LLMs are starting to pass bar exams and navigate legal categories, but still fail basic physical reasoning tasks. They’re fluent about fiat boundaries - laws, roles, jurisdictions - but can still fumble bona fide ones like surfaces and collisions. As hybrid world models emerge, we’re discovering just how far language alone can, and can’t, take intelligence.

The article argues that LLMs display uncertainty but cannot yet experience doubt, a richer metacognitive process. Because models lack self-awareness of their own ignorance, they can appear cautious while still hallucinating, potentially creating issues in settings where genuine epistemic responsibility matters.

A meditation on my AI research journey, from early Hopfield networks to modern language models, exploring how meaning emerges from pattern rather than rules, and why scientific curiosity sometimes demands disciplined wonder.

Inspired by Konosuke Matsushita’s idea of the Sunao mind - open, sincere, and unbound by rigid patterns - this essay explores how AI might move beyond obedience toward genuine attunement. A Sunao intelligence would not just follow instructions but perceive intention, reflect with humility, and act with sincerity.