Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 1675 answers
When an agent fails to fire or produces bad results you learn how to improve it.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Pick one agent you already run — a repeatable behavior triggered by a specific situation. Write down the schema it operates on: what does this agent assume about the world? Then ask three questions. First, where did this assumption come from? Second, when was the last time I tested it? Third, what.
Building sophisticated agents on top of unexamined schemas. You get faster at producing the wrong outputs. The agent fires with perfect reliability, but the underlying model of reality is distorted — so every reliable action takes you further from where you actually want to go. Efficiency without.
Every agent embeds assumptions about the world — the schema it uses must be accurate.
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Identify one recurring social situation where you consistently react in ways you later regret — receiving criticism, giving difficult feedback, handling an interruption, navigating a disagreement. Write out the current script: what triggers it, what you typically feel, what you typically do, and.
Designing a social agent that sounds good on paper but ignores your actual emotional state in the moment. The most common failure is skipping emotion regulation and jumping straight to the "correct" response — which produces wooden, inauthentic interactions that feel performative to both parties..
Agents for how to respond in social situations like receiving criticism or giving feedback.
Agents for recurring decision types like buy-versus-build or accept-versus-decline.
Agents for recurring decision types like buy-versus-build or accept-versus-decline.
Agents for recurring decision types like buy-versus-build or accept-versus-decline.
Agents for recurring decision types like buy-versus-build or accept-versus-decline.
Agents for recurring decision types like buy-versus-build or accept-versus-decline.
Identify one recurring decision you face at least monthly — accepting a meeting, buying a tool, saying yes to a social invitation, choosing what to work on first each morning. Write out the criteria you actually use when deciding well (not when deciding hastily or emotionally). Format them as a.
Designing decision agents for situations that are genuinely novel and then following them rigidly. Not every decision is recurring. If you apply a buy-versus-build checklist to a once-in-a-career strategic pivot, the checklist will produce an answer — but the answer will be wrong, because the.