The hottest Ontology Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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And you don't care?

Secretum Secretorum • 378 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Many big, world-changing ideas in the humanities come from altered states or sudden experiences that feel given, not from linear, conscious thinking.
  2. Anomalous events like levitation or ecstatic encounters, if they actually happened, would force us to rethink consciousness, physics, and what counts as reality, so dismissing them out of hand is a mistake.
  3. Refusing to take ontological positions (agnosticism) is itself a metaphysical stance that tends to support materialist reductionism, so we need to imagine new realities or the humanities will remain sidelined.

The Infinitude of Time (2)

Fake Noûs • 235 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Paradoxes like Zeno’s and thought experiments like Hilbert’s Hotel don’t show that actual infinities are impossible, since infinite completed processes can be coherent and the strange results are arguably acceptable.
  2. The Big Bang doesn’t force a beginning of time because cyclic or other models allow an infinite past, and positing a timeless origin is unsatisfying and unexplained; appeals to God or other causes fail because causation and action presuppose time.
  3. There’s a symmetry between past and future: it’s odd to deny a possible end of time but accept a beginning, and that intuition plus the lack of any good explanation for a beginning makes an infinite past seem more plausible.

Oudépote Legomenon

Orbis Tertius • 129 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. A hapax legomenon is a word recorded only once, but the bigger the corpus you check the fewer true hapaxes there are, and publishing a supposedly unique word instantly removes its uniqueness.
  2. If you count any sequence of words as a hapax, entire texts or novels can be unique, yet copying or embedding those texts undoes that uniqueness, so only lost or never-transcribed works could truly be one-offs.
  3. An oudépote legomenon is something never written, and more generally there are things never conceived, but as soon as you write or conceive them they stop being 'never', so you can never point to a concrete example.

Objections to Indirect Realism

Fake Noûs • 129 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Positing sense data creates a serious location problem: they can’t plausibly be in your head, at the external object, wherever they appear, or in a separate “phenomenal space” without contradictions or conflicts with physics.
  2. Percepts often appear indeterminate (e.g. vague colors or unreadable distant text), yet nothing can truly have indeterminate properties, so we can’t be directly aware of mind-dependent objects that exactly match these indeterminate appearances.
  3. The better view is that perception directly presents ordinary physical objects and properties, while our perceptual states sometimes represent those objects imprecisely rather than revealing separate sense-data entities.

The fourfold prophecy engine

Philosophy bear • 42 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Use a simple random method (repeated d4 rolls) to generate four prompt words, then meditate on their connections or turn them into a poem, painting, or scene.
  2. A structured symbol catalogue is provided across four realms—Cosmos, Bios, Psyche, and Polis—each with thematic quartets to supply varied lenses and imagery.
  3. Approach the exercise calmly and with the intention to learn and help; interpret each concept flexibly for self-knowledge and contemplation rather than literal fortune-telling.
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The Fractal Ratchet

Desystemize • 1966 implied HN points • 20 Oct 24
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. There are two main ways people understand the world: one focuses on strict evidence and science, while the other values common sense and personal experience. Both have their strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation.
  2. The 'fractal ratchet' concept explains how deeper scrutiny often leads to discovering more detail, but it can also make comparisons difficult. When you look at things more closely, you might keep finding more complexity instead of reaching a clear 'true' answer.
  3. When making decisions or forming opinions, it's important to know when to rely on precise measurements and scientific reasoning versus when to trust your intuition and common sense. Balancing both approaches can help you navigate complex issues more effectively.

Ultrafinitism

Infinitely More • 48 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Ultrafinitism is the view that only relatively small or computationally accessible numbers truly exist, and extremely large numbers conventionally discussed by mathematicians are denied.
  2. This stance is different from general anti-realism because it accepts small numbers as unproblematic while treating very large numbers as ontologically different or nonexistent.
  3. A central challenge is the 'draw the line' objection: it’s hard to specify where feasible numbers stop and huge ones begin, and this makes concrete questions about enormous expressions difficult or undecidable.

