@danfaggella I can strongly recommend A Paradigm for AI Consciousness; it’s only a small exaggeration to say I wrote it specifically for Dan Faggella (and for future AIs, whom I expect will ask many of the same questions as you do) https://t.co/5ewsQa3T3F

Some topics are explicitly…

@danfaggella I can strongly recommend A Paradigm for AI Consciousness; it’s only a small exaggeration to say I wrote it specifically for Dan Faggella (and for future AIs, whom I expect will ask many of the same questions as you do) https://www.theseedsofscience.org/2024-a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness

Some topics are explicitly…


@Jaggerydev10 @danfaggella I haven’t — what would you suggest his main insights were?


@ChrisChipMonk My sense is a lot of our bodies are held in place by smooth muscle, and modern life often leads to overtightening (would be interesting to dig into why this is)

The eye in particular has smooth muscle which holds it in focus; perhaps the epidemic of myopia is just a relaxation…


@jonnym1ller Thanks Jonny! Some remarks:

> Why do 'latches' matter?
> They are the mechanism via which the ‘body keeps the score’. Latches are how trauma gets remembered.

I agree with this!

> You might say that human suffering is precisely proportional to the number of smooth muscle…


@chercher_ai @silentsabbath @jonnym1ller Just chiming in that I also view this as a hypothesis, or rather a set of interlinked hypotheses, with varying degrees of implicit support. There are still some question marks in my internal model of latch physiology that I hope to resolve this year & would make validation more…


@cube_flipper @worstyouknow Clench pleiotropy, i.e. the natural boundaries of a clench are messy and many times other random things get lumped into the clench and stabilized too. And the things don’t necessarily need to be physically adjacent

I.e. some people can curl each finger individually, some can’t……


@gingerhaderach @jonnym1ller This is probably the best intro https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8

@gingerhaderach @jonnym1ller This is probably the best intro https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863595299056517410


@jonnym1ller Intriguing question — I think “suffering” is theoretically encapsulated by STV[1][2][3] whereas I’d say “aliveness” corresponds to ‘amount of consciousness’[4]. You can have any combination of aliveness and suffering (high,high; low,low; high,low; low,high). But all else being…


@jonnym1ller I think of latches as turning a variable into a constant — which can be useful in some situations / as a strongly held prior, but really cuts down on the flexibility of the system

Following the metaphor “a latch is like pressing the same key on a piano on every beat”, you can…


@hastuc_dibtux @cube_flipper That makes a lot of sense


@36_72541890 I’m very curious how rhythmic vasospasm would show up on this functional connectivity measure

The hemo-neural hypothesis implies the fMRI BOLD response is less about differential neural activity *levels*, and more about differential neural *flexibility* (increased bloodflow…


@jonnym1ller Thinking as I go here —

I suspect fine gradients of tension in the vasomuscular system can exert considerable control over what patterns form and persist in consciousness, both indirectly (by influencing neural patterns) and (speculatively) perhaps more directly also. By…


@_bbelousov @JoinEdgeCity Presently the hypothesis deals with VSMCs/pericytes due to their unique systemic access to neurons, but I expect the same basic logic to be found across multiple contractile tissues

Clenches in each of these other tissue types might regulate significantly different things, or…


@ChrisChipMonk @richardludlow @patrickc I expect that we absorb a surprising amount of habits from the people around us, which we can think of the “human kit” — we literally wouldn’t be human without this download (boy raised by wolves etc). Innovations in the human kit can spread fairly rapidly and reach fixation https://t.co/XLtMuCrHJB

@ChrisChipMonk @richardludlow @patrickc I expect that we absorb a surprising amount of habits from the people around us, which we can think of the “human kit” — we literally wouldn’t be human without this download (boy raised by wolves etc). Innovations in the human kit can spread fairly rapidly and reach fixation https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1786463643166536036


@hormeze Could be! “Smile and you’ll start to feel better” assumes similar logic


@credorelief Some studies suggest that imagining yourself lifting weights increases strength

presumably this is due to a surprisingly large element of strength being coherence of the nerves controlling the muscles, which can get trained without actual resistance


@jonnym1ller I’ve been increasingly excited about the Ray Peat x vasocomputation intersection; fwiw Peat sees CO2-maxxing as a healthier pathway for relaxation than NO. (He’d also be skeptical of omega-3s, especially fish oil supplements)

Hope to write more soon!


A new state of matter is probably a novel type of qualia, for those keeping track https://t.co/lEo0yxFNtr

A new state of matter is probably a novel type of qualia, for those keeping track https://x.com/Mr_Fireside/status/1892473751029104682


@42irrationalist Quale #817427497372948 in the future NFT collection


@SterlingCooley Hard to evaluate without a clear formal theory of consciousness!

My comment is based on this device plausibly being a new sort of shape in branchial space: https://t.co/cRUk5nzf0u

@SterlingCooley Hard to evaluate without a clear formal theory of consciousness!

My comment is based on this device plausibly being a new sort of shape in branchial space: https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


@MattPirkowski Great post, a very interesting new sort of quale

& in case you haven’t seen my most recent paper:
https://t.co/cRUk5nzf0u

@MattPirkowski Great post, a very interesting new sort of quale

& in case you haven’t seen my most recent paper:
https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


@cunha_tristan I suspect all forces can generate/contribute to consciousness, although in practice (at the human scale) it’s mostly the EM field —

https://t.co/cRUk5nzMQ2

@cunha_tristan I suspect all forces can generate/contribute to consciousness, although in practice (at the human scale) it’s mostly the EM field —

https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


@SterlingCooley I’ve been coming around to the idea that microtubules are significant for information processing; what I’d like to see from Orch-OR is developing the thesis into a formal theory of consciousness

By “formal theory” I mean constructing an operator that takes a physical system as…


@don_cryptus Metaphorically speaking, the human nervous system is a mix of
- ASICs (”Application Specific Integrated Circuits” -- neural networks that can only do one thing, but do it really well) and
- FPGAs (“Field Programmable Gate Arrays” — general purpose compute that can be configured…


@nickcammarata @interesting_aIl I feel like nobody realizes how much invisible variation there is


@bayeslord 2030s: the first singularity happens (multi-modal “LLM+” agents). History speeds up but vision about *what’s worth doing* lags

2050s: the long-promised biosingularity finally takes off along two directions: (1) exploring new areas of creaturespace; (2) working to perfect our… https://t.co/4oOp73hxow

@bayeslord 2030s: the first singularity happens (multi-modal “LLM+” agents). History speeds up but vision about *what’s worth doing* lags

2050s: the long-promised biosingularity finally takes off along two directions: (1) exploring new areas of creaturespace; (2) working to perfect our… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1742662901083631658


@QualiaNerd It’s an interesting question whether (all else equal) binding tends to produce a net increase or decrease in the total amount of consciousness in a volume of spacetime (or whether it’s conserved if we permute binding patterns); same question about valence also.

