Ayush Agrawal

reading dead philosophers and alive researchers.

[Ayush Agrawal @ayush8120]

A dirty cup, broken plate or a clean bowl -- what would you choose for carrying water safely across the room?

While such questions are easy for us humans, what would it take to equip embodied agents with such reasoning capabilities? [1/N]

[Accepted papers at TMLR @TmlrPub]

Physical Reasoning and Object Planning for Household Embodied Agents

Ayush Agrawal, Raghav Prabhakar, Anirudh Goyal, Dianbo Liu.

Action editor: Dinesh Jayaraman.

https://t.co/tXLtuFbk2y

#tasks #commonsense #embodied

[roro, PhD @fuglibetty]

The cyclist is a disarming evil; he possesses all the arrogance of the driver with all the victim complex of a pedestrian

[Isabel🌻 @isabelunraveled]

You get to a point eventually where you truly, viscerally realize it is genuinely *not* about the outcome; it IS about the process, about following the call, about showing up, about demonstrating to *yourself* that you are doing the right things (by your own definition of right.) And then, only then, do the outcomes start flowing abundantly and effortlessly in ways you could not have imagined. But you can’t ‘think’ yourself into this knowing. You need to learn it by actually doing. By living in alignment, by listening to yourself, and by actually doing what you feel called to do.

[Champ✨ @Ib_ra_himm]

POV: The professor opening my exam realizing he's the dragon warrior

[Benjamin Todd @ben_j_todd]

The most powerful meditation technique I've come across recently: rather than just "observe" negative emotions, learn to actively savour them.

With a bit of practice, it's often possible to find an enjoyable aspect of them: the energised quality of anger, or the tender feeling of sadness. Just imagine it feels really good.

You can also notice the good intentions behind them, making it easier to feel warmly towards them: anxiety is trying to protect you from something, doubt makes you notice you don't understand.

Savoured in this way, you may notice feeling more energised and alive. In formal practice, by focusing on the positive aspects and enjoyment, you can even ride a negative emotion into the jhanas.

You can then start to relate to painful emotions not as things to be feared, or even passing "clouds" to be observed, but embraced as something that makes you feel a deeper sort of wellbeing.

I'm certainly not there yet, but even moving 10% in this direction feels pretty helpful.

[🍂 @Lovandfear]

One of my philosophy professors lectured wildly about love once, yelling: 'When you're in love with someone, that person is the lighthouse of your universe. (I scrawled it inside Science and Poetry in pencil-lighthouse of your universe-as if I would ever forget that phrase.) He was a delightful caricature of his position. I could swear he literally tore his hair out while howling at us. He went on, 'Nothing means as much without that person.' One of the men in the class repeated, incredulous, half-laughing, 'So you're saying you can't enjoy, like, a vacation, without someone if you're really in love with them?' 'Of course not,' the professor replied. 'Not completely. You recognize beauty, but beauty means less if they don't witness it with you. Beauty is less. You see something sublime and your first thought is that they should be there with you. It's not as good without them. They illuminate. They make everything more.'

[Delip Rao e/σ @deliprao]

Your PI juggling their PhD students managing their research projects.

[maja 🔭🍒 @majamediaco]

aka some parts of you only emerge for certain people

[t. @tsobs_]

your twenties are for finding the gap in the literature

[sahil @epichilfire3]

grok of all trades, claude of none

[roobz 🌙 🌸 @tishray]

Every country has an energy. And that energy rewires you whether you notice it or not. People move to Japan and become minimal. People move to Mexico and their entire relationship with time softens. People move to New York and suddenly they can't sit still. Your personality is far more malleable than you think. We treat it like something fixed, but new surroundings give you new defaults. New pace. New habits. New values absorbed through proximity instead of effort. You're not just the average of the 5 people closest to you. You're the average of the 5 places, the 5 routines, and the 5 inputs you're exposed to most. Your commute shapes you. The weather shapes you. Every space you occupy is voting on who you become. That's why I believe choosing where you live is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. More important than your job title. Maybe more important than your five-year plan. Because the place shapes the plan. The place shapes your energy, your habits, your relationships, your default state. Get the place right and half of the other decisions start making themselves. Get it wrong and you'll fight yourself every day.

[Rota 🚪🧎‍♂️ @pli_cachete]

Ever since I was a young boy I have had a dream of efficiently sampling from the posterior distribution

[u m a m i @u_m_a_m_i]

When I first released this, I didn’t imagine it would end up being one of my most popular animations. Perception is filtered through bias - what we see in others is incomplete and we substitute whats missing with pieces of ourselves.

[Ayush Agrawal @ayush8120]

Of all things you could do for someone, nothing tops making them feel safe, seen and heard.

[jo johnson @josbjohnson]

there’s a specific kind of beauty in watching people do what they love.
it doesn’t matter what it is: a chef perfecting a dish, a mechanic rebuilding an engine, an artist lost in the work, an athlete who can’t miss. that look of complete absorption. where they’re not performing for anyone, not trying to be seen.

just

doing the thing because the thing itself matters.

that’s when humans are most beautiful. when they’re present. when they’ve forgotten to be self conscious because they’re too busy being alive. that focus, that dedication, that love for craft, that’s what we’re supposed to look like. thats us at our best.

forget beauty standards, forget aesthetics,

the most beautiful thing a human can be is fully engaged in something they care about.

[kaflesque @kafleva]

Not to be a sap but what a metaphor: in the face of uncertain tomorrows, you'll always have yesterday to rely on.

[💫AcrosstheYoongiverse_Hana 🐳💜 @OneYoong1vers]

The weight of these words... gosh. only those who know, know.

[Cian McCarthy @arealmofwonder]

The secret formula for happiness from the film 'About Time'.

(To quote Goethe: "I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.")

[🕊️ @lichthauch]

Understanding means nothing. I can explain God to you for a thousand years and you'll still be exactly as lost as when we started. But do one righteous thing - one - and suddenly you know more than every theologian who ever lived. The highest truth doesn't live in books or brains, it lives in your hands when they move, in your feet when they walk toward the thing you're afraid of