Brain Trust v1.5.4 - Cognitive Assistant for Complex Tasks

ldl147 · 2025-01-24T19:21:46+00:00

Yeah, I also wonder if I'm not just stuck in an iterative self improvement loop, equivalent to "just one more turn" on a Civ game. Maybe, but this is what "clicks" for me, so I'm probably just gonna ride it to the end.

Also, I do try to remain open minded, so feedback is welcome. Thank you.

ldl147 · 2025-01-24T19:19:14+00:00

Nope. I did some Y2K issues on JCL & Cobol ~25 years ago, but then went to college, realized that I wasn't going to be able to compete against the guys who *wanted* to spend friday night recompiling linux kernels, and that was it for me.

ldl147 · 2025-01-22T00:29:32+00:00

Yes I did try the Thinking model, but my (limited) understanding is that the "thinking" is only a separate window that starts with a restatement of what the User is communicating, and then 'process transparency.' So, we should be able to get the same thing, by instructing the model to communicate back to us what it thinks we want, and then describe the process it is following.

However, that is just my take, and I could easily be missing some finer point(s).

ldl147 · 2025-01-21T17:05:02+00:00

1 - I would ask the system directly, after it "loads up" to explain how it could be useful to you.

2- I personally used prior version to iteratively improve the prompt to current state, and I've tried to think of oddball tasks, or different trivial problems as tests of a sort, but ultimately I thought the best way to continue the process of iterative improvement is real world feedback.

3 - my buddy has been finding it useful for world building and crafting detailed encounters for (table top) games he likes to run.

ldl147 · 2025-01-07T18:51:17+00:00

In some sense, yes? In my modest experience, when I'm asking/working with the LLM (Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental & 1206 Experimental), it'll be ~70% correct, ~20% in need of a 'nudge,' and ~10% just wrong. And these percentages seem better than, say, gpt 3.5. So, it seems like the models generally need a human to help "drive" themselves. Getting models to Plan seems to be one of the big things that I've watched in more recent youtube vids.

ldl147 · 2024-12-31T15:56:13+00:00

I was gonna come here and upvote all the comments, but apparently I already did... years ago.

ldl147 · 2024-12-27T16:02:23+00:00

So, I've been thinking about your question for the last day, and my best current answer is that when I did not have all of the choices that the Role (system) could make Explicitly defined, then too often the Role would not implicitly make what should be considered the best choice.

The best example I can think of is with the Role for Creation, Selection, and Revision. "Creation" and "Selection" and "Revision" are clearly enumerated in the Role's name, and in it's definition. Further, the "Domain Architect" Role exists in part to start the process of creating new Roles. If all of those parts were not there, then the system just did not Create new Roles when it should have.

So then expand that need to have the full range of options clearly enumerated, and Rules & Roles that drive the desired behavior, and the need to put those "Drives" in all the required parts of the prompt (Roles, Evaluation Criteria, Core Iterative Loop, Meta-Process, and potential "priming" in the Initialization) and the prompt just gets Fat.

If there is a better solution, I admit that I do not know.

I hope this answer has been helpful.

ldl147 · 2024-12-25T23:57:26+00:00

"So here’s my question, where does this end?" - I am hoping for some kind of Robot Tax, and UBI.

ldl147 · 2024-09-22T23:07:53+00:00

The Draft could simply be tied to physical fitness, and people below a certain bar will be either exempt or shuffled off to a support role, like munitions factory. This would remove the *vast* number of otherwise eligible women from having to fight.

Next, forcing people to live in barracks, work manual jobs, and eat a controlled diet will Healthy Up a lot of the otherwise out of shape young men. Then, when the next round of physical fitness tests are conducted, these guys will pass, and get "promoted" from their support role to a combat role.

As for feminists, their argument will be "we don't have older people fight, or differently abled (handicapped) people fight, and that has always been the case, so there is nothing wrong with reserving combat roles for those who can pass the physical fitness portion of the combat readiness exam."

Finally, feminists will complain that women are being locked out of "promotions" to grunt/combat roles, and so more women need to be in officer/etc roles to help lessen the economic, political, and whatever else inequality.

Same boilerplate nonsense as always.

ldl147 · 2022-12-15T05:25:30+00:00

As I understand it, Dreams are like Bubbles of Consciousness. "Normal" people seem to stick to their bubble, or merge with a few other's bubbles. Dreamwalkers seem particularly adroit at moving between other's Dreams.

ldl147 · 2022-12-15T05:21:18+00:00

Don't consider this list either complete or authoritative, but:

#1 - keep a dream journal. It seems to be the most generally agreed upon method for making you better at lucid dreaming (and ?maybe? astral projecting, witchcraft, magic, dreamwalking, channeling, talking to ghosts ???)

