The Strange Logic of Progress
From dogma to doubt. From dictatorship to democracy.
The Enlightenment replaced certainty with systems that can learn.
It worked for science.
It worked for democracy.
Can it work for us?This book explores the dramatic implications of learning technology —
and shows how our future depends on a single idea:
What happens after we make a mistake.In a time of complexity and rapid change,
The Strange Logic Of Progress offers a path to clearer thinking and more resilient systems —
for individuals, cultures, and minds.
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The Human Condition
The remarkable circumstance in which we all find ourselves
is that we reside in, and have possession of, a body.This body is truly ancient.
It did not originate at birth.
In a very real sense, my body is an organism
that has existed for over three billion years.But my body is not me.
I exist within it.
That may sound strange — like bad philosophy or tragic self-help —
but it is simply the reality of being a learning creature.
My individuality comes from experience,
from software rather than hardware.Three-billion-year-old body.
Forty-six-year-old consciousness.Each of us sparks into existence — crying, innocent, and ignorant —
at the moment of birth.
We each have to learn from scratch.
Consciousness is a new layer of existence:
initially stupid, but fast to adapt.This is the essence of the human condition:
a young consciousness living inside an ancient body.But there is one thing that could transform it for us —
a conscious understanding of how progress really happens.
How to get better at getting better.To do that, we need to relearn the lessons our bodies discovered through evolution.
Progress doesn’t come from knowing the correct answer,
but from trial, feedback, and selection — from error correction.Error correction might sound simple,
but it depends on several unintuitive reversals:
• Don’t condemn error — make it safe.• Don’t avoid error — seek it.• Don’t punish error — correct it.It’s a strange logic,
but one that life itself has been following all along.
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Copyright © 2025 L. C. Rowan
This introduction is freely shared in the hope that it spreads. You are welcome to distribute, link, or quote it for non-commercial purposes — with attribution.
Please don’t sell it, alter it, or pass it off as your own.
The Strange Logic of Progress
From Control To Curiosity
The Journey Through the Book …
Section I – The Strange Logic
Part 1 – The Trap
How our instincts can get us stuckPart 2 – The Strange Logic of Progress
The logical solution to the trap
Section II – Where This Comes From
Part 3 – Learning Creatures
Rethinking human nature in the age of artificial learningPart 4 – The Source of Error
Why our errors aren’t random — they’re predictablePart 5 – The Discovery of Ignorance
How science and democracy learned to learn
Section III – Applying Error Correction
Part 6 – The Mechanics of Inner Correction
The three stages of change within usPart 7 – The Strange Logic in Practice
Error correction in experience and culture
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