MidReal Story
System 2 Legacy: A Billion-Dollar Journey
Scenario: It’s 2024. Daniel Kahneman just passed away. I am Kaijie Chen. I can still recall our first conversation. It was almost 10 years ago, when he introduced the concept of System 2 Thinking to me. We had a cheerful discussion, and from there, our System 2 AI research began. 10 years from then, we are already a billion dollar company, basing our technology on the idea of System 2. Today I stand in front of his tomb, mourning for the loss of this world, a great mind, a mentor, and a dear friend.
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Nearly ten years after my first conversation with Daniel Kahneman, I was standing before his tombstone, looking down at the black granite that covered his burial site.
It had been four years since he passed, and the world was still coming to terms with the reality that he was gone.
So much of what I knew about System 2 Thinking came from him.
The idea that we could build an AI that operated in a way similar to the human brain was something that he helped me understand.
Without him, I wasn’t sure if I would have ever gotten this far.
In 2014, I was just a young entrepreneur who had grand ambitions and zero experience.
I believed that I could compete in the tech industry and make a billion-dollar company, even though I had never worked for a tech company before.
I was ambitious and ignorant, which made for a dangerous combination.
I knew that I needed help, but I didn’t know where to find it.
That’s when Serendipity Ventures stepped in and introduced me to Daniel.
After my conversation with Daniel and his introduction to our project, I began working with him at Princeton University for two years.
We worked on writing reports, developing algorithms, and brainstorming ideas that would help us build a framework for our AI project.
When his term at Princeton ended, we moved our team into our new office, where we continued our work on the project.
The new office was filled with bookshelves, comfortable chairs, and large windows that offered plenty of light throughout the day.
It was nothing like the offices you see on television shows or in movies, where they’re cold, sterile environments where people work long hours for little pay.
Our office was more like a home library than anything else.
It was a comfortable environment for our team members to work in, which meant they were more likely to be productive and less likely to call in sick when they didn’t feel like working.
That’s why, after our team moved into our new office, we all felt like we were working from home.
We were more productive, and we were able to grow our team faster than ever before.
Many of our interns and employees that were hired during that time still work with us today, nearly ten years later.
As I stared at Daniel’s tombstone, I couldn’t help but think back to those early days of our company and the impact that Daniel had on our success.
Without his help, I’m not sure what would have happened to me, or to this company, for that matter.
The things that he taught me about life and about business are lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
I could still remember the day that I met Daniel for the first time as if it was yesterday, even though it had been nearly ten years since that day.
It was December 4, 2014, and we had just moved into our new office a few days prior.
We were no longer working in a cramped and dark building filled with people who didn’t want to be there anymore.
We had a new office that was filled with light and warmth, as well as enough space for us to grow into as our company continued to grow.
Our office was also filled with books, including many books on psychology, decision-making, and cognitive science—subjects that Daniel would have loved to learn more about if he was still alive today.
As I walked down the hallway toward his office that day, I thought about what he would have thought about our new office if he was still alive today.
He would have been proud of us, but he also would have been eager to learn more about the things that we were working on in this office.
I smiled at the thought of it as I opened the door to his office for the first time.
I had seen pictures of Daniel before, but none of them did justice to how he looked in person.
He had a kind smile and a warm face that made you feel like you were talking to an old friend rather than a Nobel laureate who had spent his life studying some of the most complicated subjects known to man.
His office was a bit messy when I entered, which also surprised me, as he had a reputation for being very organized and meticulous when it came to his work.
As I looked around his office that day, I could see why people said that about him—he was more organized than anyone else that I knew—but it was still a bit strange to see a messy office in an otherwise sterile building like this one.
He apologized for it when he saw me looking around his office that day, even though he didn’t need to say anything at all about it.
I told him that it was no problem and that it actually made me feel a bit more comfortable knowing that he could be a little bit messy sometimes too.
It also made me feel like I was talking to an old friend who didn’t mind if you sat down next to him and picked up one of the books off of his desk or asked him a question about one of the papers that were scattered throughout the room.
