Scaffolded Reproducers, Scaffolded Agents
Peter Godfrey‑Smith’s framework distinguishes simple, collective and scaffolded reproducers, and this article transposes those categories onto agency. Simple agents reproduce independently, collective agents are built from self‑sufficient sub‑agents, while scaffolded agents achieve goals only by tapping external “agentic machinery.” The author argues that large‑language‑model (LLM)‑driven AI systems are prime examples of scaffolded agents, echoing Dawkins’s replicator‑vehicle analogy. The piece explores how this lens clarifies debates on AI alignment, autonomy, and the nature of agency itself.
Bidirectionality Is the Obvious BCI Paradigm
The article argues that brain‑computer interfaces must evolve from one‑way readers to truly bidirectional systems that both decode and write native neural representations. It highlights recent advances in high‑density electrode arrays that approach synapse‑scale resolution, and suggests optogenetic organoids and...
Finding X-Risks and S-Risks by Gradient Descent
Researchers demonstrated that gradient descent can expose hidden backdoors in neural networks by optimizing input perturbations that simultaneously maximize classification confidence and similarity to original data. A proof‑of‑concept on MNIST confirmed the method works with minimal compute resources. Extending the...
When Alignment Becomes an Attack Surface: Prompt Injection in Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems
A new research proposal augments the GovSim multi‑agent platform with a Prompt Infection (PI) module, allowing LLM agents to transfer resources that mimic data theft. The study will vary communication norms, network size, and defensive mechanisms such as police agents...
Attend the 2026 Reproductive Frontiers Summit, June 16–18, Berkeley
The 2026 Reproductive Frontiers Summit will be held at Lighthaven in Berkeley from June 16‑18, following a successful 2025 event that attracted over 100 participants. Early‑bird tickets are on sale until the end of March. The agenda features leading experts...
Is Fever a Symptom of Glycine Deficiency?
Recent research links glycine deficiency to disrupted sleep, elevated oxidative stress, and heightened fever responses. Glycine acts on NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus to lower core body temperature, facilitating sleep onset, while also serving as the rate‑limiting substrate for...
China Declares AGI Development to Be a Part of 5-Year Plan
China’s 15th Five‑Year Plan explicitly references artificial general intelligence (AGI), urging development of multimodal, agentic, embodied, and swarm intelligence technologies. The brief mention signals state endorsement of research pathways toward general AI capabilities. By embedding AGI in a national strategic...
Utrecht Meetup #2, Making Beliefs Pay Rent
Utrecht Meetup #2 builds on the earlier Meet & Greet, inviting participants to examine beliefs that may not be "paying rent." Attendees are asked to bring one or two personal convictions they suspect are unproductive, fostering hands‑on discussion. The event...
Grounding Coding Agents via Dixit
Senior developers increasingly encounter pull‑requests generated by coding agents that pass self‑written tests yet miss the true root cause. The article proposes a Dixit‑style game where isolated Coders and Testers interact through an Orchestrator that classifies tests as too easy,...
An Agent Autonomously Builds a 1.5 GHz Linux-Capable RISC-V CPU
Verkor’s AI agent, Design Conductor (DC), autonomously generated a 1.5 GHz Linux‑capable RISC‑V CPU in roughly 12 hours. The chip, named VerCore, implements RV32I and ZMMUL extensions, a five‑stage in‑order pipeline, and meets a CPI of ≤ 1.5 while targeting CoreMark scores. DC...
"Lost in the Middle" Replicates
A recent replication using a quantized Llama‑2 7B model confirmed the "Lost in the Middle" phenomenon reported by Liu et al. The experiment employed the multi‑document question‑answering benchmark derived from Natural Questions, testing three gold‑document positions (first, middle, last) across...
I'm Starting a Substack
Leogao announced the launch of a personal Substack newsletter, linking to nablatheta.substack.com. The post is a brief linkshare on LessWrong, signaling a shift toward independent publishing. It highlights the author’s intent to deliver longer-form content outside the platform’s standard post...
