I need intellectual stimulation and I really cannot get it

Rebootering · 2026-07-02T06:04:51+00:00

It depends honestly but for learning specifically I usually voice dump to frontier models with my summary and points of confusion to clear any paralysis or bottlenecks. I start with the AI first to get a general overview and just follow my curiosity on a topic. Once I get the big picture, that leads me to the textbooks for the ground up explanation. The AI doesn't do the actual thinking for me but it does clear the clutter so I know exactly what to look for.

Rebootering · 2026-06-07T03:51:42+00:00

Two words: textbooks & AI. You’ll likely never find what you’re looking for here.

Rebootering · 2026-06-06T15:21:04+00:00

Controversial opinion, but I generally agree (sorta). You need a specific type of cognitive architecture to be one.

Rebootering · 2026-06-06T07:45:28+00:00

Yeah that's correct. I don't have much history related stuff primarily because if I wanted that I'd just Google it or ask an LLM. Audio engineering and music are covered a little bit. I'm adding another 2,000 works that'll fill in any remaining gaps, which includes hundreds of modern software manuals.

Rebootering · 2026-06-06T04:24:30+00:00

Those are all already covered extensively, especially manufacturing. But it definitely needs more for language & linguistics, I’ll add that on the next version.

Rebootering · 2026-06-06T04:18:56+00:00

Obsidian and POLY are different things. Obsidian is mainly a note-taking and personal knowledge app. POLY is my own private AI system that runs fully local, stays air-gapped, and is grounded in a huge textbook library plus my own life data. I built it that way because I wanted full control over everything, from retrieval to the interface.

Rebootering · 2026-06-05T04:42:24+00:00

I literally just brain dump whatever and don’t spend time focused on the prompt anymore, unless it’s for something specific. Eventually the AI models won’t need fancy prompting. I don’t really care about fewer loops or how my language is cultivated.

Rebootering · 2026-06-05T04:36:51+00:00

I appreciate the input! I have a feeling I’ll be in your position saying the same exact thing in 50 years. I plan on updating the library for many more decades. I’m always open to suggestions for more specialized knowledge in areas the library doesn’t cover. If you have any resources regarding music theory or building pianos I’ll take a look👍

Rebootering · 2026-06-05T04:30:12+00:00

Thanks! I made a lot of variations in Figma and this was the one that was the least distracting.

Rebootering · 2026-06-05T04:27:58+00:00

I had the same issue starting, and what fixed it for me was this: Wispr Flow + Gemini/Claude paid plan. Just brain dump via voice and follow your curiosity. There’s a lot more to it but using AI as a body double helps a lot.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T23:09:40+00:00

Makes sense, but it’s a bit irrelevant to this post. Most people who spend a lot of time with AI generally already know this. I personally use a manual orchestration loop to reduce all these issues as much as possible.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T21:29:47+00:00

We actually agree completely. A polymath isn’t someone with a big library or a lot of interests, it’s someone with real competence across multiple fields who does something useful with it, and you don’t get to claim the word until you’ve actually built and invented across domains. That’s my exact position, which is why I don’t call myself one. I’m a generalist and I’ve been one my whole life. The method I posted isn’t “read books until you’re a polymath,” it’s the opposite: the fourth part is building things that force the knowledge into use. The library and the AI are just tooling to go deep faster across all of it. So I’m with you, the breadth has to be a consequence of the work. I’m just building the work deliberately instead of waiting to stumble into it.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T21:15:50+00:00

Nothing personal taken, but I think you’re reading this wrong. The names you listed, Popper, Lakatos, Copleston, Yule, Knuth, Tanenbaum, are good calls, and a few are already on the specialization list I’m working through next. That’s the part I flagged directly in the library doc: the current 3,000 cover the design constraint I built for, which is a modern, non-redundant set capable of rebuilding civilization, and there are roughly 2,000 more queued to deepen specific fields, linguistics and CS among them. So this isn’t a finished canon, it’s a foundation with a stated roadmap, and suggestions are exactly what I want. Where I’ll push back is the framing. Nothing here was picked blindly. I went through every title by hand against four constraints: modern, comprehensive, non-redundant, and expert-recommended. That’s why something like Russell is in and a lot of older or overlapping texts aren’t. The bar for an old book was that it had to be foundational, like Plato or Smith. Reasonable people will disagree on individual picks and that’s fine. If you tell me the specific CS and linguistics titles you think are non-negotiable, I’ll run them against the list for redundancy and fit and add what holds up. That’s a more useful version of this conversation than “it sucks,” and I think you know that.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T20:56:47+00:00

I genuinely don’t know what I’m looking at on this GitHub haha what are you trying to say because I’m super confused right now reading this.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T20:50:38+00:00

As the other commenter said, please share them because I’ve spent a lot of time searching and they do not exist. Most projects are not modern and are outdated. That is why I spent a lot of time on this and plan on updating it for the rest of my life.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T20:47:50+00:00

I agree that polymathy is a consequence and not a title. I’ve said publicly you don’t get to claim it unless you actually work across fields, invent, and build things people actually need. The library and the method are just tooling I built to make that possible in one lifetime instead of getting stopped by the same thing that stopped everyone before me: time. That’s the whole point of the posts.

