Why Thinking Alone Is Not Enough: Notes and Reflections on Scientific Temper
Notes and reflections on Prof. Iwan Pranoto’s explanation of the difference between thinking and reasoning, and the importance of cultivating scientific temper.
Philosophy
Time Knot Part II: Two Arrows in One Cup of Coffee
A note on the meeting of two temporal orientations, local entropy conflict, and the possibility of time as a cyclic form.
Why Are We Obsessed with Asking “Is This AI?”
Warning: If, after reading this essay, your first thought is “This was definitely written by AI,” then this essay may be talking about you. When I scroll through content on the internet lately, the question I see most often in the comments is not “What might the artist have felt?”, but a much cooler question, at least from the commenter’s point of view, (perhaps): “Is this AI?” Funny, isn’t it? ...
Time Knot Part I: Getting a Whiteboard Eraser Thrown by an Old Professor
Notes on the limits of the linear model in understanding the intersection of two opposing arrows of time.
Identity and the Noise of Others' Perception
In the previous article, I stated that identity is an ongoing process that develops our assumptions about ourselves. However, the question is not finished: what if identity is actually a label attached by external parties? To understand this, we can look at how identity is typically verified. In daily life, identity is often reduced to data: name, place of birth, status, or occupation. As if with just that data, a person can be fully “understood.” ...
Identity: The Living Organism Behind the Gray Matter
This confusion isn’t exactly new. It’s been lingering for a long time, reminding me of the doubts I once wrote about in Certainty. Back then, I questioned the certainty of our perception of the world. This time, I’m questioning the certainty of who is actually doing the perceiving. There was a time when I felt like the “weird” one among “normal” people (honestly, I still feel weird now). As a communications student back then, the “normal” thing to do was to practice persuasion techniques or try to look confident in front of an audience. But in reality, I actively avoided it. Instead of joining discussions about practical methods, I spent most of my time sitting alone in front of the psychology faculty, imagining that if I were a psychology student, I’d confidently mock Sigmund Freud’s penis envy theory. ...