Next week I’ll be in Utrecht for the ESPP Conference. I’m excited about our plenary session! espp2026.sites.uu.nl

Scientists using ‘philosophical’ pejoratively are telling you 1. They don’t have any actual arguments 2. They are happy to insult their colleagues / an entire discipline 3. They don’t understand what science is or how it works

How your email finds me

Happy *checks notes* Spontaneous Combustion Day to all those who celebrate

Happy *checks notes* Spontaneous Combustion Day to all those who celebrate

How your email finds me

I’ve always found fences like these very interesting in terms of the psychology and behavior they expose. Clearly anyone can get through if they want to. So why don’t we just ask people not to cross a perimeter drawn on the ground? Ah you see the magic of fences is […]

You know what I really miss? Air that’s not lava

*imposter syndrome intensifies* Looking forward to ESPP where I’ll speak next to Beate Krickle, Dimitri Coelho Mollo and Mazviita Chirimuuta in the plenary symposium paired with Mazviita’s keynote. My talk explores medium (in)dependence, feasibility of explanation, and computational complexity.

Surviving the heat wave is relatively straightforward once you realize it depends on a delicate balance between sitting still and sitting very still, like the air around you is lava. Because it is.

*imposter syndrome intensifies* Looking forward to ESPP where I’ll speak next to Beate Krickle, Dimitri Coelho Mollo and Mazviita Chirimuuta in the plenary symposium paired with Mazviita’s keynote. My talk explores medium (in)dependence, feasibility of explanation, and computational complexity.

Gotta finish that thing

Gotta finish that thing

You open the freezer and somebody hands you some ice from inside. It’s me: is the heat wave over? *slams door shut*

How it feels to follow the discourse on here A: [some evil shit] B: that’s some evil shit and you should stop— Me: yeah get them B: —because [some other evil shit but different flavor] Me: no wait

I'm going to step in as I sidestep the recurrent discussion to just do some spamming: doi.org/10.1017/9781... We wrote this introduction to ecological psychology with people wanting to read more about it in mind. I hope you enjoy it!

7 years ago the institute I worked at emailed everybody with a request and a promise: we’re introducing a fellowship and we want to give it a cool name; make your suggestions and if yours gets picked we’ll give you a $50 amazon gift card. Mine got picked and was immediately used. Then, nothing.

Whoa this one took me to some dark places

Not to be dramatic but I disagree with the dichotomous nature of this question and would like to set it on fire

Easier to just say what doesn’t (narcissists)

Oh there will be sines (will finally have time to master trigonometry)

I swear if you call me I’ll throw my phone in the river

There’s been a lot of talk about computational analogies/metaphors/perspectives on the mind and brain 🤖🧠🧪 A lot of talk and not enough reading (guilty). So here’s a paper arguing *against* the view I find most defensible and productive. 🧠🟦 🧪 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/...

Me sitting in the cold storage room of my personal underground bunker: they will have to pry the tiramisu from my cold dead...stomach

With all due respect to Messi and his excellent opening performance, this only reminds me of the time I explained to a barber that "I like my hair messy" in preparation for an imminent haircut and you know what happened next

Me sitting in the cold storage room of my personal underground bunker: they will have to pry the tiramisu from my cold dead...stomach

There’s been a lot of talk about computational analogies/metaphors/perspectives on the mind and brain 🤖🧠🧪 A lot of talk and not enough reading (guilty). So here’s a paper arguing *against* the view I find most defensible and productive. 🧠🟦 🧪 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/...

Alan: behold I invented the Turing machine! Me: a turning machine like for sculpting a rotating piece? Yeah we have that Alan: a tuRING machine Me: ah you mean a telephone yeah we have that too Alan: Me: could you try working out some notion of computational universality tho Me: that’d be neat

Alan: behold I invented the Turing machine! Me: a turning machine like for sculpting a rotating piece? Yeah we have that Alan: a tuRING machine Me: ah you mean a telephone yeah we have that too Alan: Me: could you try working out some notion of computational universality tho Me: that’d be neat

Gen Xer: *publishes single paper as tenured professor with chatbot as coauthor* hi fellow kids Gen Zer: *publishes dozens of AI generated papers before grad school without disclosure* sure ok

I’m good at picking up subtle cues about emerging events and dynamics on here and I’m almost always right so here’s my gift to you from my analysis of the situation: I think something happened in the world of “Basket Ball” you’re welcome

Generations of academics active today have almost irreversibly internalized the belief that the pursuit of knowledge involves a kind of fight. That automatic pushback and debate is more important than anything else, including listening and clarifying. It’s a huge waste and Idk how to fix it

Generations of academics active today have almost irreversibly internalized the belief that the pursuit of knowledge involves a kind of fight. That automatic pushback and debate is more important than anything else, including listening and clarifying. It’s a huge waste and Idk how to fix it

Websites: Remember me 🟩 Me: 👉🏻✅ Websites: LOL OK

Websites: Remember me 🟩 Me: 👉🏻✅ Websites: LOL OK

I personally call my brain "you little shit" most of the time

Train ride to Geneva did not disappoint

Doing formal/computational theory in a multidisciplinary intersection is wonderful because neuroscientists say it’s not biological enough, it’s too theoretical for AI folks, too applied for theoretical computer scientists, not empirical enough for cognitive scientists, & too formal for philosophers💫

it took me so damn long to write this thing that the field actually became real in the 2.5 years hooooly anyway, here's another book: 100% grass-fed human-written down to every single letter, though probably for AI consumption only at this point. www.rdgao.com/blog/2026/06...

~The Mind-Body Problem~ Body: I regret to inform you that doing physical exercise helped again Mind: dammit Body what did we say about this kind of talk

Machine Learning books: and that’s why NETFLIX uses these POWERFUL TOOLS for RECOMMENDATION SYSTEMS Netflix: our personalized selection for you is 🥁🥁🥁 the show you’ve been watching all week we think you will like it

~Today at the doctor~ Doc: nothing serious but maybe a little less butter? Me: I’m afraid that’s not possible NEXT

“Large boulder the size of a small boulder”, butter edition (correctly flipped)

Here’s some pretty generalizable cooking advice I wish I had gotten earlier in life to instantly improve any recipe: 1) Main course: add butter 2) Dessert: substitute tiramisu These are valid for any recipe, including the <empty> recipe.

Train ride back from my visit to University of Göttingen did not disappoint (except in every way that public transport can disappoint in its capacity as transport but that’s my fault for saying the outward journey was surprisingly smooth, thereby jinxing everything and everyone forever)

Me a couple of hours after taking ibuprofen, every single time: huh body pain is way down today — I must be getting fitter spontaneously

Next week I’ll be at University of Geneva. I’ll give a talk on Wednesday on interpretability and complexity at the intersection of AI and the Cognitive/Brain Sciences. Happy to chat if you’re in the area!

I don’t envy them, to be clear. I’m just wondering how the frocking frack is this allowed to be a thing

It’s possible I’ve been living under a rock but I just heard of a researcher who has 30 PhD students under their supervision (three zero!!) on top of posdocs and other members of their team and I just want to crawl back under the rock

Reviewing the slide deck for my talk today: Right, so one slide to introduce them to interpretability, one slide to give them some background on complexity, one slide to bring them all and in the darkness bi — *delete delete* never mind got a bit carried away there