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Three Worlds and the Illusion of Creativity

How Popper’s Three Worlds Reveal the Limits of Artificial Intelligence

Ryan Salsman's avatar
Ryan Salsman
Apr 03, 2025
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Photo by Alexander Grey

Popper's Three Worlds

In the 1970s, British philosopher Karl Popper was developing a way of examining reality that he called the Three Worlds. These weren't worlds in the traditional sense but rather conceptual realms. I'll do my best to explain.

World 1 is the world of physical objects and states. It's the inorganic—matter and ener…

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