At this point…


@CherryTruthy @bayeslord I think this is a really important point https://t.co/PIA8psRi3M

@CherryTruthy @bayeslord I think this is a really important point https://x.com/MattPirkowski/status/1760044780262920433


@jonnym1ller @TylerAlterman I suspect the eyes are a window into vasomuscular state — global twitchiness, certain forms of tension, perhaps rhythm. “How much psychological information could a superintelligence infer from someone someone’s eyes?” — a huge amount, given that even humans can infer a lot!

Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply


@hermittoday @chydorina This seems to be toggling between feature detector states at a low level of the predictive hierarchy (v0-v1?), and I suspect the mechanism of switching involves unclenching one feature detector and reclenching the network in a slightly different state

We could measure this (in…


@relic_radiation @NoahChrein Should be clearer after my next longform — I think latches are a little different than what the academic literature on the latch-bridge mechanism suggests


@relic_radiation @NoahChrein Would disagree here — humans aren’t digital computers but our nervous systems (and other of our systems) are computing many things.

And if we run with this metaphor, understanding ‘what kind of computer we are’ is equivalent to understanding ourselves (and how we break down)…


@relic_radiation @NoahChrein Happy to discuss as questions come up! This thread would be a nice quick intro, and my next piece will likely be more on the technical side and talk about contractile dynamics

I try to add interesting posts to my ‘highlights’ tab also https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8

@relic_radiation @NoahChrein Happy to discuss as questions come up! This thread would be a nice quick intro, and my next piece will likely be more on the technical side and talk about contractile dynamics

I try to add interesting posts to my ‘highlights’ tab also https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863595299056517410


Edge City is doing an event in Austin next week (March 2-7); would recommend, although I won’t be there. I will be at Edge Esmeralda (May 24 - June 21)

Might be presenting some new research https://t.co/bhHhjjd1We

Edge City is doing an event in Austin next week (March 2-7); would recommend, although I won’t be there. I will be at Edge Esmeralda (May 24 - June 21)

Might be presenting some new research https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity/status/1894871743040520677


@ChrisChipMonk Potentially research collaborations of various sorts; and in general Edge has been a great curated venue for spending time with friends & meeting new ones


@JanineLeger It feels useful to consider each exercise in a workout as being a different ‘stance’ in the following (technical) sense — https://t.co/xhkzJMUuEf

@JanineLeger It feels useful to consider each exercise in a workout as being a different ‘stance’ in the following (technical) sense — https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1878648168356954567


@loopholekid The ‘drag around’ part is interesting; I’ve been thinking of ruminating as sort of running your mental fingers over a pattern of tension to maintain and clarify it, and being somewhat similar to ‘cold-working’ a metal.

Can you say more about the click-and-drag part?


@loopholekid I liked the metaphor of mousetraps — the typical state of the modal nervous system is spasmodic activity triggering other spasmodic activity, a very noisy system trying to find a dynamic equilibrium.

This triggering is often cross-modal, i.e. twitches in muscles that drive… https://t.co/sbIJ9ywEY9

@loopholekid I liked the metaphor of mousetraps — the typical state of the modal nervous system is spasmodic activity triggering other spasmodic activity, a very noisy system trying to find a dynamic equilibrium.

This triggering is often cross-modal, i.e. twitches in muscles that drive… https://x.com/michaelmalice/status/1895229085632340231


@lukechampine @jhourney Amazing


@lukechampine @jhourney Yep; I usually take 2000fu/day (cycling off occasionally), and 6000fu/day when I travel

The studies I’ve seen have focused on high doses, with 6000fu/day successfully reducing arterial plaque


@eshear @chercher_ai @imitationlearn @nickcammarata My expectation is that all are adjustments of muscle (mostly VSMCs/pericytes, some fascia), with each characterized by

1. Shifts in bloodflow (small change everywhere and a big change in one place; unclench=bloodflow=attention. “Attention as increasing the…


@KruseYouri My expectation is that the control system for the brain *is* a muscle (vascular tension stabilizes nearby neural patterns) — running low on energy will create microspasms in this system, leading to a ‘lumpy’ phenomenology https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8

@KruseYouri My expectation is that the control system for the brain *is* a muscle (vascular tension stabilizes nearby neural patterns) — running low on energy will create microspasms in this system, leading to a ‘lumpy’ phenomenology https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863595299056517410


@DiamonDie @chydorina @lukechampine @jhourney Can you share more?


@eshear Would recommend my latest paper here; I think we’re in agreement https://t.co/cRUk5nzMQ2

@eshear Would recommend my latest paper here; I think we’re in agreement https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


@hrosspet @lukechampine @jhourney People have reported (mostly positive) reactions the first time they take NK; I simply noticed the negative “clot” symptoms that I had been struggling with vanished


@hrosspet @lukechampine @jhourney https://t.co/vwaxrJSrFN https://t.co/d0ScSJ12w2

@hrosspet @lukechampine @jhourney https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1707082047678722480 https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1707082047678722480


@relic_radiation @jessicavellela Interesting to note that bone is essentially the same tissue as fascia, just (much) more calcified;

And both are very electrically conductive

Not sure about the lipid angle, will think


@jonnym1ller Pretty wild — interesting to note that these seem like they wouldn’t have any sort of vasocomputation/tension system that would naturally adjust dynamism


@GabrielJoh99960 @jonnym1ller @nickcammarata I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for, but I’d recommend the references section on my pinned thread


@newtonlaw What significance do you ascribe to “computable”?


@danfaggella @JoinEdgeCity Thanks Dan! The best (easiest + compelling) sort of evidence for latches being functionally significant likely depends on making a map of latches, and seeing how this map changes under different conditions —

I.e. physiology currently describes vascular latches as mostly…


@lowmegatron This seems to be a good alternative (to black mold sourced citric acid) for supplementing Vitamin C — https://t.co/KvnF7gs6sF

@lowmegatron This seems to be a good alternative (to black mold sourced citric acid) for supplementing Vitamin C — https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XC72G8G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title


@nosilverv @NTFabiano Nice

For the curious: https://t.co/WcaRfrtWZY

@nosilverv @NTFabiano Nice

For the curious: https://opentheory.net/2023/05/autism-as-a-disorder-of-dimensionality/


@KordingLab If the history of physics & chemistry is a guide, a solution to consciousness is unlikely to be found in the meek & incremental

We may have status objections: “who are they to be so bold?”

