This is perhaps a somewhat subtle distinction, but the point is to shift as much as possible from assumption to inference. If we take an arealist stance and do not assume realism, we may still come to infer it based on the evidence we collect.
I think I can agree with this.
One caveat would be to note that the brain’s map-making algorithm does make some implicit assumptions about the nature of the territory. For instance, it needs to assume that it’s modeling an actual generative process with hierarchical and cross-modal statistical regularities. It further assumes, based on what I understand about how the cortex learns, that the territory has things like translational equivariance and spatiotemporally local causality.
The cortex (and cerebellum, hippocampus, etc.) has built-in structural and dynamical priors that it tries to map its sensory experiences to, which limits the hypothesis space that it searches when it infers things about the territory. In other words, it makes assumptions.
On the other hand, it is a bit of a theme around here that we should be able to overcome such cognitive biases when trying to understand reality. I think you’re on the right track in trying to peel back the assumptions that evolution gave us (even the more seemingly rational ones like splitting map from territory) to ground our beliefs as solidly as possible.
I think I can agree with this.
One caveat would be to note that the brain’s map-making algorithm does make some implicit assumptions about the nature of the territory. For instance, it needs to assume that it’s modeling an actual generative process with hierarchical and cross-modal statistical regularities. It further assumes, based on what I understand about how the cortex learns, that the territory has things like translational equivariance and spatiotemporally local causality.
The cortex (and cerebellum, hippocampus, etc.) has built-in structural and dynamical priors that it tries to map its sensory experiences to, which limits the hypothesis space that it searches when it infers things about the territory. In other words, it makes assumptions.
On the other hand, it is a bit of a theme around here that we should be able to overcome such cognitive biases when trying to understand reality. I think you’re on the right track in trying to peel back the assumptions that evolution gave us (even the more seemingly rational ones like splitting map from territory) to ground our beliefs as solidly as possible.