds of intelligence. You just started bashing one kind of intelligence, and provided quite possibly the absolute worst possible example. Thought, in the general sense, isn't a solved problem or even all that clearly understood yet. We don't yet have a working mathematical model of it and aren't even sure that will be a thing. At present we know of many kinds of intelligence and we can see then work differently on different problems.
    - makerdiety 2y ago
      Since you insist in human intuition being a "required step in the process of knowledge discovery," I can safely say that your time preference you have is what led to the segmentation of the human species into categories such as races. When, really, any human baby born on Earth, absolutely any human child or man, that is, has the same genetics as a high level athlete like the famous Lebron James basketball player. There's no real difference between the races or types of humans. And, similarly, there's no difference between the "types" of intelligences that human intuition can help grab hold of. Quantum mechanics is a magical system, to you, only because you're limited and guided by your human biases and preferences. Dumping intuition is the way to go for seeing past the toys and child's play that is modern science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
cityofdelusion 2y ago
Intuition is just a starting point — and one that changes with experience gained. Two students can start to learn piano either “intuitively” or mathematically and both end up at the same level of skill 30 years later. There isn’t some linear path of progression based off where you start — that’s what’s amazing about the human brain, it’s incredibly parallel and mesh based.
- makerdiety 2y ago
  The problem is that learning to play the piano isn't innovative. (So, technically, a monkey could eventually do it.) Because innovation is stifled by intuition. Particularly intuition meant to serve human ends. It's a simple equation: take away intuition and you're left with revolutions in technology and science.