Hoffman's theory goes viral again: evolution built consensus reality, not truth-seeing minds
GabGarrett · x · 2026-11-03
In a thread sparked by whether conscious LLMs would raise or lower P(doom), a widely shared post walks through Donald Hoffman's theory that consciousness is fundamental and objective reality is malleable. Seeing reality unfiltered might be excruciating, like a DMT trip; evolution favored a cohesive consensus reality — love, family, cities, farms — over accurate perception. Objective reality is a vast network of conscious agents, and our world is merely the app layer, the UI, on top. You can peel it back, "but you should probably just enjoy the steak."
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