Federico Adolfi

Me: I’m elated to announce my new suite of agentic LLMs fine-tuned to exhibit subtle behaviors that maximally elicit complex vicarious emotions in humans such as shame and embarrassment

Billionaire: I can help you grow with an initial investment of—

Me: I call it CrinGPT

B: get out

I’m gonna build a model that is so theory neutral that it cannot do anything. It’s so over for you scientists

German: Information
English: gotcha, that’s information, next!
German: der die das den dem der des
English: get out

Yeah I get that. I guess specifically I’m confused about the unique contribution of reposting in the context of the multiplicity of feeds people are already exposed to. I get that I wouldn’t see a post if I’m not following the account and they are not on any of my feeds, but otherwise 🤷🏻‍♂️

The former: resposts in general 😅

Broadcasting my ignorance but I’m still not clear on what reposts are supposed to accomplish/contribute on this, the only site I’m on

Academics blueprinting: “3 weeks ago my team and I embarked on what turned out to be the most important journey of my career. Have you ever wondered how the brain does behavior? In this thread I will reveal the answer. What you’re about to see may disturb you. But first, a word from our sponsor…”

To take this to the limit, we note that for every ε-ssay there exists a δ-ebate.

In this ε-ssay, I develop a kernel of an idea so diminishingly small that you’ve just read it

You’re welcome

I wanna say… BBS article by Pylyshyn (80s). How did I do?

Selfishly paging @mraginsky.bsky.social because I too would like to know the answer 🤓

Me: alright then, time to work on the abstract for my talk and ONLY the abstract for my talk until it’s done

Also me: *spends an hour working on a schematic for a single slide* Nailed it

Thanks, currently recharging motivation and calories 😅

Lemon gooey butter cookies with powdered sugar on top

In this household we are generally self deprecating and also we celebrate rejections with dangerously delicious cookies

I don’t know who needs to hear this but

*uncanny mouth noises*

Oh hell no
Put. That. Shit. Back.

Oh hell no
Put. That. Shit. Back.

Got a little taste of that Academic Rejection yesterday and it already feels like a 27 year old unresolved trauma

I don’t know who needs to hear this but

*uncanny mouth noises*

Gotcha, yeah especially in ML where the significance of the details is largely unknown, and yet there’s a layer of wishful storytelling around them that goes forever untested

The work above might seem quite technical but my super secret personal motivation for doing it has always been these deeper (philosophical, some might say) questions and how they impact other downstream concerns around scientific modeling and alignment

One aspect I don’t see on your list or in the replies (& I’d be curious why, but I digress) is the issue of what it would mean for us to understand them; eg ability to *efficiently* answer a family of questions useful for description, explanation, prediction, control, as in👇
bsky.app/profile/fede...

Ha no I mean if you are saying you’re not interested in artificial systems, just natural organisms

In the sense of natural versus artificial ‘organisms’, or something else?

We’ve all heard of the early (and possibly fallacious) dichotomy between our biological endowment and the environment we inhabit growing up (Nature vs Nurture).

Lesser known is the later (less fallacious) dichotomy between developing into a decent person versus a total shitbag (Mature vs Manure).

We’ve all heard of the early (and possibly fallacious) dichotomy between our biological endowment and the environment we inhabit growing up (Nature vs Nurture).

Lesser known is the later (less fallacious) dichotomy between developing into a decent person versus a total shitbag (Mature vs Manure).

Ok so an fMRI study in the context of an fMRI study — yes go on

Hiring committee: tell us about your perspective on the field of cognitive neuroscience

Me: well, a lot of ink has been spilled in attempts to understand brain function

HC: interesti—

Me: say, ‘temporal cortex, frontal cortex’, that’s a LOT of words. Just use temporex, frontex, occ—

HC: get out

Goes well with these

bsky.app/profile/fede...

The closing slide of an academic presentation showing email and social media handles. The text reads “Thank you. I’m on the job market but I don’t want to”

Looks like I’m giving a bunch of talks at seminars and symposiums in the next few months and I’m hoping the audience appreciates brutal honesty and a hint of desperation in my closing slide