Cormac McCarthy, Creativity, and Big Questions

David Krakauer is a leading complex systems researcher and the president of the Santa Fe Institute, a unique institution dedicated to studying complex systems across disciplines. In this episode, David challenges conventional wisdom about AI, arguing that large language models pose a more immediate threat to humanity than commonly discussed existential risks—not by destroying us directly, but by eroding our cognitive capabilities through addictive, low-quality information.

We explore:

• Why David believes LLMs aren't intelligent at all and how the AI community misunderstands emergence

• The three dimensions of intelligence: inference, representation, and strategy—and which one LLMs lack

• How AI acts as a "competitive" rather than "complementary" cognitive technology, atrophying our thinking abilities

• What makes great minds unique, from analogical reasoning to the cultivation of unconscious creativity

• How Cormac McCarthy's approach to knowledge and creativity offers lessons for the AI age

• Why David believes the greatest threat from AI isn't existential risk but cognitive atrophy

• How to protect your mind against AI's addictive pull and maintain cognitive autonomy

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/maintaining-human-intelligence-in-the-ai-era-david-krakauer

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:39) The Santa Fe Institute’s approach to complex systems

(06:45) Murray Gell-Mann’s ‘Odysseus vs. Apollonian’

(10:35) How SFI was shaped by the legacy of Los Alamos

(12:45) Traits David looks for in great minds

(14:43) Cormac McCarthy on naivety and how thoughtful people treat knowledge

(19:24) A simple explanation of complexity science

(22:50) Why vantage point doesn’t matter when studying systems

(24:36) Aesthetic preferences among complexity scientists

(26:07) Films and directors with complexity science themes

(29:57) Why David argues LLMs are not intelligent

(32:10) What’s missing in the study of LLMs

(36:40) The three qualities of intelligence and how LLMs measure up

(42:19) Lessons from "The Glass Bead Game"

(44:00) David’s perspective on reinforcement learning

(45:38) The greatest threat of LLMs: overreliance and the decline of thinking

(47:40) Competitive vs. complementary cognitive artifacts

(51:55) Why exposing yourself to quality ideas matters

(54:00) How to derisk LLM use

(58:32) Cormac McCarthy’s legacy at SFI and beyond

(1:02:40) The Kekulé Problem: cultivating the unconscious

(1:05:01) Why David and McCarthy were inspired by Wittgenstein

(1:09:00) What Cormac McCarthy liked to talk about

(1:12:20) David’s questions to a higher being

(1:14:46) Final meditations

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Follow David Krakauer

Website: https://davidckrakauer.com/

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Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• “The Hedgehog and the Fox”: https://www.amazon.com/Hedgehog-Fox-Tolstoys-History-Second/dp/069115600X

• The Birds and The Frogs: https://www.amazon.com/Aristophanes-Frogs-Birds/dp/B000QBPUTY

• The Glass Bead Game: https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bead-Game-Magister-Novel/dp/0312278497

• Frankenstein: https://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-Mary-Shelley/dp/0486282112

• Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Meridian-Evening-Redness-West/dp/0679728759

• Stella Maris: https://www.amazon.com/Stella-Maris-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307269000

• The Passenger: https://www.amazon.com/Passenger-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307268993/

• Pale Fire: https://www.amazon.com/Pale-Fire-Vladimir-Nabokov/dp/0679723420

...Episode resources continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/maintaining-human-intelligence-in-the-ai-era-david-krakauer

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