Volume 26 · Nothing But Thinking Makes It So · p. 427
Works Cited
Each entry states where it is used and what it is used for. A source listed as evidence carries weight in the argument; a source listed as method supplies a procedure; a source listed as illustration shows the pattern without proving it; and a position under discussion is quoted in order to be examined, not endorsed.
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Source of the memetic vocabulary, used descriptively
Used in ch. 14 (pp. 175–186)
Deci, Edward L., and Richard M. Ryan. Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. New York: Plenum Press, 1985.
Method — the displacement of intrinsic motivation by external reward
Used in ch. 30 (pp. 380–394) · ch. 31 (pp. 395–411)
Dennett, Daniel C. Consciousness Explained. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991.
Position under discussion, not endorsed
Used in ch. 1 (pp. 1–14) · ch. 17 (pp. 214–223)
Epictetus. Discourses and Selected Writings. Translated by Robert Dobbin. London: Penguin Classics, 2008.
Method — the daily practice of guarding the governing faculty
Used in ch. 7 (pp. 87–98) · ch. 24 (pp. 299–311)
Goodhart, Charles A. E. “Problems of Monetary Management: The U.K. Experience.” In Papers in Monetary Economics, vol. 1. Sydney: Reserve Bank of Australia, 1975.
Origin of the law that a measure under pressure stops measuring
Used in ch. 31 (pp. 395–411) · ch. 32 (pp. 412–422)
Hassabis, Demis. Public remarks on agentic autonomy and the two-to-four-year risk window, 2026.
Illustration — an engineer naming the risk his own optimisation creates
Used in ch. 32 (pp. 412–422)
Maynard Smith, John. Evolution and the Theory of Games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Method — stability of strategies under competition
Used in ch. 4 (pp. 49–60) · ch. 14 (pp. 175–186) · ch. 22 (pp. 272–284)
Miles, Robert. “Reward Hacking and Specification Gaming.” AI safety lecture series, YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/@RobertMilesAI
Technical treatment of reward hacking in trained agents
Used in ch. 31 (pp. 395–411)
Miller, Earl K., et al. “Analog Cognition and Consciousness.” Journal of Neuroscience, 2026.
Evidence — traveling waves as analog computation in cortex
Used in ch. 9 (pp. 112–125) · ch. 10 (pp. 126–137) · ch. 24 (pp. 299–311)
Riemann, Bernhard. “Ueber die Hypothesen, welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen.” Habilitation lecture, Göttingen, 1854.
Source of the coordinate-change argument used throughout Part Four
Used in ch. 11 (pp. 138–151) · ch. 12 (pp. 152–163) · ch. 13 (pp. 164–174)
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet; Othello; Macbeth; A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. London: Bloomsbury.
Primary text — the staged failure modes of framing
Used in ch. 5 (pp. 61–72) · ch. 6 (pp. 73–86) · ch. 7 (pp. 87–98)
Plato. Apology; Meno; Theaetetus. In Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
Method — cross-examination as the exit from a captured frame
Used in ch. 7 (pp. 87–98) · ch. 29 (pp. 366–379)
Sweller, John. “Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning.” Cognitive Science 12, no. 2 (1988): 257–85.
Evidence — working memory as the operative bottleneck
Used in ch. 8 (pp. 99–111) · ch. 9 (pp. 112–125)
Tainter, Joseph A. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Evidence — declining marginal returns on complexity
Used in ch. 20 (pp. 249–260) · ch. 21 (pp. 261–271) · ch. 28 (pp. 352–365)
“Tennessee Teacher of the Year resigns rather than inflate a grade.” News report, 2026.
Illustration — human reward hacking inside a school system
Used in ch. 31 (pp. 395–411)
Yeats, W. B. “The Second Coming.” In Michael Robartes and the Dancer. Dublin: Cuala Press, 1921.
Epigraph — the widening gyre, used without prophecy
Used in ch. 23 (pp. 285–298)