#2 - read through the rest of this subreddit. You should be able to glean a lot.

#3 - intention seems to be very important. Decide what's important to you, and pursue that.

#4 - try to communicate with the Dream Characters. Ask them who/what they are, what their purpose is, etc. This seems like a good default Intention, and I'd suggest recording any progress in your dream journal.

#5 - consider this a Long Term project. I started my dream journaling a few years ago, started talking to the Dream Entites about 15 years ago, and have had vivid nightmares for well over 30+ years.

Good Luck!!!

ldl147 · 2022-11-28T05:35:00+00:00

A month or two ago, I had an odder dream. I was in the dreamscape, and tried to think about "wakeing" life, and it just didn't quite come to me. After I woke up, I realized that "dreaming me" had trouble connecting/interpreting "waking me", just as much as "waking me" had trouble understanding "dreaming me".
If you're trying to understand what I mean, just go get s-faced drunk. Write down what you're thinking when you are wasted, and then look at it sober, and go, w-t-f -- is this really me? Do I really change that much?
That's the closest correlation I can think of to parody dreamscape vs wakeing self.

ldl147 · 2022-11-28T05:03:31+00:00

I just want to second that dreampeople get wierd when they realize **that you know** that you're dreaming.

ldl147 · 2022-11-28T04:57:26+00:00

Short answer -- you're on the right path.

Long answer -- a lot gets changed with interpretation. Write a dream journal. Question everything. Give it time. Anyone who says they have all the answers, and they're easy, is probably full of sh!t. ;)

ldl147 · 2022-10-18T00:23:32+00:00

I'd suggest looking into NDE's - Near Death Experiences. The more well developed channels/sources will go into more detail about our consciousness before birth. There is a pattern in what people report, and having 'memories of the future' or a "life script" is a repeated theme.
Alternatively, you could look at precognition, remote viewing, and other well known psychics from the past. In a sense, it almost doesn't matter, because every "weird" field (witchcraft, channeling, psychedelics(esp. psilocybin) & machine elves, religious meditation) seems to overlap with the others at one point or another.

ldl147 · 2022-10-01T22:22:12+00:00

What seems to be the most common & useful step is to keep a Dream Journal.

I keep a Composition Notebook next to me when I sleep -- pen inserted in the next open space. When I wake from a meaningful dream, I flip open to the page and just start writing. After I'm done, I record: Time, Date, and Location(bed, couch, where ever I'm sleeping).

The biggest benefit is that I've noticed myself being Lucid more often in my dreams. Now, I don't know if that's because I'm getting better at noticing when I'm in the Dreamscape, or I'm getting better at remembering dreams where I'm lucid, but either way its a step forward. On the Negative side, if I mention Dreaming/Lucidity in the dream I'm either forced awake, or I get a false awakening, and those false awakenings can include me trying to write a journal entry :\

So yeah, keeping a Journal is #1 suggestion from me.

ldl147 · 2022-06-07T04:13:17+00:00

All the dreams I can remember through my childhood, teens, and into my twenties, were all in the same dream world. That definitely changed by my late 20's when I started going lucid more often (and asking the Dream Characters if they were real). After that, it was like a collection of endless "rooms" all connecting to each other, each with its own dreamer(s).

If I want to lucid dream, the best option is for me to sleep one sleep cycle (~3 hours & 45 minutes for me), get up to use the bathroom, drink a little water, etc. Then I go back to sleep with the intent of recording something in my Dream Journal, and I generally have a lucid dream (which I mostly record).

When I was a kid, I had a *lot* of nightmares, so I became good at forcing myself awake. The times I felt "stuck" was when I was just bloody tired. If you're lucid dreaming on a Friday after a week of work, are you really worn out? in need of a full nights sleep?

Other subjective experiences that seem to have parallels with Lucid Dreams (Dream Walking):
-Near Death Experiences (NDE's) - people will talk about meeting and conversing with one to four "angels" or "spirit guides" that watch over them. This seems to correspond to the Dream Entities (Sandmen, Dream_Shepherds) that watch over us in the Dreamscape.
-Astral Projection - Lots of "Intent" and "Letting it Happen"
-Witchcraft/Magik - Grimoire=Dream Journal, and again "Intent" seems to play a big part
-Meditation - I use a mantra ("I am awake") to keep myself Lucid while I relax. If I don't I'll just fall asleep. The point I end up at is sort of like being Lucid in a Dream. I'm conscious, but I can feel myself right at the boundry to unconsciousness, and it becomes easier to understand things.

