NonTrivial

In 2014 there was a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham regarding whether or not Creationism is a viable explanation for earth's origin. Regardless of which side you agree with, there was what I consider a problematic response from some of the scientific community, which was that the debate never should have happened, because it gave a voice to something counter to the scientific consensus. I...

Human society has always applied filters, to select who should be in a particular group. This is both evolutionary and required for good social dynamics. But we also apply filters institutionally, using systems of meritocracy to vet candidates both in academia and industry. I argue that these institutional filters are far too narrowly-defined to account for the complexity and high-dimensionality o...

As we go through life we notice things about our ability to perform, like when things work and when they don't. But most people tend to leave at that, hoping they'll gravitate towards the better parts over time. But what really transforms our ability to perform is when we convert the things that work into specific techniques we employ. I'll give an example of just how powerful this...

In this episode I challenge the idea that discipline is what's needed to achieve successful outcomes. Discipline requires we act against our instincts and willpower. Anything so opposed to our natural evolution can't be right. I believe that what looks like discipline in successful individuals is really just the behaviour people take-on when they put themselves in the right environment....

Many of us are avid readers, because reading helps us learn about important topics, and more importantly compels us to create things ourselves.  But today's nonfiction is loaded with so many references and footnotes that their isn't much room left for the author's authentic opinion. I argue that many creators are researching themselves out of their opinion, leaving us with dry comme...

AI is getting impressive. But being impressed is not an objective measure of progress. For a technology to truly bear the mark of innovation it must enable us to create new things. I argue that few people are creating anything new with AI, rather they're just showcasing what it can do out of the box. I'll look at ChatGPT as an example, and put forward how I think AI should be used as a s...

In this episode I argue that true creativity demands that we have less options available in our attempt to build something new. I first acknowledge that creativity requires freedom, and freedom includes having a number of options, but then also discuss the problems that arise by having too many options. I will argue that creativity works better when we are constrained by good structures, and that...

In this episode we look at how neuroscience tries to explain human behaviour by identifying specific regions in the brain. I'll discuss how such targeted approaches are problematic in science, and how Neuroscience is just another example of a complex science acting as though it's far more simple and deterministic than it really is. We'll look at the myth of root causes, why nature d...

We need to contribute to society in order to survive, and that means having a job. But many people hate their job, and find it difficult to feel fulfilled while earning a living. I believe there is a solution that exits at the interface between what we expect from the world and what the world expects from us. There is a way to remain focused on what we love, while still delivering on tasks we don&...

In this episode I argue that intuition is more rigorous than precisely defined arguments, such as those constructed using mathematics. I talk about the cost of precision in real-world situations, offer an approach to formalize intuition, and suggest that when it comes to establishing the connection between our ideas and reality we should always let intuition lead. Support the show Become a Member...

In this episode I discuss deadlines, and the critical difference between the artificial ones we create to manage our lives, and the real ones dictated by nature. I discuss how our manufactured deadlines run counter to the natural rhythm humans use to create, and how we need to somehow reconcile our modern use of manufactured deadlines with the realization that good solutions only exist at nature&a...

In this episode I take a look at the notion of quality. How to define it and how to assess it in real world situations, and I’ll discuss what I think is a useful heuristic for sizing up both things and people that make their way into our lives. Support the show Become a Member at dekyon.io/seanmcclure/nontrivial Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations o...

There are 2 main approaches to AI (symbolic vs connectionism), and they are very different in how they think about producing intelligence in the machine.  One approach believes in programming what we know about the world into the machine, and the other ignores any pre-existing knowledge by relying on large datasets and correlation. There is a long-standing debate between which approach is best, de...

The modern narrative frames structure and systems as oppressive. As though we should never be held back by systems that interfere with our ability to express our unique selves. But being ourselves at all times with no system to govern our behavior is its own trap. The unfiltered and unstructured life is an unproductive and unfulfilled one.  I argue that there is a difference between the real you a...

Hey everyone, Sean here from NonTrivial. Just a quick announcement for the upcoming season 4. In season 3, I used a book to anchor our conversations. I did this so that I could show how many of the core patterns we encountered in seasons 1 and 2 appear universally in many different contexts. In season 4 I will be returning to the original format of discussing the patterns themselves, without speci...

We all depend on our environment to survive. We need food, water, friends, family, coworkers. We participate in the economy, pay for entertainment, post on social media. But all these things bear the seeds of our destruction. We need things to grow, but past a point these same things can destroy us. The real challenge in life is finding the right dosage for the things we depend on. Analytical appr...

In this episode I take a look at the nature of time, try to figure out what it is, what today’s physics can and cannot tell us, whether or not it’s an illusion, and how memory and consciousness might play a fundamental role in the realization of time.  I discuss Einstein's Relativity, review some thought experiments related to time, and describe what I think is wrong with the current physics...

AI is a promising and inevitable technology. But today’s AI is too brittle to trust fully, and without trust we cannot push the needle on AI progress. So, must we wait around until AI is good enough before we can truly trust it? I argue that we have to trust AI before it can make the next great leap in intelligence. This has to do with the fact that genuine intelligence works via flawed people wor...

We define a thing’s value by its characteristics; what it does and doesn’t do. But a thing cannot adequately be defined outside its environment. There are countless dependencies that make a thing, a thing. We need to shift our focus “up” to a more holistic level if we are to move levers that produce positive outcomes. This is because nature chooses what survives by operating on parameters that for...

Economists are known for attempting to treat economics like a genuine science. But upon closer inspection it becomes obvious that their methods are quite outdated. As a consequence, most of today's economists are providing an extremely naive "understanding" of our economy, and worse, damaging society's ability to improve people's lives.  In this episode I'll use Eric...

We've looked at one side of the equation, the changes we put in place at the societal level to possibly solve the gun problem in America. But what about the individuals who commit crimes in the first place? Is there something deeper to the gun problem that is making America the so-called "country of homicides"? Is there a higher moral standard or philosophy society is missing that m...

The gun debate is one of America’s most polarized issues. Large mass shootings always bring this debate to the forefront, eliciting strong emotions from both sides of the aisle. Many believe the answer is stricter gun laws, while others see this as government overreach and believe average citizens can better protect themselves by keeping and bearing arms. I argue that neither of these choices are...

NonTrivial is of course free for all listeners, but I do offer bonus content to my Patreon subscribers. I'm publishing this week's bonus talk for free so regular listeners can get a taste of what this additional content sounds like. Enjoy. Given today’s networked economy, with its extreme wealth disparity, many wonder how they can contribute. How does one not get discouraged by the conce...

Many argue that the internet has destroyed more jobs than it’s created, and that as such our information economy has obliterated the middle class. The common “solution” proposed for this problem is to create systems that pay users for their data. If you join Twitter or Facebook (Meta) then you should somehow be compensated since it’s your data that make these companies successful. This is the argu...

In part II of Imprecise Destinations we continue our look at democracy by discussing so called "monitory democracy" as it exists today. We'll see both its strengths and weaknesses, and lead into some ultimate questions about the universality of democracy going forward. I end the episode with a look into how we can mathematically model democracy and play around with some scenarios on...