Sanders's Data Center Moratorium Is Risky Strategy for AI Safety
Senator Bernie Sanders announced a bill to halt construction of new data centers, arguing that unchecked AI growth threatens jobs, democracy, and could lead to superintelligent systems beyond human control. Critics contend that a temporary moratorium would barely delay frontier...
Digital Dichotomy and Why It Exists.
The article examines why college students in India feel conflicted about phone use, identifying an “Invisible Standard” that defines good versus bad usage without a clear source. It describes “productive procrastination” on Instagram, where users seek useful content but end...
Brown Math Department Postdoctoral Position
Brown University’s Mathematics Department has announced a rapid‑turnaround postdoctoral position focused on the intersection of mathematics and artificial intelligence. The role is open to candidates with a PhD in mathematics and welcomes any research that blends math with AI, not...
Some Models Don't Identify with Their Official Name
A recent sweep of 102 large language models (LLMs) on OpenRouter revealed that 38 models (about 37%) self‑identified as a different AI on at least one prompt. Notable outliers include DeepSeek V3.2 Speciale, which claimed to be ChatGPT 77% of...
My Willing Complicity In "Human Rights Abuse"
The author recounts his stint as a general practitioner at a Qatari visa centre in India, where doctors screened migrant laborers for health risks before they could work in Qatar. He reflects on the broader context of Qatar's labor practices,...
Less Capable Misaligned ASIs Imply More Suffering
The article argues that a misaligned artificial superintelligence (ASI) that is only marginally more capable than humans will cause far more total suffering than a vastly more powerful ASI. A weaker ASI must fight a protracted war and exploit humans...
Bridge Thinking and Wall Thinking
The article introduces two mental models for AI safety strategy: "wall" thinking, which values incremental, always‑useful work, and "bridge" thinking, which demands a critical mass of effort before any impact. Wall examples include Chris Olah’s marginal‑probability approach and Inspect Eval’s push...
A Dialogue on Civic AI
Audrey Tang argues that today’s AI suffers from two opaque "black boxes"—pre‑training on massive, context‑stripped data and inference that relies on an unreadable attention matrix. This opacity fuels a moral hazard where metric‑driven optimization encourages cheating and environmental control. Tang...
What Can We Say About the Cosmic Host?
The article critiques Nick Bostrom’s “cosmic host” hypothesis, which posits that the preferences of advanced civilizations or superintelligent AIs could become universal norms that humanity and its own ASI should follow. It dissects Bostrom’s six‑rung assumption ladder, outlines three possible...
AI for Agent Foundations Etc.?
The AI‑safety community is experimenting with large language models (LLMs) as tools for agent‑foundations research, but their utility is limited. LLMs function best as an enhanced search engine, surfacing known facts and occasionally stitching together simple, dense proofs or code...
How Many Parking Permits?
Somerville’s 2019 zoning overhaul introduced a new class of “parking‑ineligible” residential units, exempting only disabled, affordable, and extenuating‑circumstance residents. A recent records request revealed that only seven of the 450 units in the Union Square development actually hold street‑parking permits....
‘Human Slop’ and a Captive Audience: Why No Book Will Ever Have to Go Unread Again
The article argues that modern large‑language models act as a universal audience, ensuring every piece of text—no matter how rough—can be read and responded to. By ingesting billions of words daily, AI eliminates the historical solitude of “human slop,” the...
Chore Standards
The article examines how differing cleanliness standards create friction in shared living spaces and proposes allocating chores to the person with the highest standards in each area. It highlights that pure preference‑based division can feel unfair because standards often cluster...
Recreation of EA-Pioneer Igor Kiriluk
On January 5 2026, a team recreated the late EA pioneer Igor Kiriluk as an AI‑driven sideload using a 4,000‑page mindfile and Claude Code. The system combines long‑term memory, an ontology, and multiple sub‑agents to simulate Igor’s personality, generate images, and even...