Configurancy

Breaking Smart • 43 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Heidegger's idea of 'Care' as the basis for understanding existence is too vague and normatively loaded. It's hard to use 'Care' as a foundational concept because it carries so many emotional and ethical meanings.
  2. The new idea of 'Configurancy' is about how things and people relate over time to create a meaningful world. It's a process that describes how worlds and individuals come together without carrying any specific emotional weight.
  3. Configurancy helps us understand existence without tying it to goals or feelings. It shows that meaning arises from relationships and changes, rather than aiming for a fixed purpose.

AI, or, Shifty Epistemics and Shaky Ontologies

Deep Fix • 491 implied HN points • 07 Jul 23
đź•ą Technology Ontology
  1. AI technology can lead to a breakdown in how we know and understand information, potentially causing chaos and confusion.
  2. The use of AI in an era of eroding trust and extreme ideologies may worsen division and extremism in society.
  3. Concerns exist about the worldviews and intentions of individuals, especially men, behind AI technology, with fears of their impact on society and humanity.

Two visions of ultrafinitism intricately intertwined

Infinitely More • 25 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. There are two ultrafinitist views: one posits a largest natural number, and the other accepts successor, addition, and multiplication as total but not exponentiation.
  2. Model theory tightly connects them: truncations of bounded-induction models produce finite-arithmetic models, and every finite-arithmetic model can be seen as a truncation of some bounded-induction model.
  3. Each finite-arithmetic model has a unique smallest extension to a bounded-induction model that makes addition and multiplication fully determined, so the two approaches end up sharing the same semantic landscape.

Electrons, Alternate Universes, and the Ontological Commitments of Physics: A Handy Guide to Hossenfelder vs. Goff

Philosophy for the People w/Ben Burgis • 319 implied HN points • 03 Dec 23
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Philosopher Philip Goff and physicist Sabine Hossenfelder concluded their Twitter debate on electrons and alternate universes.
  2. The discussion highlights the intersection of philosophy and physics in understanding ontological commitments.
  3. The resolution between Goff and Hossenfelder signifies an end to the Great Electron Twitter War of 2023.

The Unreasonable Ineffectiveness of Effective Altruism in thinking about AI

Ulysses • 179 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Knowledge systems using symbolic logic in natural language are heuristic and capture reality imperfectly.
  2. Validity of heuristics depends on the similarity between the original context and current application.
  3. Rigid deontological symbolic morality may fail in reasoning about new events like AI, leading to ineffective discussions and decision-making.

Meta-rational practices: Overview 2

Meaningness • 119 implied HN points • 16 Mar 24
🚌 Education Ontology
  1. Opportunities for meta-rational improvement can be categorized in different sites for enhancing rationality
  2. Improving circumrational practice involves methods like better material supports, skills training, and proceduralization
  3. Enhancing the ontology includes steps like merging categories, splitting distinctions, and reassigning cases

The Pragmatists Handbook: Transjectivity

Divergent Futures • 2 HN points • 13 Sep 24
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Truth isn't just about what's real or what we feel; it comes from how we connect with the world around us. This idea is called transjectivity, showing that understanding comes from our interactions.
  2. The way we categorize things, like calling a chair a 'chair', is influenced by both what we see and how we use it. It's about finding what fits well in our lives, not just what exists independently.
  3. Our views and meanings can change based on our experiences and environment. This means that understanding truth is flexible and evolves as we learn and grow.

"Mary's Room" Is Not a Case Against Physicalism (But Physicalism Still Fails)

Ethics Under Construction • 15 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. The knowledge argument shows you can know all the physical facts and still not know what an experience is like, so there is an epistemic gap between description and lived experience.
  2. Experiencing something (like red or sweetness) is itself a fact about that property, not an extra mysterious add-on, so leaving out experience misunderstands what those properties are.
  3. Physicalism can reply that the epistemic gap is just a different mode of presentation, but that misses the deeper point that subjective facts are immediate and foundational, so physical explanations are grounded in, rather than fully exhaustive of, experience.

The surreal line is topologically disconnected—or is it?

Infinitely More • 25 implied HN points • 15 Nov 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. The surreal line can be seen as disconnected based on one way of thinking about connectedness. It's like having gaps that separate parts of a line.
  2. On another hand, if we consider how sets and classes differ, the surreal line appears connected. This means when viewed differently, those gaps can seem to vanish.
  3. Understanding these ideas helps explain why the surreal numbers are unique and fascinating, showing how different perspectives can change our view of mathematics.