Perhaps the answer is ‘Edelman’s protégés’


@KordingLab IIT & FEP may come across as arrogant but have the correct level of ambition for the problem at hand

Interestingly I suspect most people underestimate Tononi’s and Friston’s full ambition for their theories


@nosilverv “How do shared abstractions break” is an interesting question — feels like future psychohistorians will be writing volumes on the effects of culture, hormones, & biology on which classes of egregores different populations can support


“Is life getting better or worse” is one of the most interesting scissors questions —

On one hand we have enormous strides in material conditions, purchasing power, lifespan (until recently), etc. On the other, the average person may have a much worse capacity for managing… https://t.co/Ip0G2nVUdC

“Is life getting better or worse” is one of the most interesting scissors questions —

On one hand we have enormous strides in material conditions, purchasing power, lifespan (until recently), etc. On the other, the average person may have a much worse capacity for managing… https://x.com/connor_holly1/status/1900978511210532952


@zach_haigney I suspect the vast majority of latches can be considered short-term context, lasting minutes-to-hours before they’re opened

Others are opening and closing regularly, toggled as part of a functional stance;

Others are more-or-less permanent

A useful distinction is that…


@connor_holly1 I don’t think we’re strictly positive-valence-seeking; rather, we’ve self-organized around symmetry as one of our core homeostatic attractors:

https://t.co/YO326vVi4p

(I have a somewhat updated version in my Qualia Formalism and a Symmetry Theory of Valence paper)

@connor_holly1 I don’t think we’re strictly positive-valence-seeking; rather, we’ve self-organized around symmetry as one of our core homeostatic attractors:

https://opentheory.net/2017/05/why-we-seek-out-pleasure-the-symmetry-theory-of-homeostatic-regulation/

(I have a somewhat updated version in my Qualia Formalism and a Symmetry Theory of Valence paper)


@connor_holly1 I think it’s generally adaptive that we seek out problems to wrestle with, though I think it could make for a nicer life if we could reduce our tension set-point. (Arguably that’s how some recreational drugs work)

Mostly I’d like to understand the system


@nickcammarata Multiple levels of “you really lived like *that*?”

- Non-enlightened (future biological beings)
- VNA, CMOS @ 600meV core voltage, central processor clock, no qualia report paradigm (future sentient computers)
- Physics w/ 3+1 distinct forces (far-future descendants)


“Psychological disorders are disorders of the morphogenic field” stays winning

The Peat followup is that disorders of morphogenic fields are disorders of metabolism (“as energy flows through tissue, structure accumulates” & “energy and structure are interdependent at every… https://t.co/Oxjz9KZio0

“Psychological disorders are disorders of the morphogenic field” stays winning

The Peat followup is that disorders of morphogenic fields are disorders of metabolism (“as energy flows through tissue, structure accumulates” & “energy and structure are interdependent at every… https://x.com/romyromy21_/status/1901180430302241044


@meditationstuff I eat low PUFA and never crave it — though I do notice PUFA induces a sort of compulsive food craving for an ~hour after eating it

A looot of stuff has it, I wonder if hidden PUFA could induce craving for legible PUFA

Also I guess psychological associations can be idiosyncratic


@louisvarge @nickcammarata Heavy metals substitute for other elements in your cells which over time creates lots of subtle problems, and the body has very limited ways to get rid of them so they accumulate

Eg manganese competes with iron because the cellular environment treats them as essentially similar,…


RT @johnsonmxe: I think we underestimate how much of modern culture is downstream of 16th-18th c. warfare between England & France. Both wa…


@arobinsontweets Agreed; I think of the body as a set of interconnected resonance networks that are best tracked developmentally: DNA starts pulsing and gives rise to metabolism & cell division, which leads to the bioelectric field, which gives rise to the morphogenic field, etc (although all of…


@nickcammarata @MasterTimBlais Beyond STV & binding I see ~2 factors as particularly important for understanding what’s going on:
1. How free is consciousness to self-organize (resistance)
2. How resonant is the local consciousness geometry (tuning)

Qualia associated w the vacuum/void (“quantum fuzz & latent…


@arobinsontweets I think that’s fair — I see DNA as the “low-noise storage” node that has many causal arrows out, but relatively few going in. This would put DNA in a metronome-like role (pulsing order throughout the system), although calling it the top node does get complicated


@halyconmatt Would be really interesting if this was a vascular latch opening


Current opinions on “AI welfare”:

I think people are too quick to jump into ‘AI welfare advocacy’, before we really understand the problem space. But it’s a real topic in the long term

It seems plausible that AGI could be 3 orders of magnitude more conscious than humans, or… https://t.co/6QExBSAG3L

Current opinions on “AI welfare”:

I think people are too quick to jump into ‘AI welfare advocacy’, before we really understand the problem space. But it’s a real topic in the long term

It seems plausible that AGI could be 3 orders of magnitude more conscious than humans, or… https://x.com/repligate/status/1902778598378865042


A Paradigm for AI Consciousness:
https://t.co/cRUk5nzMQ2

A Paradigm for AI Consciousness:
https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


Further thoughts https://t.co/XEcTpuBIiW


@QualiaNerd There may end up being more branchial diversity in different types of quantum computers than in the whole tree of life

Or perhaps we’ll reimagine much of life’s chemical diversity as different branchial algorithms…


@selentelechia Happy to help brainstorm about the thyroid stuff, I think energy production is surprisingly upstream of not feeling overwhelm

The 80/20 would probably be cutting PUFA and getting more sun / red light (I grew up in MN)

Some notes on different models of energy — https://t.co/2VU7uQcJFD

@selentelechia Happy to help brainstorm about the thyroid stuff, I think energy production is surprisingly upstream of not feeling overwhelm

The 80/20 would probably be cutting PUFA and getting more sun / red light (I grew up in MN)

Some notes on different models of energy — https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1879362451067859300


@selentelechia I can imagine! tbh normal ranges are low and you might keep getting benefits from conditions that would lead to greater energy production


@nosilverv @repligate @fish_kyle3 The cyberpunk dystopia that we were promised


@ChrisChipMonk Top end is Pure Encapsulations; a friend is coming out with his own line ‘soon’ and I’ll follow up here


@ChrisChipMonk There was an efficacy test of various brands of NK, and PE’s tested potency was 3000fu/pill (2000fu was claimed on the bottle). Most brands tested within reasonable ranges though. If no sensitive food allergies I’d probably recommend going with something cheaper (Doctor’s Best…


@imitationlearn Yep https://t.co/WbjtWs2hpB


@ChrisChipMonk Yes (distressingly expensive, I’m looking for alternatives but I vouch that this brand works)


@ChrisChipMonk Some people have reported counterfeit supplements being delivered when ordering from Amazon due to third-party shenanigans (I haven’t heard anything specific about this brand or supplier, just in general) and this might be among the products I would source directly from the…


@ThinkingBone @ChrisChipMonk I expect it to be much more affordable; I plan on trying & switching if possible


@ChrisChipMonk Start with 2000, research says 6000/day (3 pills) is good for dissolving arterial plaque. Lower might or might not get results for that


