Tag: Philosophy

Evolution of Understanding: Brain as a Predictive Model | March 18 2026, 13:29

An interesting philosophical thought came to my mind. What if evolution doesn’t exist in us (not in biological life), but in our system of understanding the laws of the world 🙂 That is, the system of understanding the laws of the world adapts itself so that everything more or less matches up. That is, the brain constructs an internal hallucination and constantly suppresses it in order to minimize the error of prediction. And there’s a big question — does our understanding system strive for truth (absolute correspondence to the world) or just for comfort (so that the picture in the head does not fall apart)?

With this approach, there’s a problem that if you don’t look into the future, then at each iteration, the understanding system adjusts its model so that the prediction works, but simultaneously creates problems for the next iteration, because it has to account for them already. As a result, this layered pie accumulates contradictions and constraints to such an extent that each subsequent theory becomes more and more complex and accreted with a multitude of unexplainable gaps. Dark matter, black hole radiation, gravitational waves, and so forth appear to somehow stretch the owl to fit the globe.

But yes, this is related to the question of whether mathematics was discovered or invented.

Why Snow Clings Only to One End: A Light Moment on a Heavy Day | December 05 2025, 20:28

Imagine how hard it is for me to live. Walking with the dog and you can’t easily and quickly answer your own question, why is the snow only on one end of the twigs. And yes, they all look in different directions.

Faces of Language: Understanding the Human and Animal “Face” Across Cultures | July 25 2025, 16:35

I read about a fly on my windowsill, it’s a predatory critter, and its face is described on Wikipedia. Just like that, face. It got me thinking, is the word “face” applicable to animals other than humans (let’s skip the discussion of whether the term animal applies to humans). On the same Wikipedia, but on the face page, the face is only human. Yet, it is written that in professional terminology (veterinary, ornithology, entomology) it is quite appropriate to speak of the “facial part of the head” of an animal. For example, ornithologists at Cornell University use the term “face” specifically in descriptions of owls. Well, fine, we have a face, others have a snout. And birds? A snout in feathers? A beak is something else entirely.

In English too, by the way, things are not so simple. Even a cube has faces. In other European languages, the boundary between a human “face” and an animal one is more or less clearly drawn. Italians use faccia only for humans and muso for animals; faccia for a cat or dog would be inappropriate and even offensive. In French, visage usually means “human face,” and for animals, it’s gueule, museau, tête, etc. In Polish, there’s twarz for people and pysk/morda for beasts; moreover, the word morda in relation to a person is a crude insult (and in Russian too, only adding nationality to it). In Scandinavian languages (“ansigt” in Danish, “ansikte” in Swedish) “face” is also almost always human.

There’s also the word “physiognomy.” Interestingly, it only later came to denote a face. Essentially, this word means “the study of facial features to determine character.” It consists of φύσις (physis) – “nature, essence, character” and γνώμων (gnomon) – “indicator, determining.”

And then I remembered the word “unflattering.” Strange word, right? How can a conversation be unflattering? Turns out, its definition is as follows: “not based on flattery, the desire to please someone; impartial, fair.” So formally, Vitsyn could exclaim, “long live the most unflattering court in the world!” I’m not joking, for example, Saltykov-Shchedrin writes: “At the present time, in all corners of Russia, even the most backward people are beginning to recognize the vital need for a lawful and unflattering court.” “I must confess, I was very nervous, handing my brainchild over to the unflattering judgment of the editorial staff” (D. N. Mamin-Sibiriyak, “Features from the Life of Pepko,” 1894).

Actually, an interesting word. In Russian, its only decent synonyms are snout, mug, phiz, physiognomy, dial, and very memorable indecent ones.

The Paradox of Symmetry: Beauty, Boredom, and the Brain | July 06 2025, 23:13

Probably not just for me a contradictory perception of symmetry exists. On one hand, symmetry is perceived as a sign of harmony and stability because the brain processes and recognizes organized forms more quickly, which historically could have aided survival. Logically, it should be associated with beauty, health, and predictability, giving a sense of security.

It’s written that with one or two alcoholic drinks, symmetrical objects become even more attractive. “In a pilot study (Elena Karakashevska) involving 13 social drinkers, researchers were surprised to find that alcohol apparently enhances the brain’s response to symmetry.” The study also concluded that people look better after consuming alcohol 🙂 This reminds me of a joke about two friends, when one says, “Now we’ll go to the girls, one is alright – for me, and the other one is a bit ugly, but you drink some vodka — and she will be fine,” and when they arrive, they ring the doorbell, two women are on the doorstep, and the second says: “Oh, I can’t drink that much!”

