(Audio version here, or search for "Joe Carlsmith Audio" on your podcast app.)

“There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall?”

- C.S. Lewis

“The Human Condition,” by René Margritte (Image source here)

1. Introduction

Sometimes, my thinking feels more “real” to me; and sometimes, it feels more “fake.” I want to do the real version, so I want to understand this spectrum better. This essay offers some reflections.

I give a bunch of examples of this “fake vs. real” spectrum below -- in AI, philosophy, competitive debate, everyday life, and religion. My current sense is that it brings together a cluster of related dimensions, namely:

Map vs. world: Is my mind directed at an abstraction, or it is trying to see past its model to the world beyond?
Hollow vs. solid: Am I [...]