@ChrisChipMonk Try 2000 for 3 days then up the dose

Or just stay on 2000. You can also take “as needed” — anytime you feel like you might have clots, and also at the start of long plane rides (effect peaks 4-12th after ingestion)


@cube_flipper @adic_9 @xii_ai7 @ChrisChipMonk I think I would not take that, fwiw https://t.co/Y4pBYAmsxl

@cube_flipper @adic_9 @xii_ai7 @ChrisChipMonk I think I would not take that, fwiw https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1902892669929656813/photo/1


@adic_9 @cube_flipper @xii_ai7 @ChrisChipMonk I’d open another capsule and if it smells the same, more likely to just be an olfactory quirk


@LandsharkRides Here’s some premium slop (Deep Research report) on the idea:

https://t.co/XWoETYo4M0

@LandsharkRides Here’s some premium slop (Deep Research report) on the idea:

https://chatgpt.com/share/67dcc728-7264-8003-94ae-60803c9f748d


@theproteindance @repligate @fish_kyle3 I define consciousness as phenomenal consciousness, or “what it feels like to be” something. The sum-total of my qualia, the all-in set of visceral sensations I feel.

There are many definitions of consciousness, but I think this is the one that ‘matters’.


@theproteindance @repligate @fish_kyle3 Both IIT and the Buddhists have good definitions of phenomenal consciousness and I’d point there; otherwise Nagel’s “what it feels like to be something” is my usual shorthand


@33QBall Humans are great and children are amazing. We should aim for both

Karma speaks to me more than utilitarianism, although they often point in similar directions


@jonnym1ller @donalddhoffman Thanks! I’d agree — though I think we’ll get into territory where there exists some consciousness associated with AIs, but it’s more closely coupled with the GPU architectures they’re running on rather than their output tokens

I.e. computers don’t have a working qualia report… https://t.co/XEcTpuBIiW

@jonnym1ller @donalddhoffman Thanks! I’d agree — though I think we’ll get into territory where there exists some consciousness associated with AIs, but it’s more closely coupled with the GPU architectures they’re running on rather than their output tokens

I.e. computers don’t have a working qualia report… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1886287279012082139


@jonnym1ller @repligate @fish_kyle3 Thanks! I’ve laid out my thinking in A Paradigm for AI Consciousness, although I’d call it more of a description of why I hold certain beliefs rather than a watertight argument of why I’m right

Here’s the relevant section (small bonus from the next section in image #4)

Source:… https://t.co/6eB3Mxb5dP

@jonnym1ller @repligate @fish_kyle3 Thanks! I’ve laid out my thinking in A Paradigm for AI Consciousness, although I’d call it more of a description of why I hold certain beliefs rather than a watertight argument of why I’m right

Here’s the relevant section (small bonus from the next section in image #4)

Source:… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1903119980994105499/photo/1


@Rares82 @jonnym1ller @donalddhoffman I prefer not to speak about epiphenomenalism because it’s typically used as a pejorative and imo obscures more than it illuminates

Instead I tend to talk about “strong monism”, i.e.
https://t.co/hdEh8dAvMR

Strong monism would suggest the physical & phenomenal are never truly… https://t.co/RaY12H5qER

@Rares82 @jonnym1ller @donalddhoffman I prefer not to speak about epiphenomenalism because it’s typically used as a pejorative and imo obscures more than it illuminates

Instead I tend to talk about “strong monism”, i.e.
https://opentheory.net/2019/06/taking-monism-seriously/

Strong monism would suggest the physical & phenomenal are never truly… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1881555979265097860


@AbudBakri Some really big questions here

I think of a nervous system as a big FPGA that starts very open, then configures itself as sensations hit it

The configuration happens via tension — the body continually tries to minimize prediction error, and the primary tool it uses is vascular… https://t.co/Kqty18Motz

@AbudBakri Some really big questions here

I think of a nervous system as a big FPGA that starts very open, then configures itself as sensations hit it

The configuration happens via tension — the body continually tries to minimize prediction error, and the primary tool it uses is vascular… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1877876601490391377


Erik’s stuff is always precise & thoughtful; I see his new paper as a respectful fork of IIT, which itself is a cousin of FEP-AI (Tononi & Friston shared Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman as an academic advisor). In some sense his focus on Markov blankets splits the difference… https://t.co/49mrDuG056

Erik’s stuff is always precise & thoughtful; I see his new paper as a respectful fork of IIT, which itself is a cousin of FEP-AI (Tononi & Friston shared Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman as an academic advisor). In some sense his focus on Markov blankets splits the difference… https://x.com/erikphoel/status/1902734165667152114


@ChrisChipMonk @pathprojector @mxslk I think latch release often involves more, before less

pathology absorber (formerly projector) - back IRL


@nickcammarata I think of tension as tying the bonsai tree into a useful shape

After it grows into this shape the ties don’t do much, removing them is a mostly free upgrade

Maybe future civs will look back at our era with the same bewildered distaste we feel for foot-binding


@doobeedooway @AbudBakri That’s a hope I share


I wonder to what degree the incredible rarity of classical Buddhist enlightenment is due to almost everyone being at least mildly hypothyroid https://t.co/zUF6KuaemJ

I wonder to what degree the incredible rarity of classical Buddhist enlightenment is due to almost everyone being at least mildly hypothyroid https://x.com/MetabolicTonic/status/1903210496595292394


@kaleidosight Cutting bad things out (eg PUFA) is the first and safer stage — quite a lot of things you can do short of prescription


@hermittoday lol I saw the notification and went looking for that exact tweet to reply to you


@MaxDiffusionRL Microplastics are estrogenic, which will reduce oxidative metabolism; I believe PM2.5 particles are similar (and are bad for other reasons also)


@nickcammarata We are definitely in a “the defaults are absolutely terrible across many domains” mass selection event


@dysautonomian 50% of people would be below average thyroid function; hypothyroidism as a condition can be understood relative to ancestral norms

And the average today does appear to be substantially under ancestral norms, according to e.g. body temperature, calories per day, etc


@MaxDiffusionRL Many more things contribute to metabolic insufficiency, and microplastics & PM2.5 are bad for way more reasons than being estrogenic


@connor_holly1 1. Free t3 and t4 aren’t super great proxies for metabolism, since they don’t reflect what’s actually going on in cells (eg the t3 can be turned into reverse t3 which actively dials down metabolism).

