“Which is to say: To form accurate beliefs about something, you really do have to observe it. It’s a very physical, very real process: any rational mind does ‘work’ in the thermodynamic sense, not just the sense of mental effort.”

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QkX2bAkwG2EpGvNug/the-second-law-of-thermodynamics-and-engines-of-cognition

I’ve been reading some of these essays with interest; a few other ones that I particularly liked:

https://philosophynow.org/issues/46/Newtons_Flaming_Laser_Sword (a mathematician’s perspective of philosophy, and a new name for Popperian philosophy)

http://yudkowsky.net/rational/the-simple-truth/ (‘“That’s absurd!” sputters Mark. “I don’t believe in magic that works whether or not you believe in it!”’)

http://lesswrong.com/lw/i4/belief_in_belief/ (“As Daniel Dennett observes, where it is difficult to believe a thing, it is often much easier to believe that you ought to believe it.”)

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