I’m on holiday, and said there’d be no newsletters in August, but here are some things I’ve seen. If you’ve just subscribed and want some writing, please enjoy these recent posts:
Gradually, then all at once. Why belief change is like bankruptcy
Predicting human behaviour. Why it is hard, and why LLMs may not help
Social thinking. How other people, even if just imagined, can help puncture the illusion of understanding
The Boundary of Love by Luo Li Rong
More: Body in Motion: Fluid Bronze Sculptures by Luo Li Rong
via @Natasha_Jay
Boiled clergy
Boiled clergy. Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, France ca. 1450-1470. Bodleian, MS. Douce 134, fol. 85r.
I’m all ears, pal
via @ComicContext
Our new theory…
By tomgauld.com
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Reasonable People is having August off. Thanks for reading!
Pig of knowledge
This wonderful 1805 book exposes the reality behind various tricks and illusions of the day, beginning with arguably the most enigmatic of the tricks listed, that of the “Learned Pig”, or as the excellent frontispiece refers to it “The Pig of Knowledge”:
via @publicdomainrev, original The Expositor, or Many Mysteries Unravelled - including that of the Learned Pig (1805)
As your father
Original: User Stories for Clarity
Montreal street poster
via @ianrogers
It’s not good
If you don’t know where this gif comes from it is a just a cute scene with some bunnies. If you do, it may drag atavistic terror from the buried depths of your childhood memories. Sorry.
via @el_ahrairah
« Arcane XI - La Force », 1993
by Juan Gimenez (Argentine artist, 1943-2020)
Illustration from the “22 Major Arcana of the Marseille Tarot” collection cards.
Latent Space, Felicity Hammond
In her installation, artist #FelicityHammond offers a speculative glimpse into a not-too-distant future where this new approach to space-based computation has become the dominant position in the AI industry. However, the system continues to battle with the effects of #modelcollapse...
Sorry I couldn’t make this exhibition in Ljubljana in April
via @aksioma
…And finally
One of my own holiday snaps. Ten points if you can tell where I’ve been
END
Comments? Feedback? Things you’ve seen? I am tom@idiolect.org.uk and on Mastodon at @tomstafford@mastodon.online
AI declaration: I write all the words and think all the thoughts myself.
As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about how research is shared, the vinyl comic by Tom Gauld moves me.
the sculptures are real cool!