Sitting by the window at Sentosa Beach, gazing at the calm, ripple-free water, it's not quite like the waves crashing beside the giant rocks in Bali, nor like the sea in the Bay Area jumping up to smash against the stones, and even less like the roaring waves under the scorching sun in Lisbon. "Heaven and I were born together, and all things and I are one," I seem to slip into Zhuangzi's dream.
Today, let's talk about a concept I've been interested in for the past four years: intersubjectivity. The original idea stemmed from a question: Descartes' "I think, therefore I am." This leads to the solipsistic problem of whether the world outside my thinking exists. Descartes invoked God to solve this problem, ensuring the reality of the external world. However, Husserl proposed a new perspective, introducing the "Other," whose inaccessibility and transcendence provide evidence for the objective world's reality. These dispersed and interconnected "Others" offer proof of our world's objective existence.
In simpler terms, intersubjectivity refers to the inherent characteristics of relationships between subjects. It provides evidence of external objective existence through the existence of dispersed "Others." Additionally, there's another angle, a non-dualistic view, such as that in Taoism and Buddhism, which emphasizes the concept of non-duality. Non-duality doesn't imply singularity; philosophically, the relationship between subjects is seen as continuously interconnected, with energy flowing perpetually, embodying commonality, and resisting separation. Such separation would disrupt intersubjectivity.
A friend once asked why I'm so interested in intersubjectivity. The reason is simple: I believe in multiple possibilities and interpretations between subjects and objects, rather than a singular or universal explanation. Descartes' answer of invoking God seems too simple, and we need not be confined to Husserl's dispersed "Other" theory or a thorough non-dual fusion. The characteristics of intersubjectivity, from the problem itself to the compatibility of answers, provide ample space for us to explore the authenticity of the world anew. Whether dualistic or non-dualistic, we can find harmonious transcendental evidence to jointly prove this authenticity.
In a pluralistic society, such exploration of intersubjectivity is evidently reasonable. Our understanding of society isn't just about seeking commonality or differences but increasingly acknowledging diversity and focusing on the consensual rules of interaction between small communities. This is the recent discussion about "social consensus," which in fact refers to intersubjective consensus. This type of consensus shifts the focus from subjectivity and objectivity to intersubjectivity, emphasizing common underlying traits, interaction rules, and harmonious relationships. From Habermas' perspective, intersubjectivity refers to mutuality and unity between subjects, characterized by equal communication, bilateral interaction, proactive dialogue, mutual understanding, and integration.
From an economic perspective, traditional consensus is about data ownership, from Bitcoin to Ethereum. However, intersubjective consensus addresses data usership. For more complex economic models to thrive in a decentralized world, we need to encourage diverse data permissions and incentive templates. Future off-chain data service providers will not only incentivize based on data ownership but also offer more diversified incentives based on data usage.
For instance, in decentralized AI, new productivity and production relations must diverge from the current ownership-centric incentives. Data privacy and ownership must be guaranteed before other permissions can be fully utilized, ensuring trusted AI services. Payment methods will also become more diverse, focusing on supporting services and how services interact and pay each other, not just around ownership.
Intersubjective incentives are not solely about ownership. Opening up usage rights can invigorate the economy and provide better interaction models for different economic entities. This minimal trust between economic entities can foster more economic possibilities.
When we examine intersubjective systems from a systems perspective, we see that placing two or more heterogeneous systems together requires abstracting intersubjectivity into overall security.
Consider the example of determining 1 BTC = $68,814.32. This intersubjective issue involves systems like Bitcoin, centralized exchanges, decentralized protocols, oracles, and bridges, focusing on ensuring price accuracy through data, storage, computation, and networks. We must ensure not only distributed storage availability but also its persistence to maintain data authenticity within the interactive system. Verifiable heterogeneous computation is also crucial, acknowledging different verification methods suitable for various scenarios. Network integrity and resistance to censorship are equally important, as asynchronous networks could complicate accuracy.
We should embrace heterogeneous systems, recognizing that real system complexity necessitates intersubjective systems. We need to abstract homogeneous data characteristics for verifiable computation while emphasizing network connectivity and honesty. Essentially, we highlight subject security while incorporating heterogeneity, commonality, and interactivity.
In simpler terms, we consider an overall minimal trust system beyond mere objectivity. We don't just deconstruct the system into A + B + Bridge; we view it holistically, designing for more comprehensive, persistent, and universal intersubjective minimal trust systems. Our thinking and design targets shift from "I" to "we," focusing on how to design an integrated intersubjective system for humans and other intelligences. Only our shared being can provide enough evidence of reality, whether in a dream or not.
We might never know if Zhuangzi was dreaming of a butterfly or if the butterfly was dreaming of Zhuangzi. But the dream shared by Zhuangzi, the butterfly, you, and me might be the only reality we can hold on to.
Akasha
2024/05/27