Ai gives mathematicians the freedom to try crazy ideas

In conversation with OpenAI’s @markchen90, Terence reflects on a future where AI reduces the cognitive friction of research, helps preserve the paths behind discovery, and expands what mathematicians and scientists can attempt. https://t.co/0elJITP8XT

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 29, 2026

Fight! Gary Marcus vs. Roon on X

Here's how Grok summarizes the feud:

The clash began Friday when roon, an OpenAI researcher, posted that cognitive scientist Gary Marcus has been 'plainly & clownishly wrong for years' without tagging or allowing replies. Marcus hit back, accusing roon of slander and cowardice, while linking a third-party GitHub analysis of his 2,218 AI predictions from 2022 to early 2026, which found 59.9% supported, 33.7% mixed, and 6.4% contradicted—strong on technical issues like LLM flaws but weaker on market forecasts. The spat highlights deepening rifts in the AI world, where skeptics like Marcus question hype around tools like GPT-5, and boosters dismiss them amid ongoing debates over reliability and progress.

I've read the third-party analysis linked above. It's pretty interesting. 

Here's a sample:

You milked years of recognition and livelihood from the position that GenAI is a scam.

Now that GenAI is performant, you say it's neurosymbolic. Wait, we thought it was a scam?

GenAI folks have all the rights to be pissed off. There is no way for you to be wrong!

— Nazım Adaklı (@nazimadakli) May 22, 2026

AI cats making spaghetti

This cracked me up!! 😹😹😹 pic.twitter.com/cORpm9v5wu

— Lucy (@TheLucyShow1) March 25, 2026

Nina rides again, sorta'

I drew "Buckin' Bronchie" because I think bronchiectasis sufferers need a name (bronchies) and a mascot. Next I will draw Bronchiesaurus. Meanwhile, which of these 2 versions is better? pic.twitter.com/bEQj3G6U0n

— Nina Paley (@ninapaley) May 20, 2025

Smartphone photos 2021 projected to 2026

6/12 With the smartphone photography the number of photos taken every year exploded from billions to TRILLIONS #Smartphones capture 92.5% of all pictures. By 2026 that will have risen to 94% #CES2025 #MWC25 #photography #camera #cameras #smartphone
image via Mylio Blog pic.twitter.com/IoVrasv6A8

— Jim Harris (@JimHarris) December 24, 2024

Check out the whole thread.

Lana & Taylor, Top of the pop: left-right, right-left

Lana, Taylor and anti-institutional realignment

Recently, I watched the Grammys and learned more about Lana Del Rey. I had no idea she was friendly with Taylor Swift, or that she and Taylor shared the same producer. These women have been pop stars for over a decade: Taylor the… pic.twitter.com/WrBFoOcnJa

— Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle) March 2, 2024

H/t Tyler Cowen.

American tech giants spend more on R&D than France and Italy

It is startling to see how much of the world's R&D spending comes from (mostly American) tech giants.

The R&D spending of Amazon is greater than the R&D spending of all companies and government in France. Alphabet beats Italy.

Pepsi's R&D spending beats all sources in Nigeria. pic.twitter.com/ztzIHkOw7l

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) January 13, 2024

Ellen Alaverdyan plays Victor Wooten

Victor Wooten - “Victa” 🎶❤️#bassplayer #victorwooten pic.twitter.com/hyg8CVgzG1

— Ellen Alaverdyan (@EllenPlaysBass) October 26, 2023

Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior

Here's an example of the multi-AI simulation at work. You can watch the whole thing here, and switch between AI characters by clicking on them: https://t.co/3Hqtsosdeg pic.twitter.com/yxb3eBZBdE

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) April 10, 2023

What kind of AI would understand this proof? It involves reasoning about visual objects.

If you are ready to take your understanding to the next level, watch this proof of the formula for the area of a circle, as presented by Dan Rubin. He explains Archimedes’s original argument and why it’s better than the proofs you may have seen elsewhere. https://t.co/5Lt9u8plKb

— Steven Strogatz (@stevenstrogatz) June 11, 2022

Spatially distributed cortical circuits

This is conceptually cool stuff

Spatially distributed computation in cortical circuits https://t.co/vuVQgrHETa

— Martin Vinck (@martin_a_vinck) April 24, 2022

Abstract of the linked article:

The traditional view of neural computation in the cerebral cortex holds that sensory neurons are specialized, i.e., selective for certain dimensions of sensory stimuli. This view was challenged by evidence of contextual interactions between stimulus dimensions in which a neuron’s response to one dimension strongly depends on other dimensions. Here, we use methods of mathematical modeling, psychophysics, and electrophysiology to address shortcomings of the traditional view. Using a model of a generic cortical circuit, we begin with the simple demonstration that cortical responses are always distributed among neurons, forming characteristic waveforms, which we call neural waves. When stimulated by patterned stimuli, circuit responses arise by interference of neural waves. Results of this process depend on interaction between stimulus dimensions. Comparison of modeled responses with responses of biological vision makes it clear that the framework of neural wave interference provides a useful alternative to the standard concept of neural computation.

