Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimal equilibrium, like natural selection, or people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airline trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with "subways" seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mentally effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airline trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with "subways" seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mentally effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airline trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mentally effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mentally effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's male-male couples, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.  The people inside the world are allowed to notice these facts, but not allowed to realize why they're anomalous.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.  The people inside the world are allowed to notice these facts, but not allowed to realize that they're anomalous.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process, like natural selection and sexual desire, or offered economic goods and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.  The people inside the world are allowed to notice these facts, but not allowed to realize that they're anomalous, or they've come up with overfitted hypotheses that manage to explain what should not be explainable.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process.  Like natural selection, and sexual desire; or offered economic goods, and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.  The people inside the world are allowed to notice these facts, but not allowed to realize that they're anomalous, or they've come up with overfitted hypotheses that manage to explain what should not be explainable.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but actually subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.

Okay, rougher view of the anomalousness of this world.  There's all sorts of places where pieces of Earth ought to be generated by an optimized equilibrium, observable facets of reality where the derivatives of some fitness gradient should have come to an approximate rest along most dimensions as pushed by an optimization process.  Like natural selection, and sexual desire; or offered economic goods, and people selecting where to spend their money.  Then instead there's sex-indifferent sexual attraction, or airplanes with terrible food and nonsensical advertisements.

An obvious thought is that the layer of reality she's now inside didn't generate those features by tracing a long causal history to find equilibria, and instead just... filled things in, sort of.  Like an author making up features of a book, only not quite like an author, because a human author paying attention and trying for realism wouldn't have non-upgradable bad food on an expensive airplane trip.  The people inside the world are allowed to notice these facts, but not allowed to realize that they're anomalous, or they've come up with overfitted hypotheses that manage to explain what should not be explainable.

Alternatively, another obvious thought is that there's perfectly sensible reasons for everything 'anomalous', and Thellim just doesn't know what they are.  Like with 'subways' seeming at first to be moving much too many people from one place and time to another, but hiddenly, subways just make additional stops... actually that still doesn't make very much sense?  There were still way too many people, even if they were going to twenty destinations instead of one destination.  But it makes twenty much times as much sense as before Isabella explained that part to Thellim, and maybe that reflects a predictable direction of updating where Thellim could learn more and more facts and things would stop looking out-of-equilibrium.

This seems like a good general point to try to narrow down first, if Thellim isn't going to do the proper, rigorous, mental-effort-intensive, slow process of collecting all her data and considering all her questions before investigating any.