Daniel Van Zant

Who architects the models that model architectures?
Co-founder @ Lumen Labs

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

You sent me on a Wikipedia rabbit hole learning more about this! Glad the toy could help inspire this tweet. As you mentioned in one of your other replies muscles operate on a completely different paradigm on both the control and mechanics side. There are people thinking about the control side and people thinking about the mechanics side. I suspect the ultimate unlock for solving this problem will have to come from those two groups of people putting their heads together and getting a deep understanding of the problem, both in the approaches humans have come up with, and the ways that nature solves this problem.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@ebarenholtz 100% agree. One of my favorite terms that you taught me is “substantive disagreement”. Getting rid of these kinds of “gotchas” on both sides will only do the debate as a whole a world of good.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

Zero shot sim2real transfer with a policy that can run at 100Hz on an ESP32 and took less than a day to train. Cooking up some cool stuff here at Lumen Labs in SF. If you want to join send me a link to a time you got a policy running effectively on a robot in the real world.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@theresidency Super pumped about this! Reminds me of Toyota open-sourcing their process. It ended up revolutionized the entire manufacturing industry even outside of automotive. Hoping this can do the same for residencies!

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@theresidency Let's gooooo!

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

Really enjoyed writing this article with the Wolfram Institute. Lots of research done in the past four months and more articles like this soon to come!

[Wolfram Institute @WolframInst]

mRNA vaccine research began in the 1980s. The scientist who made the key breakthrough couldn't get grants for over a decade. She was demoted four times before winning a Nobel Prize. This pattern isn't unique. It showed up across five transformative technologies over 75 years.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

This is cool. If I'm understanding correctly, it's almost like there are three autoregressive loops. Their is one that might be what we could call the "conscious core" which continually takes in the current "self-state" + personal outputs + environmental input and outputs the next self-state (or maybe jsut appends some tokens on to the end of the internal ticker tape). There is the conventional "active inference loop" that continually takes in the self-state + environmental inputs and creates personal outputs. Finally, the environment itself would be the third autoregressive wheel that continually takes in personal outputs and produces environmental inputs. If I'm understanding what you're saying, as long as their is some predictability and continuity in all three of these then you can have a minimally conscious system.

[augmentation lab @auglab]

SF just got augmented ⚡️

Augmentation Lab is now live in SF.

shoutout @rhobusiness for fueling our first Founder Dinner.

the next wave of human–AI tools is being built here.

join us 👇 Discord

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

Excited about this research proposal with @WolframInst . Will be exploring decentralized science as a way to fix some issues in science funding. Some generous donations so far (especially a recent and large one from @BioProtocol). Hoping to close the gap in the next few days.

[ResearchHub @ResearchHub]

Basic science creates the biggest breakthroughs.

Yet it’s the most underfunded type of research.

Researchers from the @WolframInst seek funding to explore how DeSci DAOs can realign incentives for better funding and avoid the traps of traditional models. 🧵

1/8

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@ResearchHub @WolframInst Howdy. Main researcher here! Happy to answer any questions anyone might have on the proposal.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

And @JesParent !

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

Will be presenting and pitching at the @auglab Human Augmentation Summit at the MIT Media Lab in just a few days! Super excited to see some of my favorite people there. @TOEwithCurt @ekkolapto @DuganHammock @BenjaminLy61243 @DuganHammock

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@dwinny_21 Thanks Edwin! We appreciate it.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

Have been working hard on this crowdfunded proposal to research a "New Kind of Science Organization" in collaboration with James at the Wolfram Institute. If you are interested even an upvote on the post or a positive comment can help this get funded. #DeSci #DAOs

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@JesParent Here's the article: https://t.co/qg5yBjkvAH that that refers to (I have the AI give everything punchier titles because it is more fun).

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

When I find an interesting article/paper/etc I don't read it right away, I save it in a folder on my computer. Once I have enough, I run a small script to get it printed as a glossy magazine with an AI-designed cover (here's the latest) and read through everything at my leisure.

[Daniel Van Zant @Daniel_Van_Zant]

@jposhaughnessy @osventuresllc @TOEwithCurt I am seconding that emotion from @auglab. Would love to meet you in person at the event if you're able. Will have some exciting stuff I am showing off which has been funded by the OSV grant.

[Center for the Future of AI, Mind & Society @CenFutureAIMS]

🤖 What if #AI could accelerate the way science builds its theories?

At the @WolframInst, @Daniel_Van_Zant (PhD Student & Center Fellow) presented a system designed to speed theory-building in neuroscience, and maybe reshape research itself.

👉Watch now: https://t.co/8jWUSgWt6O