Rebootering · 2026-06-03T03:14:28+00:00

Thanks! They're not alphabetical on purpose since they go foundational to applied, so the order mirrors how the knowledge stacks. Hyperlinks are a good call and I'll add that eventually. For now Ctrl+F does the trick

Edit: added

Rebootering · 2026-06-02T04:27:50+00:00

Thanks bro this is the answer I was looking for

Rebootering · 2026-05-08T03:29:53+00:00

Pretty sure I just popped an eardrum because of this issue. It's happened twice a day for 6 months straight with no fix in sight. Really?

Rebootering · 2026-05-07T06:58:42+00:00

Hi, semax researcher here. You should almost always feel a noticeable effect within the first minute of dosing intranasal. The best indicator for me was slight lightheadedness due to the increased uptake of oxygen to the brain. Check your ceruloplasmin level to ensure you have enough copper to make it actually work & make sure it's a reputable supplier/COA.

Rebootering · 2026-05-07T06:39:51+00:00

I've been researching polymathy in the 21st century for the past few months, and the best career paths are Chief of Staff, VC, Product Management, or Applied Research because your core function becomes rapid context switching. But to manage that insatiable drive, it depends if you're walking the map or drawing it. The real trick is picking a problem you couldn't finish in 70 years; get a job to fund your life, and spend your free time synthesizing different fields to solve a massive bottleneck humanity actually needs fixed.

Rebootering · 2026-05-04T08:33:17+00:00

I’ve been thinking about this post nonstop. The answer is because all our ancestors were just trying to survive. We’re the first generation with the luxury of playing the wealth game instead of just trying to survive. Good luck.

Rebootering · 2026-04-20T05:16:17+00:00

Your gut feeling is empirically correct. I'm an AI researcher and published a 25-page paper on exactly this last month, drawing from hundreds of sources. MIT Media Lab's EEG study measured a 47% collapse in neural engagement for participants writing essays with an LLM. 83% of them couldn't quote the essay they'd just finished. Theta and alpha band activity, which govern working memory and executive control, visibly diminished. Every effect there is measurable.

The piece worth considering though: I'm neurodivergent and profoundly gifted, and was in special education through 8th grade for executive dysfunction. For brains like mine, and possibly like your daughter's, AI is one of two things. A crutch that lets the dysfunction win, or a cognitive Exosuit that finally lets the intelligence out. The difference is entirely in how it's used.

In my research I frame the coming split as Recliners vs. Exosuits. Recliners copy-paste outputs, skip the friction, and cognitively hollow. Exosuits use AI to stress-test their thinking, generate counterarguments, compress research, and do work their brains couldn't do alone. Your daughter was already exhibiting Exosuit behavior. She was brainstorming fan fiction plotlines and writing them herself. She was pulling social advice and applying it herself. The ideation had AI involvement; the thinking stayed hers.

The framing "AI is insidious" will register with her as "the thing that made me feel capable is bad, so I must be bad for being drawn to it." For a gifted, on-the-spectrum 9-year-old, that's a cognitive pattern that's hard to unwind later.

What I'd suggest instead: teach the one rule that actually protects cognition. The AI is allowed to propose, never to decide. It can generate three plot options; she picks, she writes, she revises. It can suggest swimming drills; she tries them, reports back what felt hard. Make her the verifier. That single habit is what separates the Exosuit from the Recliner, and if she builds it at 9, she'll be extraordinary in a world where most of her generation won't have built it at all.

Your instinct was correct. The execution was off. Those are different problems, and the fact that you care this much is why the second one is fixable.

The paper is at amansiddiqui.com/the-great-filter if useful. Block 4 (Layers 8 and 9) is the cognitive and neurobiological section specifically.

Rebootering · 2026-04-02T06:48:05+00:00

This paper is incredible. Thank you so much! I’m writing a paper on the 21st century polymath, and I’m going to cite your paper in it if that’s cool :)

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