In a moment of defeat, the brain undergoes a sudden shift. The neuroscientist Misha Ahrens (left) and his student Alex Chen showed that cells called astrocytes help to shift the brain state from hope to hopelessness. www.quantamagazine.org/once-thought...

This also appears directly related to the challenges discussed in my previous repost since LLMs are modelled after networks of neurons, and this article is about an important network in the brain that runs parallel to the networks of neurons for which an LLM has no analog.

The raw interactions quoted here with what the article calls a misaligned LLM are disturbing. But to see this behavior being studied at this level is encouraging.

My #tattoo is slowly progressing.

The “MaxCut” problem is a fundamental question about graphs with real-world applications, like efficient circuit design. Recently, work on MaxCut helped mathematicians solve a major problem in number theory. www.quantamagazine.org/networks-hol...

Winter vegetables. #garden #wintervegetables

The brain is busy even when you’re just zoning out.

In quantum physics, even nothingness can be infinite. @georgemusser.com explains: www.quantamagazine.org/in-quantum-m...

I'm a few months behind, but is still worth a listen now. That sample container is prepped and ready to be picked up. It is expensive to do so, but it's also a sample that will aid our understanding of the origins of life if we could get it from there to here. open.spotify.com/episode/0xtK...

🌬️🎄🎼🎶🎵🎶🎶✨

A rare in person session today (we usually play online). #dnd #dwarvenforge

I'm so new to this platform that I know no one here who cares, but nonetheless the first step of some tattoo work that's been in the planning stages for months was done this week. Hannah is amazing. #tattoo #seagullnebula #skullandcrossbonesnebula #m41 #m93 #sirius #canismajor

The math of infinity is now plugged into the math of computer networks www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-bridge... .

A random thought...it is maybe in some respects unfortunate humans have mostly settled on base 10 as our number system. For quick, intuitive do-it-in-your-head math, I suspect base 12 is better.