China's Sputnik moment? [the need for high tech self-sufficiency]

The Trump administration targeted firms like ByteDance, Huawei, and DJI, which have been profoundly offended by US actions. If China succeeds, it won't be because Beijing chanced on the secrets of central planning, but because these innovative firms want to buy Chinese chips.

— Dan Wang (@danwwang) July 29, 2021

The weakness of networked movements

This is as good as everyone says it is: "Networked movements can grow rapidly without the prior build-up of collective capacities that prepare them for what comes next. It (was) easier to incubate a movement than to win a majority or take over a party." https://t.co/lQRi20M5wU

— John Handel (@_John_Handel) July 20, 2021

Who'd've thought, the extraterrestrials speak English, or want to learn it [annals of anxiety]

Today I learned: Extraterrestrials prefer to visit places where English is spoken. https://t.co/KYbFfW115L

— Ted Gioia (@tedgioia) June 30, 2021

The brain understands tools as extensions of the body [Merleau-Ponty, right?]

If you're using a tool you're familiar with, and using the tool properly (i.e. not grabbing a fork by the prongs), your brain will only say
"hey, you're using your hands"
and not
"hey, this is a tool"
or
"hey, this is an object" pic.twitter.com/OUl0KfgWEd

— James Rosen-Birch 🛸🔮🛠 (@provisionalidea) May 13, 2021

Here is the paper, which I am very excited about, and which my cofounder had to hear me geek out about extensively this morning:https://t.co/FaChohgdk8

And here is the press release:https://t.co/esfDG8MOQO

— James Rosen-Birch 🛸🔮🛠 (@provisionalidea) May 13, 2021

UK rainfall data digitized by volunteers [Citizen science]

Thanks to @metoffice archives, these sheets were scanned & made openly available, but how could the observations be extracted?

The answer? Ask for help: https://t.co/1Z0LcM7oBN

16,000 volunteers stepped forward during the first UK COVID lockdown to transcribe every observation.

— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) May 13, 2021

This data will be used by @markpmcc & @metoffice to improve UK rainfall reconstruction (called HadUK-Grid).

Currently the all-UK gridded reconstructions extend back to 1862. With the #rainfallrescue dataset it should be possible to go back to 1836, and earlier for some regions. pic.twitter.com/SXoqUFpYeo

— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) May 13, 2021

None of this would have been possible without the 16,000+ volunteers, and especially those who have stayed with the project the whole way (Gill, Ian, Jacqui, John B, John O, Mike, Richard, Tim). We also relied on the amazing @the_zooniverse as the citizen science web platform.

— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) May 13, 2021

We can now map out rainfall for historical extreme months that has never been possible before. For example, the Decembers in 1852 and 1853 were one of the wettest and driest on record for Scotland respectively. pic.twitter.com/LIUwcZNZNc

— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) May 13, 2021

On bringing bioligcal data to bear on artificial neural networks [I think we're getting somewhere]

last thought: 100% agreed with @criticalneuro. Diverse data is needed to properly test the idea of constraining ANNs with biological data. Dr Who, Natural Scene Datasets and https://t.co/LUA0Pynfvp THINGS https://t.co/amhxwgean4 are excellent steps in that direction.

— Pierre Bellec (@pierre_bellec) May 6, 2021

Does human habitation cause extinction of other species? Not until the Holocene [c. 10 kya]

Just to not misinterpret my tweet, here the last part of the abstract: pic.twitter.com/Qf6PDtrYVx

— Alberto Acerbi (@acerbialberto) May 5, 2021

My first "conversation" in Japanese, with the help of Google Translate

Google Translate rendered hashyy's first message as:

When I hear her gentle and smooth performance
It's very calming.
And the sound of Henry's studio
very good.
Finally, listen to what Henry told her
This is an episode where I learned about Henry's thoughts.

Hashyy is  referring to Kwak DaKyung, a remarkable young Korean trumpeter who Henry features in this video. You can see my reply in English in the middle tweet, along with the Google translation.

Google Translate rendered hashyy's second message as:

Thank you for your polite reply.
Episodes I haven't seen yet
While enjoying the new episode
And I want to look carefully.

I then replied: "You're welcome. Enjoy." Google provided the Japanese translation.

Coming attractions: Our future AI overlords, NOT

Had so much fun watching this students' #unessay project, which uses the Sims to think through some of the questions about AI we discussed this semester—her narration of her Sim's day prompted many giggles from my & my boys.

Shared with permission.https://t.co/qtGeTA5nYf

— Ryan Cordell (@ryancordell) April 26, 2021