Peter, really happy to see your post here, thanks for dropping in.
I've only read the first and second article so far, but wanted to drop a couple thoughts re: the second article.
The concept of ditching xy charts in favor of 3d fitness landscapes undulating through time with roving Attractors struck me as an incredibly useful mental model for navigating The Freedom-To Problem. A couple things that occurred to me:
In a fitness landscape, it makes sense that sometimes you go up and sometimes you go down, and sometimes you go down because you rolled off but sometimes you go down because you see another higher peak. ('Higher' here indicating not necessarily an achievement metric but a suitability/fitness/'self-environment match' metric). In an XY chart, any 'down' is The Wrong Way.
Fitness landscape undulation due to Time highlights the impossibility of static balance, and the importance of adaptability and a dynamic equilibrium mindset. Also, can be a nice thought if/when you find yourself in a low spot of shit.
The whole idea of mashing the 'more of this' button on things we find interesting/curious/enjoyable, in a rapid low-risk environment, while keeping in mind that we potentially can have *no idea* what it's going to look like in N iterations, as pointed at by Stanley's Picbreeder experiment, could be an extremely useful framework for people trying to figure out what to 'do' with their freedommaxxed lives and perhaps feeling bad or anxious that they don't have a fleshed out vision for the 'end' state.
Revealing Attractors wrote:This experiment catalysed a profound insight in Stanley. He realised users could only produce true novelty by seeking it one step at a time. He has subsequently argued that surprisingly few major inventions were invented with that particular breakthrough explicitly in mind in advance[4]. The fact that you can only see one step at a time when following an attractor is a powerful illustration of the practical application of faith to real life. It’s like crossing the river by feeling the stones with your feet.
In stark contrast, the flatland of an X/Y chart optimises for a single path with predefined outcomes: number go up. Stanley’s work clearly illustrates the flaws in this model:
“This isn't how the world works. That's why there's cognitive dissonance in Western culture... So many objectives pervading everything. We somehow, I think, at some deep instinctual level realize this is insane……So there's basically two pieces of advice I would give. One is collect stepping stones and honor interestingness. That is a system that we need to establish.”
My own experience over the last few years experimenting with goals, process, and serendipity has certainly primed me to be receptive to this idea, and interested in applying it more systematically. I've said a few times recently that letting go of goals and making space in my life for serendipitous returns has brought me *way better results* than I could have imagined, not just quantitatively but qualitatively. That experience plus this attractor framework has me thinking about ways to double down on this approach. I like that 'adventure', risk, uncertainty, and faith are necessary ingredients. "Follow these simple rules and something magical will happen." "What magical thing?" "No way to know. Follow the process, though, and it'll be magical af."
I also think that there could be a danger/risk in dipping one's toe into this process, getting a good result, and becoming attached to it and stopping there. "It worked! My life is magical now!" but you're just standing on a little hummock in the fitness landscape of your reality, at iteration 3 of following stoke. Turning the wheel again requires letting go of the current position on the fitness landscape, which is a risk.
I know this series is about the metacrisis but I'm seeing this particular article resonating at the level of actionable lifestyle praxis, in a domain that a lot of us round here struggle with/get stuck on/regress at/etc. I could see fleshing some of these ideas out into a very helpful framework to guide people through the fog of freedom.
I'm looking forward to digesting the rest of the content. Thanks again.