vaughn

Reasoning scaffolds (wk 43/2025) Infrastructure for human subjective reasoning; walking in a forest; dynamic moulds, San Francisco malls, Kryptos, television; coloured water.

My newsletter this week is about infrastructure for human subjective reasoning; walking in a forest; dynamic moulds, San Francisco malls, Kryptos, television; seven-coloured water.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw432025

i wrote about what reasoning scaffolds are, why they are interesting and important, and how to develop a practical research program about them.

vaughntan.org/reasoningsca...

Prototyping a reasoning scaffold - Vaughn Tan tl;dr: I’ve been prototyping an AI tool that uses Socratic mirroring to build a reasoning scaffold that helps users develop stronger arguments.

among other things, i've been prototyping a reasoning scaffold for a couple months. a reasoning scaffold helps its user think more clearly when doing subjective reasoning.

vaughntan.org/protoscaffold

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) | Vaughn Tan | Substack On not-knowing—what it is, how it affects us, and how to relate to it—and other stuff. Click to read The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd), by Vaughn Tan, a Substack publication with thousands ...

This week I'm in Japan working on too little sleep. I wrote about: Prototypes and the value of theory; Socratic mirrors, reasoning scaffolds, and AI tools; in-country patterns; closures, modern instrumentals, natural ice, pretexts.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com

The tool is fully functional. Testers benefit by improving an actual argument (e.g., for a class paper, a policy plan, a business model, or a strategy proposal).

If you want to test the tool and/or learn more about it as it develops, please let me know: forms.gle/pnch25sXJUTj...

I’ve been prototyping a critical thinking tool + testing it over the last few months at universities, corporations, startups, and government. The method generalises: Users doing real work with real stakes find it useful enough to want their institutions to provide it.

vaughntan.org/protoscaffold

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how's 🇯🇵

An AI critical thinking tool (wk 39/2025) An AI tool for learning critical thinking while using AI tools; Tunisia and structured elicitation; various perspectives on how to use AI; developments in zippertech.

this week, my newsletter is about: An AI tool for learning critical thinking while using AI tools; Tunisia and structured elicitation; various perspectives on how to use AI; developments in zippertech.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw392025

wormhole

Seeking testers for a new tool to help students write better argumentative essays through guided reasoning scaffolds.

Looking for educator contacts with students willing to test the web app (<1hr, no instructor involvement needed).

More info & signup: vaughntan.org/thinkingtools

I'll be doing some "taster" and introduction sessions in the next few months. If you're interested in learning more or getting notified when these sessions are scheduled, please let me know using this form: forms.gle/41k1viacAFot...

(🙏 @tomski1878.bsky.social for amplifying!)

i've made a working (but verrrrry hacky) prototype of an AI-powered tool for helping users think critically while using the tool to write reasoned arguments (so #meta, i know). here's a screenshot of it, dripping primordial ooze. project details here: vaughntan.org/aiux

the only way seems to be to write (and generally make stuff) without expectation of an audience, but to write for a reasoning, critically thinking audience.

who does not want that delightful little crackle, that alluring little craze

Open pollination (wk 37/2025) A breakthrough in cases; taking the public sector seriously; the practical value of thinking about meaningmaking; dissolving vs. solving, quant knowability breaks down, materiality.

This week I wrote about: A breakthrough in cases; taking the public sector seriously; the practical value of thinking about meaningmaking; dissolving vs. solving, quant knowability breaks down, materiality.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw372025

hope springs eternal

A game for experiencing not-knowings; things that are invisible for a long time; marsupials.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw352025

FOUNDATION: A game of not-knowings - Vaughn Tan What if you could experience what it’s like to make decisions when you truly don’t know what’s possible? That’s what FOUNDATION, a new interactive

Built an interactive construction game called FOUNDATION at MOD. in Adelaide: players don't know what materials/rules/structures they'll run into. It's a test of generating not-knowing on demand, to build training tools for orgs facing true uncertainty. Until Sat 8/30: vaughntan.org/foundation

Thought support (wk 34/2025) AI tools that support critical thinking; not-knowings, on demand; organisational interventions for uncertainty; subliminal learning, K4, satisfying toys, cat trains, bromism, and convincing others.

In this issue: An award nomination, AI tools that support critical thinking; not-knowings, on demand; organisational interventions for uncertainty; subliminal learning, K4, satisfying toys, cat trains, bromism, and convincing others.

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw342025

Designing AI tools that support critical thinking - Vaughn Tan Current AI interfaces lull us into thinking we’re talking to something that can make meaningful judgments about what’s valuable. We’re not — we’re

Current AI UX tricks us into thinking we're talking to something that can make value judgments. We're not. So I tested a prototype UX for an AI that helps users learn to think critically. Students went from vague to sharp arguments in 2hrs.

More here: vaughntan.org/aiux

wow. so cool <3

very irritated at missing it 😑

Not-knowings, on demand - Vaughn Tan In June, I ran a workshop with 15 researchers from diverse fields to develop practical, implementable mechanisms for experiencing different types of

Ran a multidisciplinary workshop to create practical mechanisms for experiencing not-knowing firsthand. We developed ideas like 'the camera of not-knowing' that teaches users how to act meaningfully even if they don't understand causation (yet).

Read more about it here: vaughntan.org/nkondemand

Not-knowings, on demand - Vaughn Tan In June, I ran a workshop with 15 researchers from diverse fields to develop practical, implementable mechanisms for experiencing different types of

Ran a multi-disciplinary workshop in Adelaide in June to develop mechanisms for experiencing different types of not-knowing. Result: ideas like 'the camera of not-knowing' that teaches how to take useful action without certain causation.
A good read: vaughntan.org/nkondemand

i had one day to see it and of course sold out. missed the RA show last time too. 😑

poast some photos

100%

"it's amazing how much you can get done of real strategy work with just 3 sheets of paper and a few hours, thanks to the careful process design."

❤️

remember: hire a consultant who is actively trying to do right by you, not one trying to lock you into permanent dependency.

vaughntan.org/boris

someone from that first test batch has just run boris for the second time, entirely on her own using the materials i provided. apparently it works great: "super easy" and "very intuitive,"

my design intent was to break down the steps and make it as easy for participants to run their own boris themselves on their own teams, without needing to engage an external consultant — so that i would rapidly disappear from the scene.

this february, i test-ran a significantly refactored version of boris, my 1-day workshop for setting much better goals by talking about tradeoffs (vaughntan.org/boris).

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