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History of Philosophy: Metaphysics to Self-Models

This document explores the journey of philosophical thought from ancient inquiries about reality to modern innovations in AI. Our aim is to demonstrate how philosophy is not just an academic discipline but a living, evolving practice that can augment our use of AI and help solve new and complex problems.

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Introduction

Philosophy has grappled with the big questions: What is reality? How do we know what we know? What does it mean to live a good life? Each era approached these questions differently, influenced by its cultural context and technological capabilities. Today, as we face unprecedented technological advancements, we can integrate these inquiries with cutting-edge tools. Epistemic Me is an SDK designed to model “Selves” as Self-Models, offering developers a philosophical toolkit to build systems that process information and adapt and learn like humans. By integrating insights from philosophy, neuroscience, and AI, we can create technology that aligns with human experience.

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Epistemic Me: Philosophy Meets Technology

At the intersection of philosophy and technology, Epistemic Me embodies the meta-modern ethos by embracing complexity and fostering integration. Our SDK models “Selves” as Self-Models, allowing developers to create systems that perceive, predict, and adapt in ways akin to human cognition. Each Self-Model has a philosophy with explicit Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology, and Ontology. By incorporating predictive processing, our tools enable conceptualization of an agent’s internal models of the world. In turn, the model can be used to model the agent’s capacity to predict of outcomes, and adjust their actions accordingly. This aligns with the philosophical progression toward understanding the self and reality as dynamic, interconnected processes.

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Epistemology

As seen in the name Epistemic Me, our definition of epistemology plays a large role in how we choose to build models of self and the belief systems that comprise them. Epistemology is traditionally defined as the study of knowledge and justified belief. It questions what knowledge is, how it is acquired, and the extent to which it is possible for a given subject or entity to be known. We take the philosophical stance that epistemology is a dynamic process that absorbs events about a user or the world and updates the internal belief system of the self-model. With beliefs now updated, this epistemology can be used to engage with the world for more information (e.g., by asking questions) or to predict responses to future inputs (e.g., anticipate answers to questions). In other words, we define epistemology as the interface through which models of self process and respond to the world. This approach to “pluggable” epistemologies enables us to treat conceptual frameworks like Predictive Processing as tools for generating an internal self-model from events. It also allows us to implement alternative methods of belief updating—such as deconstructive epistemologies, the scientific method, and reinforcement learning—that can be used for benchmarking performance and inviting the larger philosophical and scientific communities to contribute new epistemic frameworks to Epistemic Me.

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Conclusion

The journey from ancient philosophers’ metaphysical speculations to meta-modernism reveals a clear trend: an ever-deepening understanding of reality that embraces complexity and seeks to integrate knowledge across disciplines and subjective experiences. Epistemic Me stands on this continuum, offering tools that are both philosophically grounded and technologically advanced. By simplifying the history of philosophy into a coherent narrative, we aim to inspire you to see the relevance of these ideas today. Whether you’re a developer, a thinker, or curious about the interplay between philosophy and technology, explore how philosophical tools can inform and enhance modern innovation. Join us in bridging timeless philosophical questions and cutting-edge possibilities of AI. Together, we can build a future where technology understands us.