So there's this thing where…

Back when I was young, I watched the movie Atlantis, and then spent a while thinking through how to build an actual city- or continent-sized underwater dome. What materials would be required? How much would it cost? How would light and heating/cooling work? Etc.

A similar example: I watched the Harry Potter movies, and then spent a while thinking about how to build a quidditch field with flying broomsticks kept aloft via magnetic levitation. Or a golden snitch capable of flying around my room; that one progressed to the point of fiddling with physical prototypes (which did not work, to be clear; I was a kid, I did not have any serious engineering knowledge yet, and I did not understand just how far beyond my knowledge-at-the-time such a project was).

Both of these examples show a similar mental move: (encounter a fantasy) -> (figure out how to bring that fantasy into reality). It's fun, trying to work out the key steps and details to make the fantastic real. Even if it often fails.

To me, this move feels particularly foundational and load-bearing; it's a core part of a healthy agentic human mind. It's the [...]

---

First published:
November 14th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SiTwkSAsFpauvtkgW/fantasy-greater-than-planning-a-core-mental-move-for-agentic

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“(Fantasy) -> (Planning): A Core Mental Move For Agentic Humans?” by johnswentworth

LessWrong (30+ Karma)