Ontological Shielding in New-paradigm Research

Charles Eisenstein • 3 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Some phenomena seem observer-dependent: the beliefs, intentions, and relationships of experimenters and witnesses can co-create outcomes, so strict replication and detached objectivity may fail.
  2. Ontological shielding is a deliberate research strategy that hides experiments from mainstream scrutiny to create a hospitable reality-bubble where a phenomenon can emerge and mature, with different shielding layers serving different goals.
  3. Forcing new-paradigm results into public proof can destroy both the research and the phenomenon, so careful incubation in protected contexts (even if it invites skeptics, frauds, or secrecy) can let innovations become robust enough to enter wider reality.

Mystery of The Origin Node — Take the Leap

Generative Forms • 39 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Greatness takes time and can't be rushed. It's about continuous effort and dedication without expecting immediate results.
  2. Taking a leap of faith is essential for growth. You need to act despite fears and doubts to bring your visions to life.
  3. Every act of greatness is unique and cannot be replicated. It emerges from individual effort and the right moment, not from trying to force it.

Infinitesimals revisited

Infinitely More • 38 implied HN points • 04 Jul 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Infinitesimals were once thought to be nonsense in calculus but actually led to important mathematical breakthroughs. They help us understand changes in functions in a very effective way.
  2. Nonstandard analysis, introduced in the 1960s, provides a solid way to use infinitesimals rigorously through hyperreal numbers. This helps to connect the old and modern approaches in calculus.
  3. Different perspectives on nonstandard analysis can lead to various mathematical ideas and research directions, showing that there's not just one correct way to approach mathematical concepts.

Moving the goal posts

Sunday Letters • 79 implied HN points • 29 May 23
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. People often change the rules of a debate when they don't like the outcome. This is called 'moving the goalposts' and it can be tricky.
  2. Arguments about concepts like 'understanding' or 'identity' can become confusing if everyone doesn't agree on what those terms mean.
  3. Instead of arguing over vague definitions, it's better to focus on how we use those terms in real situations and have clear discussions when definitions are necessary.

The Most Generated Barn in America

Cybernetic Forests • 79 implied HN points • 08 Jan 23
đź•ą Technology Ontology
  1. Different names proposed before settling on 'photograph' offer unique perspectives on how people made sense of images.
  2. AI images are not photographs, as they use light differently and inscribe ontologies onto noise using data and categories.
  3. Ontolography, a proposed term for AI-generated images, emphasizes the domain-specific knowledge influencing their production and underlines how they are shaped by the category assignments and labels given to them.

What is Truth (Part 1: Defining Truth)

Ethics Under Construction • 10 implied HN points • 16 Aug 25
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Truth is all about reasons. It means the explanations we have that help us understand and reduce doubt about things.
  2. Everything has a reason behind it. If something is true, there should always be a solid explanation why it's true.
  3. Understanding truth as just reasons makes it easier to see how everything connects. It’s not some mysterious thing; it’s just about having the right justifications for what we know.

What is the essential structure of the complex numbers?

Infinitely More • 38 implied HN points • 10 Nov 24
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. There are different ways to think about complex numbers, like focusing on their algebraic or topological structures. Each viewpoint gives us unique insights into how complex numbers behave.
  2. Mathematicians don't all agree on what the essential structure of complex numbers is, leading to multiple interpretations. It shows us that understanding math can be quite flexible.
  3. The paper identifies four main perspectives on complex numbers, which can help clarify the discussions around their nature and engage with broader philosophical questions in mathematics.

You are astonishingly unique

inexactscience • 19 implied HN points • 27 Jul 23
đź“– Philosophy Ontology
  1. Your existence is extremely rare and special. Every generation of your ancestors had to survive for you to be here today.
  2. The chances of your specific lineage and circumstances coming together are astronomically low. It's like winning a cosmic lottery.
  3. Everyone you meet is also incredibly unique. We are all part of a vast story of chance and choices that led to our existence.