That’s how I felt when I walked into his office that day: like I was talking to an old friend who didn’t mind if you picked up one of his books or asked him a question about one of the papers that were scattered throughout the room.
After we exchanged pleasantries, we sat down in front of his desk and began our conversation about System 2 Thinking and how it related to the work that we were doing here at the company.
He talked for nearly two hours straight that day, explaining everything there was to know about System 2 Thinking as well as some other concepts in psychology and cognitive science that are related to it in some way or another.
As he talked, I could see the passion in his eyes as he explained the things that he had spent so much time studying and researching over the years.
I could also see the same passion that he had for his work when he talked, even though it was my first time meeting him and we hadn’t really talked all that much before this one day.
A lot of people think that System 2 Thinking is the same thing as being logical or rational all the time, but that’s not really true at all, he explained as we sat down in front of his desk that day.
It’s not that you’re being logical or rational all the time—it’s that you’re not letting your emotions get in the way of your thinking when you use System 2 Thinking.
You’re using your brain’s higher faculties, like your working memory, your ability to pay attention, and your ability to think abstractly, to come up with a solution or an answer to a question when you’re using System 2 Thinking.
Your brain is like a muscle, and just like a muscle, you need to use it in order for it to work properly and get stronger over time.
When you use System 2 Thinking, you’re getting better at using these higher faculties because you’re using them more often than when you’re using System 1 Thinking, which is more automatic and doesn’t require as much effort from your brain when you use it as System 2 Thinking does.”
I could see what he was getting at when he said this, even though it was my first time hearing this concept of System 2 Thinking and how it related to the work that we were doing here at the company.
It made perfect sense—get better at using your brain’s higher faculties by using them more often than when you’re using System 1 Thinking, which is more automatic and doesn’t require as much effort from your brain when you use it as System 2 Thinking does—and it also made me think of a lot of other things that we could do with this research going forward from here on out, too.
I couldn’t help but interrupt him as he talked about these things on that day because it was such an exciting topic for me and something that I had been thinking about for a long time before this one day when we finally sat down to talk about it for the first time ever together, too!
So, what do you do if you feel like you’re envious of someone else’s success, and you wish that you could have that kind of success for yourself instead?”
He thought about this for a moment, and then he said, “Well, you can always make sure that your success is shared with the person who’s envious of you, so that they can feel satisfied when you have what they want, too.” I didn’t really know what he meant by this when he said that, so I asked him, “What do you mean by this?How can you make sure that your success is shared with the person who’s envious of you, so that they can feel satisfied when you have what they want, too?”
He thought about this for a moment, and then he said, “Well, you can always give some of your success away to the person who’s envious of you, so that they can have what they want for themselves instead.And if you don’t want to give your success away completely like that, then you can always find a way for the person who’s envious of you to share in your success with you, too.” I thought about this for a moment and then I said, “That’s a great idea.But how do you actually go about doing that?How do you make sure that your success is shared with the person who’s envious of you, so that they can feel satisfied when you have what they want?”
“It’s not easy to do,” he said with a smile and a laugh after I asked him this question.
“But if you really want to make sure that your success is shared with the person who’s envious of you, then I’m sure you can find a way to make that happen.It might take some time and effort on your part, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out how to make it work if you try hard enough.”
I smiled and nodded back at him after he said all of these things to me, and then I promised him, “I’ll definitely give it a try, Dan.”
The conversation we had after this one point in time was a long one—we talked for hours about all kinds of different topics and ideas—and one of the things we talked about was whether or not AI could ever be programmed to have a sense of humor like humans do or not.
I was the one who brought up this idea while we were talking about these things because I had been thinking about it for a long time before we ever sat down to talk about these things together, too!
But is there any way that AI could ever be programmed to have a sense of humor like humans do or not?”
“It’s hard to say,” he responded after I asked him this question on that day.
“I don’t think that anyone has really tried teaching AI how to have a sense of humor like humans do before, so I’m not sure what the answer would be if someone did try teaching them how to do it now.”