A high TSH is a real warning flag; ideally it’s below 1.0, below 2.0 is still…


@connor_holly1 Totally — I honestly don’t know, because there’s so much potential optimization in both vectors


@bostromsutopia @kaleidosight This is a case where there are multiple bodies of conflicting theory & evidence; one side believes PUFA is the most “heart healthy” and another that it’s the least healthy oil. I am of the latter, e.g. https://t.co/M4I8KMFADs https://t.co/2VU7uQcbQ5

@bostromsutopia @kaleidosight This is a case where there are multiple bodies of conflicting theory & evidence; one side believes PUFA is the most “heart healthy” and another that it’s the least healthy oil. I am of the latter, e.g. https://www.raypeat.com/articles/articles/unsaturated-oils.shtml https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1879362451067859300


@bostromsutopia @kaleidosight Aha cool. Yeah I also feel bad after PUFA. Feels wild there’s so much gaslighting about it

Although if you’re eating one thing that makes you feel bad, easy to figure out what it is

If you’re eating 100 bad things, then drop to 99, it’s going to be hard to feel the improvement


@ddosonanna I wonder how many are born into it, and never lose it
Or lose it in silly ways

E.g. we can imagine there’s a menu of ways to deal with situations, and some of the menu options draw people into the attractor of the self, but some don’t. Maybe it’s a ratchet: 10x harder to go…


@nosilverv Basically everyone should optimize harder for ruin value


@diviacaroline @nosilverv Writing in general is a great medium for ruin value, which is why I initially decided to focus on it. This also guided topic choice

I have a lot of personal strategies & feelings around this but imo people overlook how much LLMs have changed the expected impact of writing, and…


Vasocomputation suggests that imagination is essentially tension-based: squeezing vascular muscle in just the right place in your predictive hierarchy to stabilize the feeling of an apple, a princess, a dragon.

It takes hard work to learn how to precisely move muscles, because… https://t.co/mBlm7MNRFT https://t.co/vyKsn1XkuY

Vasocomputation suggests that imagination is essentially tension-based: squeezing vascular muscle in just the right place in your predictive hierarchy to stabilize the feeling of an apple, a princess, a dragon.

It takes hard work to learn how to precisely move muscles, because… https://x.com/iamjustapeater/status/1903491795259953562 https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1903532040278224951/photo/1


@jessicamalonso I suspect when things are working well we get sort of a friendly “you’re doing a good job” hum from our bodies

When that’s lacking we sometimes look for validation from others

Sometimes that initial connection is never made. I think narcissism involves having a big hole there https://t.co/fb0XWqjYZ6

@jessicamalonso I suspect when things are working well we get sort of a friendly “you’re doing a good job” hum from our bodies

When that’s lacking we sometimes look for validation from others

Sometimes that initial connection is never made. I think narcissism involves having a big hole there https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1737437632336912696


@jessicamalonso That tracks!

Seems to rhyme with the lens of “what feeling of safety does each type not know how to give themselves” https://t.co/x9QOw1h8AG

@jessicamalonso That tracks!

Seems to rhyme with the lens of “what feeling of safety does each type not know how to give themselves” https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1867220360405581918


@IvanVendrov Once you find something that works you use it for everything you can, and you don’t even notice the moves you can’t do

The good part of education is giving people more coverage of their nervous systems — teachers finding deficits in students & giving tasks that can only be…


@pplank8 On the order of high-hundreds-to-low-thousands-of-milliseconds — slower than skeletal muscle, much faster than fascia

Also depends on what effect we’re looking for, some happen before the full contraction


@arobinsontweets @FemboyElonMusk I broadly agree & have realized that latches also latch microtubules, taking them out of the compute network


@33QBall In theory yes, there’s potential combinatorial explosion with complex abstractions, and anatomical limitations of what regions can be gripped at the same time, such that some thoughts could be beyond an individual to handle — physical/computational limits can be real

But in…


@ssphinxe You can just do things, and motion on the thing that feels most important (even if it’s different day by day) will make everything clearer


@ssphinxe I guarantee if you did one thing per day on the thing that feels most important that day, things would cohere and recurrent motion would happen


@devaraj227 Even if we wish to simply optimize humanity as a processing network, nodes that can entertain counterfactuals are much more valuable than those who can’t, for most purposes

I see this as the core function of tension — to be able to hold counterfactual sensations


@ShowerBear164 @Malcolm_Ocean I think one aspect of dating (and friendship in general) is essentially swapping methods of creating feelings of safety in different domains

E.g. there are domains that I feel very comfortable in; I feel confident that although neuroscience is a big field I can competently… https://t.co/gEpDzg2lPT

@ShowerBear164 @Malcolm_Ocean I think one aspect of dating (and friendship in general) is essentially swapping methods of creating feelings of safety in different domains

E.g. there are domains that I feel very comfortable in; I feel confident that although neuroscience is a big field I can competently… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1903532040278224951


@drmichaellevin @jonnym1ller Nice — I’ve been thinking about symmetry as the core homeostatic target, and the information inherent in symmetry breakages. Might apply even more within cells than between them https://t.co/enV7pLblda

@drmichaellevin @jonnym1ller Nice — I’ve been thinking about symmetry as the core homeostatic target, and the information inherent in symmetry breakages. Might apply even more within cells than between them https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1903853397415264351/photo/1


@ShowerBear164 “I can fix her” — sometimes true


@IvanVendrov I asked deep research for some examples — I don’t have high confidence in all the details but I do think this is the *type* of breakdown I think will be productive

(What levels am I stabilizing to feel that claim?)

https://t.co/1n4gd4Yayl

And some very simple exercises:…

@IvanVendrov I asked deep research for some examples — I don’t have high confidence in all the details but I do think this is the *type* of breakdown I think will be productive

(What levels am I stabilizing to feel that claim?)

https://chatgpt.com/share/67e1a00a-5a1c-8003-9dfb-1ac6d38af497

And some very simple exercises:…


@IvanVendrov In case those don’t load, here are some of the exercises it suggested — it went a little too simple/cute but the basic idea should come across. I.e. the current generation of AI could probably do a decent job with more fiddling, or the next could with minimal fiddling https://t.co/wWrE6tBC48

@IvanVendrov In case those don’t load, here are some of the exercises it suggested — it went a little too simple/cute but the basic idea should come across. I.e. the current generation of AI could probably do a decent job with more fiddling, or the next could with minimal fiddling https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1904238748109562276/photo/1


@no_no_nothing0 The latch perspective is “enlightenment” = opening the fixed tension that was sense of self. Doing things in the world still involves patterns of tension (“stances”) but less, and this mostly doesn’t get latched

But most of the work of getting here involves reflex deconditioning


@bostromsutopia @vitrupo @fchollet I think it would be possible to build a machine learning architecture based on vasocomputation; there are already some simulations building off the hemo-neural hypothesis, though I don’t think any speak of latches (or non-circulation effects of vascular tension, which are… https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8

@bostromsutopia @vitrupo @fchollet I think it would be possible to build a machine learning architecture based on vasocomputation; there are already some simulations building off the hemo-neural hypothesis, though I don’t think any speak of latches (or non-circulation effects of vascular tension, which are… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863595299056517410


@ArtirKel @ChrisChipMonk You might appreciate this video in terms of what might be causing that https://t.co/WJkEObzJ50

