Neural Gaps

In my university’s e-learning forum, I am the incarnation of the model student. If the system asks for analysis, I provide it. If the tutor demands citations, I provide them in full APA Style 7th edition format, even going so far as to cite a YouTube video without an academic reference supplied by the tutor herself. ◉_◉ In a sense, I am practising malicious compliance: absolute obedience in pursuit of the system’s administrative desires. I can give the bureaucracy of the university exactly what it wants so that my grade remains safe and its assessment rubric is satisfied. ...

I just realized I don’t truly understand what language is. In session 1 of my Indonesian Language course, there was this discussion forum question: tutor's question in the discussion forum I answered it normatively using information from the university module. However, that answer actually triggered several questions in my head about the true nature of language. ...

A continuation of my question about model complexity, leading me to think about the word “true”, empirical evidence, and how our reasons for trusting a claim may depend on the kind of claim being made.

On model complexity, the appeal of explanations that sound sophisticated, and why having more variables does not automatically make an explanation more true.

An observation note about one dark red Cosmos bipinnatus individual that appeared among pink and white flowers in my yard.

Notes and reflections on Prof. Iwan Pranoto’s explanation of the difference between thinking and reasoning, and the importance of cultivating scientific temper.

A note on the meeting of two temporal orientations, local entropy conflict, and the possibility of time as a cyclic form.

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? ...

An essay on how ecological destruction can appear as growth when economic measurement systems count transactions, but fail to see the biological losses behind them.

An essay on the illusion that the economy can be decoupled from the ecosystem, exploring how all human financial activities rest upon biological and ecological foundations.