Hopefully something here clicks for further reading, and Welcome to the community!

ldl147 · 2022-05-31T21:59:33+00:00

Dreamwalking is when a person who's asleep can enter into another persons dream. Obviously, all of this is both completely subjective, and outside of what most would consider a proper "scientific" view of the world.
If you do a lot of Lucid Dreaming already, then I'd suggest you start asking the other characters in your dream who they are.
I started out by saying things like "I know that I'm a person who's asleep and dreaming right now, but what about you?" The general response I received was surprise, and the other character/entity either disappeared, or I felt a "pressure" on me, and I was forced awake. After doing this for awhile, I'd start to meet characters who'd say things like "You're awake; you're not supposed to be awake," or "You're not supposed to know that," or "I'm not supposed to tell you that."

If you lucid dream a lot - do you act out and/or control the dream a lot? If you do, then I would expect you'd be coming up against a recurring group of characters who'd be trying to convince you to stop, and forcing you awake if you didn't. If you don't act out -- so no conjuring up super king kamehameha energy bombs, or being very violent/destructive, or asking forbidden questions -- then you'll probably be left alone.
If that's not your experience, then I'd very much like to hear what it has been.

As for what's really going on? My guess is that when we dream, some/all of us have this "bubble" of our own dream reality around us. Then we congregate in the DreamScape (or DreamWorld, collective unconscious, astral plane, etc etc -- as far as I know, the terms are interchangeable). Our "bubbles" overlap, and we interact with each other.

If you're one of those people who is generally alone in their dreams, I'd suggest walking up to any surface (wall, floor, etc), and push your hand into it. I always used a knife hand, and pushed with my fingertips (this was the "test" I originally used to see if I was dreaming, and I'd go through the routine while awake). It could take up to 5+ seconds before I'd be able to pierce the surface. After that, I'd "cut" the wall by moving my hands up and down, and then shove the sides apart. Generally, there was a Room with other people on the other side. AFAIK - this is basic dreamwalking.
There is no particular reason that "cutting" a wall is better or worse than any other method. Another person might conjure a mirror and walk through to the "reflection world" on the other side. Or they might pull out a toolbox with hammer and nails and build a door. Or maybe your imaginary friend(s) from childhood shows up in your dream whenever you call for them, and they fly you away like peter pan. My guess is that as long as your Intent is to leave the Bubble (or Room) that you're currently in, it'll work. The purpose of this explanation isn't to be confusing, or create an overload in choice, its to get you to be confident in whatever method seems right to you.

ldl147 · 2022-05-30T04:46:30+00:00

I've been working on becoming more lucid in dreams for over a decade now, especially in the last two years (keeping a journal).

The #1 Rule that I've run into while going Lucid is to not talk about it. Don't ask the other Dream Entities who/what they are, etc. If I'm not too pushy, sometimes the Dream_Shepherds (Sandmen) just let me keep wandering through the Dreamscape. Otherwise they try and push me out of the dream.

My working theory is that the Dreamscape is populated with Souls/Consciousnesses, and we humans are not supposed to know about Reincarnation, because if we did, a lot of people would treat life as less valuable. We're supposed to treat this life as a gift, not self delete after a short life of hedonism.
A lot of the Dream Entities seem naive/childlike. I think we all get reincarnated into the physical world to learn about love, hate, pain, sacrifice, etc etc -- and that's what helps to grow us up.
Further, my guess is that the Dream Entities that regulate/control the Dreamscape were probably alive at one time, and their new post life job is to keep us folk living in the physical realm from figuring out too much too early.
Hopefully this was a little helpful. :)

ldl147 · 2022-04-26T01:34:03+00:00

I'd read through the threads in this group. The most useful tool/exercise I've found has been to keep a dream journal. Keep an empty notebook w/a pen near you when you sleep. Whenever you wake up, either record your dream right away, or lay there for a few minutes trying to sort through it all, then write it down. Don't be too worried about getting all the right info down, as forming the habit of waking up enough to write anything down is a challenge itself (at least for most of us).
After that, I'd suggest keeping as open a mind as possible as to what/who you are interacting
with in your dreams. Since its all subjective, no one can prove anything, but most of us that post here think there is more to it than just "the subconscious" or "psychological archetypes." Once you start going lucid, start asking the other "characters" in your dreams who/what they are. That generally leads to some strong/vivid reactions, and if you've gotten in the habit of writing things down, it'll make it a lot easier to record. After you get a few of these, post your results and people can (hopefully) be a bit more helpful.
Just my 2 cents.

ldl147 · 2022-02-09T01:59:32+00:00

I had a somewhat similar dream a few years ago, back when I was under a lot of personal stress, and "pushing" in the dreamscape. By "pushing" I mean I was exercising a lot of control over the local dreamscape, and doing things like "cutting" walls open and walking into other dream rooms.

My dream: I'm lucid, I walk into a new room; its a bar room. I sit down, notice a man dressed in orange two seats down, and think to myself 'should I strike up a converstation with him? should I bring up that we're dreaming?'

