20210103 Trying not to try

I don't think Edward Slingerland makes an argument[1] for the Laozian fall from grace. He is just summarizing one of the two "opposing" ancient Chinese philosophies—the other being a Confucian drive to civilize by imposing order. I gather the former is based on the premise that most people are inherently good but are then poisoned by morality; the latter, that most people are inherently bad—or at least lazy—but can be trained. I put "opposing" in quotes because—I believe this is Slingerland's point—both of these philosophies offer pragmatic wisdom; by holding both in mind simultaneously, the tension is likely to generate a yet higher wisdom: an ongoing appreciation for the importance of local, particular context in selecting the best action—or non-action—in a given situation.

This leads directly to Slingerland's actual exhortation: make selection of the best response automatic yet context-sensitive by fusing system I (fast) and system II (slow) thinking. I largely interpret this as feeding system I high utility stuff via repetition so that instantaneous responses become more effective and are consistent with one's ethics. That seems to be the basis of wu-wei in Taoism, the practical outcome of Zen Buddhism, and rings true with my life-long project of building my best robot self: made of [automatic] processes and love.

Here is the money quote from Trying Not to Try:

« There is now general agreement that human thought is characterized by two distinct systems that have very different characteristics. The first and most important of these (tacit, hot cognition, or “System 1”) is fast, automatic, effortless, and mostly unconscious, corresponding roughly to what we think of as “the body” and what Zhuangzi calls the “Heavenly mechanism.” The second (explicit, cold cognition, or “System 2”) is slow, deliberate, effortful, and conscious, corresponding roughly to our “mind”—that is, our conscious, verbal selves ... The goal of wu-wei is to get these two selves working together smoothly and effectively. For a person in wu-wei, the mind is embodied and the body is mindful; the two systems—hot and cold, fast and slow—are completely integrated. The result is an intelligent spontaneity that is perfectly calibrated to the environment. »

See also Simultaneous which I wrote before exposure to Slingerland or Kahneman (who popularized the examination of fast vs. slow thinking).

[1] Actually he did make a very good argument for one, then the other. Which was awesome because I was completely drawn into the one before he reversed and I got whiplash. But the point wasn't that one was right and the other wrong. The duality was the point.