On the other hand, excessive symmetry and monotony can cause boredom and irritation as the brain seeks stimulation and novelty. For example, imagine a symmetrical tattoo on someone. Can you picture one that you aesthetically prefer over an asymmetrical one?

Personally, I like small deviations and asymmetry, which make images lively and interesting. A certain balance of order and chaos. Pure symmetry seems very boring to me.

Started googling on the topic. “Japanese don’t like symmetry. If a vase on the table is in the middle, they will automatically move it to the edge of the table. Why? Symmetry as completion, as finitude, as repetition is uninteresting. For instance, the dishes on a Japanese table (dinnerware) will definitely have different patterns, different colors.”

Do you like symmetry?

Lost in Translation: A Midnight Encounter at Ashburn Station | July 06 2025, 17:28

Yesterday late, around 10-11pm, I was returning from Washington by metro. At the exit of Ashburn station, a relatively well-dressed guy approaches me and asks how to get to Route 7 from the station by bike. I start to answer, then he asks me if I happen to speak Russian. My accent gave me away (damn, how did he know exactly?)

I open the map on my phone, start explaining it to him, go right here, then left, then right, a 45-minute ride. It’s night outside. The dude’s on a bike. He doesn’t have a phone — something is broken or dead. But the most interesting thing, he doesn’t know the address where he needs to go. And Route 7, by the way, is 497 km long, but he obviously meant a segment about 30 km near the metro, but it was still not clear where he needed to go in that section.

In the conversation, it turned out that he knows how to get to the place where he stopped (friends?), from the local Russian-speaking Protestant church, called New Life. I feel I’m explaining to him, he’s overall ready to go alone in the dark without navigation, but from his feedback, I understand he didn’t get it, and at the first turn, he’d go wrong. And at that time, there was absolutely no one on the streets, it’s a neighborhood and data center area (the largest in the world, by the way), very safe, but absolutely deserted. I tell him — my car is parked at the metro, let me give you a lift if that’s the case, it’s no trouble for me.

His name is Edik. He wrecked his car a week ago because he liked to drive “with a breeze”. He regrets it because now he doesn’t understand what to buy a new one with. Lives in Baltimore, came to our area because there’s some Mongolian holiday tomorrow. What? I ask, what the hell is a Mongolian holiday. Turns out he’s from Mongolia, lived there before moving to the USA. Russian family, school at the Russian embassy. Speaks Russian without an accent, and fluent in Mongolian. Illegal. Apparently, he came to the USA on a tourist visa and stayed. Works in a store somewhere near Baltimore. Deep in debt. Apparently, a few adventures weren’t enough and he went to Virginia by bike mixed with metro and buses.

I hope he made it home from the church.

Faustian Dialogues in Modern Project Management | June 20 2025, 15:00

I think project managers can very well speak to developers in the words of Faust.

Well, here we go again, in the old manner

With you – all is uncertainty, all doubts,

In everything you create difficulties,

And for all, you wish for new rewards!

When will you, without any further talk, —

One, two: look, — and everything is ready soon!

(For context – this is Faust’s reaction to the refusal of the seemingly omnipotent Mephistopheles (Devil) to bring Helen of Troy and Paris from the realm of shadows to the stage for the Emperor’s amusement)

director

Don’t forget anything:

What can be done immediately,

Why put it off till tomorrow?

We must instantly grasp

All that is necessary and possible

(…)

“You have poorly executed it,

And left a gap in the corner”

And the designer might reply:

And you do not see, how vile and shameful

This craft?

Am I not an artist?

To the Manager:

“Fire! Help! Hell! We are all going to burn now!”

Doubting the Fabricated Reality: An Antidystopian Paradox | May 31 2025, 13:47

Generated people are persuaded that everything around them is not real, and that they themselves are made of prompts, but they do not believe.

It turned out dystopian.

It would be funny if we also didn’t believe that we are living in a simulation.

Or is it not funny?

Doubting the Fabricated Reality: An Antidystopian Paradox | May 31 2025, 13:47

Generated people are convinced that everything around them is unreal, and that they themselves are made from prompts, yet they do not believe it.

It turned out dystopian.

It would be funny if we also didn’t believe that we live in a simulation.

Or is it not funny?

Doubting the Fabricated Reality: An Antidystopian Paradox | May 31 2025, 13:47

Generated people are convinced that everything around them is fake, and that they themselves are made from prompts, yet they do not believe it.

It turned out dystopian.

It would be funny, if we also didn’t believe that we live in a simulation.

Or is it not funny?