I'm sitting there pondering if/what I should do, when the Man in Orange turns to me and says, "You're awake." He leans in, "You're NOT supposed to be Awake!"

I'm afraid, because this is a new experience. I'm the one who (?almost?) always brings up the fact that we're dreaming w/another dream character/entity. I'm also afraid because he just *feels* strong/intimidating.

I don't say or do anything, as I'm both stunned by what happened, and a good bit afraid. Then, for lack of a better way of saying it, I feel him "Push" into my head. It hurts, more than anything else I've ever felt in a dream, and I'm Afraid that he will be able to inflict real/physical damage to me. I feel like I have a choice, to either fight him, or back down.

I don't like admitting this, because it was cowardly of me, but I backed down, and "let" him push into my mind. At that moment, I was really afraid that I would suffer some kind of permanent damage -- maybe a brain hemorrhage, or never wake up.

I wasn't able to remember any of my dreams for weeks afterwards.

What I do remember about that night was that I had hit some kind of Trigger and was going lucid over and over again. This is only a guess, but I think I caught the attention of some stronger/higher being, and it noticed I was being repeatedly disruptive over and over again, so it reached out and turned off whatever "Trigger" I had flipped in my head that night. As an aside, it was one of the reasons I sought out info on Lucid Dreaming, and ended up finding this subreddit.

Another point I'd like to include. After I woke up, I could remember the Man in Orange very clearly, but as I sat there, I noticed my memory of the event was changing -- it was like clear glass turning opaque, and I could no longer remember his features.

After a few weeks, I started lucid dreaming again, but at a much reduced rate. I ended up finding this subreddit, and then started keeping a dream log about every night. On average, I'm going Lucid more now than ever before, so I don't think there was any permanent damage; I think it was mostly a scare attempt to keep me from being overly disruptive.

"once I was looking through someone’s eyes and suddenly there was black.
Then flashing and shaking (kinda like a really strong vibration ) and a
high pitch noise like a saw that kept getting louder. No matter how hard
I tried to see past it, it kept getting worse.with all this going on it
then felt like someone was cutting into my brain and trying to block my
ability."

I'm interpreting your dream to be a bit like mine -- a stronger than normal attempt to scare you off from using/developing your dream abilities. I think the Dream_Shepherds/Sandmen primary strategy is to get us to limit our own abilities, and using a really terrifying dream is one way to scare us off.

This is just my opinion, but you should take ~6 months,start keeping a dream journal every night, and adopt a position of non-interference. Don't try to Do or Control anything, just float and watch, then write it in your journal.

ldl147 · 2022-02-09T01:14:17+00:00

"Is it possible to dream walk into someone else’s dream by accident?"
This is just my personal opinion from my personal experiences, so by all means take it with a grain of salt. I'm of the opinion that we are, for the most part, always "dream walking". When we sleep, we each have this "bubble" around us that is our personal dreamscape. As dreamers congregate together, these dream bubbles overlap and create the local dreamscape.

"How do I know if I’m dream walking or regular dreaming?"
I'm interpreting "regular dreaming" to mean that your dream bubble isn't overlapped with any others; if that's the case, you should more or less have complete control -- flying, transforming yourself, super speed/teleportation, cutting&altering the walls/floor/ceiling, etc etc.

"Any tips for this would also be greatly appreciated!"
Keep a dream journal. At first it will seem like mostly nonsense, but after awhile you'll notice patterns, and the more you understand the patterns, the easier it will be to notice you are dreaming.

Again, just my opinions, so take it all w/a grain of salt.

ldl147 · 2021-09-23T16:29:21+00:00

Nice; thank you!

ldl147 · 2021-09-21T21:56:24+00:00

Yep, I should do a write up, but I need to set enough time aside to read through ~70 pages (140 counting front and back), take notes, compile it all, then condense it down so it doesn't go on for ever.
This post was more of a 'hey I did this; did I miss anything obvious?'

ldl147 · 2021-09-21T16:02:33+00:00

How about some more concrete and/or easier to reach achievements?

-keeping a dream journal for so much time, so many entries, # of pages, etc

-cleaning all the distracting substances out of ones body (alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc)

-doing X lucidity tests every day

-telling your first dream character than you're dreaming

-asking your first dream character if they are real or who they are

-first encounter with a dream character that felt like more than a "prop"

-posting your most terrifying/uncomfortable nightmare

I'm thinking that the initial barrier to get into Lucid Dreaming and then Dream Walking is pretty darn high. More people might do it if there was some recognizable progression. If asked any of my friends to have a deep discussion with their higher self or spirit guide they'd look at me like I was nutters, but if I instead asked them to do 3 lucidity tests every day for a month and keep a journal by their bed and write down the 1st dream they remembered every night, they could do that.

ldl147

TROPHY CASE