Ezra

swe @ microsoft • prev computation & cognition @ pomona college • curious about efficient computation and emergent cognition, inspired by neurobiology

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Everyone gets so excited about LLMs—we still have so much to learn from human intelligence

[Ezra @ezrafd]

One of the most valuable skills, in my eyes, is the ability to understand complex ideas and distill them into something clear and intuitive

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Less, because the suppression dynamics need high-bandwidth signal that tokens discard; faster, because there's no decode/re-encode bottleneck

[Ezra @ezrafd]

I find it likely that neural populations in the brain "hallucinate" similarly to LLMs—but interactions with other populations push those hallucinations orthogonal to the dominant manifold shaping conscious experience and behavior

[Ezra @ezrafd]

It then follows that modular LLM systems that interact in latent space (rather than via natural language) would hallucinate less (and run faster)

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Moving forward what becomes increasingly important is not speed of execution, but clarity of thought

[Seattle Seahawks @Seahawks]

Stacked wins.

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Neither are vision models

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Language models aren’t enough for AGI. While I would argue we don’t quite have the right architecture, the right data is even more important

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Could we use evolutionary algorithms to uncover heterogeneous architectures that are computationally advantageous for today’s artificial neural networks?

[Ezra @ezrafd]

I am curious about tuning the hyperparameters of classes of neurons rather than the entire network

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Our genes have evolved to facilitate the differentiation of many neuron types with distinct intrinsic properties, including affinities for forming synapses with particular classes

[hardmaru @hardmaru]

We’re in an “LLM bubble” not an AI bubble.

[Ezra @ezrafd]

Attention promotes efficient learning. By enhancing specific firing patterns while suppressing others, attention dynamics in the brain promote efficient synaptic strengthening and rapid, even one-shot understanding. What are our artificial models missing?

[Ezra @ezrafd]

#ProBowlVote Devon Witherspoon

[Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz]

We should not infer unity-in-general from unity-during-introspection any more than a four-year-old should infer refrigerator-light-always-on from it's-on-whenever-I-check-it. [3/5]

[Seattle Seahawks @Seahawks]

Smells like Seahawks football.

[Joscha Bach @Plinz]

Consciousness is the groove operator

[Miles Brundage @Miles_Brundage]

Who called it the rapid spread of AI music and not the Sing-ularity

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

Seahawks are hiring former Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who recently accepted the same position at Alabama, per me and @PeteThamel. Seahawks have filled their OC hole.