Think beyond

I've been thinking about this recently. How do we make breakthroughs? How do we humans learn and make unique connections?

What is it about us that, currently, AI cannot replace.

I strongly feel as though referential thinking is one of the non-replaceable aspects of the human experience.

I came to know of this type of thinking while reading Godel, Escher, Bach. A concept of strange loops applied to the work of three individuals in three different domains. But it extends further – the idea is that we consciously and sub-consciously make connections between different aspects of our lives on a regular basis. It is as familiar as the way a certain song can carry you back to a place you haven’t seen in years. As surprising as realizing a lesson your parents taught you is hidden in the way you now lead a team. As quiet as a memory surfacing while you wash the dishes.

This is nothing revolutionary. We draw on our past experiences because that is all we have. If we are to be modelled as partially observable markov decision processes (another RL reference), then all we can refer to our is our past episodes/memory.

Our loops are strange because they are recursive in a way machines are not: we reference the past not only as data but as meaning, and that meaning reshapes the self that will reference it next time.

In this way, referential thinking is not just a cognitive process—it’s a self-writing story. Each loop draws from all previous loops, creating a pattern that is recognizably ours. We are both the author and the audience, reading the story of ourselves as we write it, again and again, each return making the original richer.

All this being said, I want to create.

I feel such a creative force in me. I am convinced there will be a time when I will create something good every day, on a regular basis. I am doing my very best to put in every effort because I am longing so much to make beautiful things. But beautiful things mean painstaking work, disappointment, and perseverance.

Hence, create. Here's the idea

• Grove 2.0 but for referential thinking
• Combine it with Cluely, an agent that can see most things you do and has an easy data ingestion pipeline (think AI interviewer).