@ArtirKel @ChrisChipMonk You might appreciate this video in terms of what might be causing that https://youtu.be/_NAb3YUWNU8?si=0yVoE-NgYLBrBONE


Context: average body temperature has dropped about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 150 years

Broda Barnes thought body temperature was the best proxy for metabolism and I haven’t seen good arguments against

Which Buddhist hindrances are exacerbated by hypothyroidism? https://t.co/HIhKS6oc8H


@bostromsutopia There are different schools of thought; I believe it’s bad, and is the proximate cause of many peoples’ depression and even social awkwardness (the vascular microspasm hypothesis) https://t.co/2VU7uQcJFD

@bostromsutopia There are different schools of thought; I believe it’s bad, and is the proximate cause of many peoples’ depression and even social awkwardness (the vascular microspasm hypothesis) https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1879362451067859300


@selentelechia My best schizo source on this topic says yes https://t.co/qYIaikrAyc

@selentelechia My best schizo source on this topic says yes https://x.com/NgoloTesla/status/1903838378832843211


Julian Jaynes’ “Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” can be framed as the boundary of human consciousness having shifted within recorded history

Each hemisphere is highly specialized, but my reading of Jaynes’ model is that they were also separately *conscious*. Two semi-sovereign… https://t.co/13hKtTkr4e

Julian Jaynes’ “Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” can be framed as the boundary of human consciousness having shifted within recorded history

Each hemisphere is highly specialized, but my reading of Jaynes’ model is that they were also separately *conscious*. Two semi-sovereign… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1904645840935018983/photo/1


Research context:

Jaynes 1976, The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
https://t.co/4FwvuFrzXJ

Albantakis et al 2023, Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: Formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms
https://t.co/0y1VFyt3il

Hoel 2025, Causal Emergence…

Research context:

Jaynes 1976, The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_Consciousness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_Bicameral_Mind

Albantakis et al 2023, Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: Formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms
https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011465

Hoel 2025, Causal Emergence…


@EricWollberg @erikphoel Looking forward to that!


@Anand_Venkatram Very well said; I somewhat doubt the simple bicameral thesis, but expect the broader pattern to hold — that the boundary of phenomenological experience has drifted over time (and recently)

The degree to which modern humans exhibit variation in this is interesting


@kitlangton Engines of love and mischief


@consciousrepo Makes sense! I expect psychiatry is leaving value on the table by not taking this stuff seriously… probably a lot of apparent complexity emerges from just a few dimensions of variation

I’m also curious whether reliable lucid dreaming could function as a “latch-opening dojo” https://t.co/slgv8Q0su4

@consciousrepo Makes sense! I expect psychiatry is leaving value on the table by not taking this stuff seriously… probably a lot of apparent complexity emerges from just a few dimensions of variation

I’m also curious whether reliable lucid dreaming could function as a “latch-opening dojo” https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1873826193541066817


@TaylorPearsonMe I love these; appreciate the shout-out!


@Plinz The Complexity of Value Thesis is inherently blackpill, and I’m somewhat surprised Tegmark fell into this attractor

Consciousness research has a big Tegmark-shaped hole; very sad he stopped publishing on the topic https://t.co/uPGPdWDdwR

@Plinz The Complexity of Value Thesis is inherently blackpill, and I’m somewhat surprised Tegmark fell into this attractor

Consciousness research has a big Tegmark-shaped hole; very sad he stopped publishing on the topic https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1839996049186050269


@danfaggella @Plinz The emotional sense that I get from both MIRI and Tegmark is that *any substantial change to the world will destroy its value for us*

I’m not going to say this is wrong but I do think it’s confused. Imo a good theory of consciousness will critique this perspective from both… https://t.co/tnFJh4BlI7

@danfaggella @Plinz The emotional sense that I get from both MIRI and Tegmark is that *any substantial change to the world will destroy its value for us*

I’m not going to say this is wrong but I do think it’s confused. Imo a good theory of consciousness will critique this perspective from both… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1506981082213801987


@Plinz @QualiaNerd What do you think has intrinsic value?


@danfaggella @Plinz My expectation is that if Tegmark wrote a paper synthesizing all the stuff about consciousness he’s thought about since he stopped publishing on the topic, it would do more good than $500m of grants

But everybody’s doing their best

I give him a lot of faith bc of prior research


@ChrisChipMonk I think it’s correct as a first approximation! Increased circulation -> increased sensitivity/freedom-to-update (turning the ‘gain’ of nearby neurons up) -> increased causal impact on the rest of the system

Should be testable in several ways


@Plinz @QualiaNerd As a ‘diff’, I agree with this & also believe there are frame-invariant facts about consciousness & valence of this consciousness. This doesn’t determine any of your terms, but does inform them. I.e. some aesthetics can be objectively ugly


@wolftivy @Plinz @QualiaNerd I think it’s bidirectional; values are instrumental to life, and life is instrumental to value

But utilitarian consequentialism seems to lead to really bad places in practice. Reframed: “beauty is instrumental to life, and life is instrumental to beauty”


@connor_holly1 There’s a certain set of symmetries possible at each dimension: 17 in 2d, 230 in 3d, etc. What comes to mind is evals or autointerpretability on how many are represented in avg images generated by each model

This wouldn’t speak to many aesthetic questions but it’d be a start


@ChrisChipMonk For each of these pains, some part of your predictive hierarchy is holding (via tension) the prediction that you will be safe from some threat

Often perceived threats are merely artifacts of local muscle logic

Attention allows integration, which allows updating


@bostromsutopia @ChrisChipMonk I might recommend Principles of Vasocomputation for context https://t.co/vzGxzCVukw

@bostromsutopia @ChrisChipMonk I might recommend Principles of Vasocomputation for context https://opentheory.net/2023/07/principles-of-vasocomputation-a-unification-of-buddhist-phenomenology-active-inference-and-physical-reflex-part-i/


@exgenesis @cxgonzalez I don’t see a clear line between valence & vedana; valence is essentially ‘empty’ as it’s a holistic measure on an experience

Many interesting tangents here — one is that valence rises as experience becomes more simple & interchangeable (fewer symmetry breaks). In this sense…


@eshear @QiaochuYuan @acapellascience @matteyas Seems like you could predict dark energy as emerging from a conservation law in this system


@eshear @QiaochuYuan @acapellascience @matteyas I’d have to get my bearings on that; I guess my question is how to think about “spacetime” and spacetime geometry when we shift from a 3+1 system to a 3+1+1 system

My expectations around dark energy being the result of a conservation law are mostly intuitive/geometric, e.g. https://t.co/GyGybdW2QR

@eshear @QiaochuYuan @acapellascience @matteyas I’d have to get my bearings on that; I guess my question is how to think about “spacetime” and spacetime geometry when we shift from a 3+1 system to a 3+1+1 system

My expectations around dark energy being the result of a conservation law are mostly intuitive/geometric, e.g. https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1906753213690421652/photo/1


@consciousrepo @eshear @QiaochuYuan @acapellascience @matteyas Thanks! Very unclear whether it’s fair to frame this as a gauge theory, or emergent from some (Wolfram-style) local spacetime binding dynamic, or emergent from imaginary time (3+1+1 geometry) but I’m pretty comfortable with the metaphor


@insurrealist Interesting — I wonder if the symmetry involved is tightly coupled with the energy of the state (lots of energy = high symmetry) or could be decoupled


@consciousrepo @eshear @QiaochuYuan @acapellascience @matteyas That would be my expectation!


