The space of minds

29 Nov, 2025

The space of intelligences is large and animal intelligence (the only kind we've ever known) is only a single point (or a little cloud), arising from a very specific kind of optimization that is fundamentally distinct from that of our technology.

Above: humorous portrayals of human vs. AI intelligences can be found on X/Twitter, this one is among my favorites.

Animal intelligence optimization pressure:

innate and continuous stream of consciousness of an embodied "self", a drive for homeostasis and self-preservation in a dangerous, physical world.

thoroughly optimized for natural selection => strong innate drives for power-seeking, status, dominance, reproduction. many packaged survival heuristics: fear, anger, disgust, ...

fundamentally social => huge amount of compute dedicated to EQ, theory of mind of other agents, bonding, coalitions, alliances, friend & foe dynamics.

exploration & exploitation tuning: curiosity, fun, play, world models.

Meanwhile, LLM intelligence optimization pressure:

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