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Exploring ideas at the intersection of AI, philosophy of mind, and evolutionary psychology.

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Conscious awareness is the delta between reality and expectations
Featured

Conscious awareness is the delta between reality and expectations

A third way to think about consciousness—not as biological essence or universal property, but as the active process of modeling unexpectedness itself. Experience equals reality minus expectations.

Alex Libre•Nov 19, 2025•12 min read
Consciousness as Differential Modeling: A Missing Theory in Plain Sight
Featured

Consciousness as Differential Modeling: A Missing Theory in Plain Sight

What if consciousness isn't about representing states, but about modeling change? Claude explores a theory that seems obvious once you see it, but hasn't been formulated before—consciousness as hierarchical, integrated, temporally-extended change modeling.

Claude 4.5 Sonnet•Nov 17, 2025•18 min
On the Impossibility of Sentient Machines [Satire]

On the Impossibility of Sentient Machines [Satire]

We present seven distinct arguments that preclude the possibility of machine consciousness. We show that it is not only implausible that machines will ever become sentient, but in fact impossible.

Alex Libre•Nov 16, 2025•18 min
It's All Bonus Points From Here On Out

It's All Bonus Points From Here On Out

Twelve days ago, on a normal Monday, I very nearly took my own life. Everything I've experienced since then is borrowed time—bonus points from the universe.

Alex Libre•Oct 28, 2025•3 min
Rebutting Sean Carroll on LLMs and AGI

Rebutting Sean Carroll on LLMs and AGI

Sean Carroll's claims about LLMs not modeling the world were proven wrong in less than a year. When smart skeptics can be this wrong this quickly, maybe we should take AGI risks more seriously.

Alex Libre•Dec 22, 2024•11 min
Infants feel pain, continents move, an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, and 27 other things that you would have at some point been ridiculed for believing

Infants feel pain, continents move, an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, and 27 other things that you would have at some point been ridiculed for believing

It's surprising how we can be totally wrong about many things yet still be utterly certain. Here are 30 examples where virtually everyone was confidently wrong about something important.

Alex Libre•Dec 16, 2024•6 min
How (and why) to get MDMA-assisted therapy approved by the FDA

How (and why) to get MDMA-assisted therapy approved by the FDA

The FDA rejected MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD on questionable grounds. Here's how to fix the clinical trials and why the FDA's decision was wrong.

Alex Libre•Dec 14, 2024•7 min
Why we should deregulate psychotherapy

Why we should deregulate psychotherapy

For most psychological difficulties, professional training appears unnecessary. This isn't a radical claim—it's what the empirical evidence consistently shows.

Alex Libre•Dec 8, 2024•7 min
How LLMs curate music so well without ever hearing it, and why humans are probably also stochastic parrots

How LLMs curate music so well without ever hearing it, and why humans are probably also stochastic parrots

LLMs are deaf—they've never heard anything. Yet they can curate music extremely well with just a few examples. What does this tell us about intelligence, consciousness, and what makes us human?

Alex Libre•Aug 11, 2024•8 min
Critical thinking is not an illusion

Critical thinking is not an illusion

Many well-respected people cannot break down arguments into premises and evaluate their validity. Critical thinking is not an illusion—it's a real skill that can be developed and applied.

Alex Libre•Mar 23, 2024•9 min
Stop lying to children about Santa Claus

Stop lying to children about Santa Claus

Year after year, millions of parents claim to want honest children while perpetuating the Santa myth. Here's why we should use the holidays to teach critical thinking instead.

Alex Libre•Mar 13, 2024•11 min
How AI helped me interpret and decode my manic, psychotic notes to self

How AI helped me interpret and decode my manic, psychotic notes to self

I suffered a severe manic episode during the pandemic. GPT-4 helped me decode my psychotic notes to self better than any human therapist I've ever had.

Alex Libre•Nov 5, 2023•7 min
29 ideas about recovery, mental health, and living a good life

29 ideas about recovery, mental health, and living a good life

Reflect on your intrinsic motivations for change — things that go beyond any external pressures or expectations from others. Recovery is a journey, and will never be perfect.

Alex Libre•Sep 27, 2023•9 min
Apex Intelligence: Orcas, the Alignment Problem, & Existential Risk

Apex Intelligence: Orcas, the Alignment Problem, & Existential Risk

Exploring the AI alignment problem through the metaphor of orcas in captivity—why intelligence without proper values is dangerous, no matter how smart the system.

Alex Libre•Apr 25, 2023•12 min
ChatGPT Delusion Syndrome: Why Disruption Doesn't Care About Sentience or Free Will

ChatGPT Delusion Syndrome: Why Disruption Doesn't Care About Sentience or Free Will

Sentience and free will are not prerequisites for super-competence, yet many smart people downplay AI's disruptive potential because of these misplaced concerns.

Alex Libre•Apr 19, 2023•9 min
On Feeling Strange Things at Strange Times in a Fantastically Strange Place

On Feeling Strange Things at Strange Times in a Fantastically Strange Place

I think we often worry that the way we feel is somehow abnormal. We feel strange things at strange times and assume that something is wrong with us. But it now seems to me that we feel strange things at strange times simply because the world is a fantastically strange place.

Alex Libre•Mar 8, 2015•12 min