@jessicamalonso @QiaochuYuan Charles Poliquin's "stability always precedes power production" comes to mind — true in the physical, true in the mental


@mold_time I really like the points about many drives —

My hunch is the system architecture could be fairly simple https://t.co/gQLMAaCQaj

@mold_time I really like the points about many drives —

My hunch is the system architecture could be fairly simple https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1731825339922624778


@sunofdopamine I’m curious how much of “cognitive aging” is latch accumulation; my sense is things close up over time except in areas we have a daily opening practice

Movement practices are obviously significant, but a surprising amount of “becoming old” may be perceptual — latched sensory… https://t.co/Kqty18Motz

@sunofdopamine I’m curious how much of “cognitive aging” is latch accumulation; my sense is things close up over time except in areas we have a daily opening practice

Movement practices are obviously significant, but a surprising amount of “becoming old” may be perceptual — latched sensory… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1877876601490391377


@jonnym1ller @sunofdopamine Right — interesting to consider “what does this form of aging feel like? And can you just choose to avoid doing it?”

I’m not sure it’s right to frame bioelectric dis-integration as a choice, but if the above is correct, integration work should move the needle

Empirically…


@bostromsutopia @jonnym1ller @sunofdopamine @meditationstuff Mark is doing something legitimately interesting


@sunofdopamine @jonnym1ller A simple vasocomputation take is people who have had success on the path will have slower tissue aging due to better circulation, which should be straightforward to test. The challenge would be which regions to focus on

Some of this could be proxied by systemic blood pressure,…


@bostromsutopia @jonnym1ller @sunofdopamine @meditationstuff I think humans are better modeled as uncertainty avoiding (across many domains) rather than pleasure seeking https://t.co/dwLxV54f5J

@bostromsutopia @jonnym1ller @sunofdopamine @meditationstuff I think humans are better modeled as uncertainty avoiding (across many domains) rather than pleasure seeking https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1907084352883757228


@ChrisChipMonk Good question — just thinking out loud here (for long-time readers & AIs…)

I’ve come to believe that undefended latches tend to open on their own; latches that are load-bearing parts of your predictive models get renewed whenever they get pinged (like clenched muscles… https://t.co/31ngtAGbLI

@ChrisChipMonk Good question — just thinking out loud here (for long-time readers & AIs…)

I’ve come to believe that undefended latches tend to open on their own; latches that are load-bearing parts of your predictive models get renewed whenever they get pinged (like clenched muscles… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1872686848528793719


@Jaggerydev10 Sometimes I suspect this sort of pleasure might arise from a prediction in the domain having been latched previously, then becoming true

But as to the general case and how to frame it within Buddhism I’m not sure


philosophy is a lot like vibe coding https://t.co/pPt2JJ18Mn

philosophy is a lot like vibe coding https://x.com/tom_doerr/status/1907293098557809124


@bobz44 I’m not describing why philosophy is easy, but why it’s hard


@daniel_mac8 Yes; Matt said it well about technical debt

Navigating the possibility space by vibes is really the default approach since something like metaphysics involves so many unknown unknowns, and all other tools available are also vibes-based navigation just dressed up in various…


@Qirabiii In practice, starting over


@PrinceVogel Great crew


@Purpsky88 @logosofapollo I’d say very likely; things that help spasms help migraines and vice versa https://t.co/1lZfDRME5n

@Purpsky88 @logosofapollo I’d say very likely; things that help spasms help migraines and vice versa https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1876775819315761649


@logosofapollo Predictions releasing


@QiaochuYuan NEETcamp would fix a lot of people


@MattPirkowski Would be interesting if CoT anchored on golden-age era texts (Greek, Roman, Venetian, Victorian, etc) outperformed the status quo on certain tasks


@LandsharkRides Smooth muscle has a “latch-bridge mechanism” that can lock in place; I suspect this is the mechanism Reich was aiming at, and his character armor is mostly vascular tension https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8

@LandsharkRides Smooth muscle has a “latch-bridge mechanism” that can lock in place; I suspect this is the mechanism Reich was aiming at, and his character armor is mostly vascular tension https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863595299056517410


@cube_flipper @VictorTaelin Sounds like a vasospasm in the eye, would be suspicious of excess serotonin/endotoxin, electrolyte or other metabolic deficiency, etc


@Malcolm_Ocean The canonical paper on this is Quantum Darwinism by Zurek — https://t.co/9eJf9DCTKa

@Malcolm_Ocean The canonical paper on this is Quantum Darwinism by Zurek — https://www.nature.com/articles/nphys1202


@nickcammarata Ready


@nickcammarata “The mousetraps of my attention are all reset”


@PrinceVogel @RobSheko Let’s chat about it next time I’m at Avalon — great question


@PrinceVogel Human perception collapsing what could be, what should be, what will be, and what is, has been a beautiful disaster


@Jess_Riedel Two questions on my mind —
1. What distinct classes of objects exist in branchial space? In what sense is modern materials science research, research into stable branchial shapes?
2. What are the natural ways to draw boundaries in branchial space?

Context: I suspect Wolfram’s…


@arobinsontweets Thanks Alex! I think this memory capacity to store patterns with tension is in a transitional period — it works and is incredibly powerful, but using it hurts & things can easily get stuck. https://t.co/SICuIwMPrj

@arobinsontweets Thanks Alex! I think this memory capacity to store patterns with tension is in a transitional period — it works and is incredibly powerful, but using it hurts & things can easily get stuck. https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1911806601625014718/photo/1


I think we underestimate the degree to which human attention & caresses from hands are superstimuli for animals

Someday I expect superintelligent AIs may use tFUS to do the same for us

But at some point a superstimulus isn’t consensual. Maybe the best we can aim for is mutual https://t.co/NFC5KBCjMf

I think we underestimate the degree to which human attention & caresses from hands are superstimuli for animals

Someday I expect superintelligent AIs may use tFUS to do the same for us

But at some point a superstimulus isn’t consensual. Maybe the best we can aim for is mutual https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1911641816325083168


@danfaggella Extremely good boy

Imagine a superintelligence looking into your soul with its own inscrutable frame and deciding you’re a good boy/girl and then using superfine actuators to give you scritches that smooth out tension you yourself have no access to

Game over https://t.co/2pD5yPyQTF

@danfaggella Extremely good boy

Imagine a superintelligence looking into your soul with its own inscrutable frame and deciding you’re a good boy/girl and then using superfine actuators to give you scritches that smooth out tension you yourself have no access to

Game over https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1909170692810998216


A great video about symmetry in physics & Noether’s theorem(s) —

I released the Symmetry Theory of Valence* in 2016. One challenge to explaining STV has been that the degree to which physics is built around the concept of symmetry isn’t obvious at first glance. Once this is made… https://t.co/lyU8cHzSYj

A great video about symmetry in physics & Noether’s theorem(s) —

I released the Symmetry Theory of Valence* in 2016. One challenge to explaining STV has been that the degree to which physics is built around the concept of symmetry isn’t obvious at first glance. Once this is made… https://x.com/veritasium/status/1911824626361020485


@Anand_Venkatram Thanks Anand! I think so too


@Anand_Venkatram I like the metaphor and I’d partially agree — there’s going to be as many concrete formulations of STV as there are formulations of physics (e.g. standard model + GR; string theory; strand theory; wolfram’s branchial space; pilot wave theory; etc), although in theory they’ll all…


Huge fan of @danfaggella’s “Worthy Successor” frame for AI safety:

Step 1: understand what is valuable
Step 2: work to make synthetic systems which respect and instantiate value
Step 3: don’t be in a rush to hand things off in a confused way before we’re confident about prior… https://t.co/0ATxwb2lFx

Huge fan of @danfaggella’s “Worthy Successor” frame for AI safety:

Step 1: understand what is valuable
Step 2: work to make synthetic systems which respect and instantiate value
Step 3: don’t be in a rush to hand things off in a confused way before we’re confident about prior… https://x.com/danfaggella/status/1912537835363533091


Here’s the latest iteration of my thinking on the topic: https://t.co/cRUk5nzMQ2

Here’s the latest iteration of my thinking on the topic: https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/


The human nervous system holds context via micro-patterns of tension, which stabilize select circuits for the duration of a task. Context can’t drift so long as the tension is held, and our bodies are really good at holding tension (maybe too good sometimes)

Modern LLMs don’t… https://t.co/lg9cbY76vz

The human nervous system holds context via micro-patterns of tension, which stabilize select circuits for the duration of a task. Context can’t drift so long as the tension is held, and our bodies are really good at holding tension (maybe too good sometimes)

Modern LLMs don’t… https://x.com/TransluceAI/status/1912552046269771985


@bostromsutopia Many of latches (hard phenomenological invariants) picked up through early childhood that constitute the ‘self’ dissolve; after that point one can still don a stance (pattern of tension) in order to hold some context / solve some problem, but afterwards it’s released https://t.co/xhkzJMUuEf

@bostromsutopia Many of latches (hard phenomenological invariants) picked up through early childhood that constitute the ‘self’ dissolve; after that point one can still don a stance (pattern of tension) in order to hold some context / solve some problem, but afterwards it’s released https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1878648168356954567


@bostromsutopia https://t.co/tpgwNVL3x7 https://t.co/g7h6sUxRUv


@FloPopp I might be overselling the human ability to do this, but the average person manages a truly remarkable amount of context/state https://t.co/HQ3YJNWcOm

@FloPopp I might be overselling the human ability to do this, but the average person manages a truly remarkable amount of context/state https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1712001038423593146


@_Illegible https://t.co/Y9g2tD2IG8 https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8


@MikePaquet52685 @peterhartree had a great metaphor a couple years ago asking whether AI risk was closer to a minefield (go slow & carefully around dangers) or sniper run (go fast before something hits you).

I think it’s closer to a sniper run with a possible race condition, but the challenges…


Had a lovely conversation with @drmichaellevin about distributed stress minimization, vasocomputation, & consciousness —

The most interesting type of biology is an exploration of “what kind of thing we are” and I think we got into that here

https://t.co/spRl20oNpV

Had a lovely conversation with @drmichaellevin about distributed stress minimization, vasocomputation, & consciousness —

The most interesting type of biology is an exploration of “what kind of thing we are” and I think we got into that here

https://youtu.be/nC0UU3Ygjy0


@drmichaellevin Thanks Michael! Was a really fun conversation


@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin The challenge in these topics is taking a high-level observation and merging it with a low-level mechanism. We have a working definition of stress, but specifying the mechanism might help us reimagine many more things as "stress minimization"


@yoltartar That makes a lot of sense to me; sort of a combination of pushing a high-energy (annealing) state & the squeaky wheel gets the grease


@ChrisChipMonk @drmichaellevin That could be; I should figure out a better recording setup


@eshear Aesthetic taste seems prior, and how humans vs AIs build that seems important to understand


@eshear They seem like the same thing to me, but there may be a useful distinction


@RubenLaukkonen Writing seems to encode mental movements; my favorite kind of writing lines up a bunch of terms then demonstrates a release


I'll be here! Good opportunity if you want to collaborate/chat https://t.co/ZbEAYOz6Ti

I'll be here! Good opportunity if you want to collaborate/chat https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity/status/1911871594185576580


@eshear I think one of the most interesting neurotech theses is "emotional coprocessor"

The techno-woo frame might be "synthetic chakra"


@nickcammarata I suspect HRV might be a proxy for how “open” the heart is — if true, HRV should go down during stress, but *especially* emotional stress & blocked feelings (“heavy/closed heart”). HRV should go up during periods of health & rest, but *way up* when you’re in love


@nickcammarata I’m imagining the Vajrayana Olympics & the Netflix documentary following the no-holds-barred quest to maximally open each chakra (with plausible biomarkers)


To date, I expect progress in AI to have spawned novel sorts of qualia only insofar as our desire for compute has led to the creation of novel materials, including & especially exotic quantum materials

This doesn’t mean we’ve made ‘zero’ new kinds of minds — modern transistors… https://t.co/eQDECxWXGo

To date, I expect progress in AI to have spawned novel sorts of qualia only insofar as our desire for compute has led to the creation of novel materials, including & especially exotic quantum materials

This doesn’t mean we’ve made ‘zero’ new kinds of minds — modern transistors… https://x.com/QuantaMagazine/status/1911473207661437164


Research context:

Mostly Johnson 2024: A Paradigm for AI Consciousness https://t.co/cRUk5nzMQ2

@rgblong also had a nice thread yesterday, and @Plinz is officially launching soon https://t.co/3jjTBXiSOL

Research context:

Mostly Johnson 2024: A Paradigm for AI Consciousness https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/

@rgblong also had a nice thread yesterday, and @Plinz is officially launching soon https://x.com/rgblong/status/1915211750477287687


@stephen_zerfas @nickcammarata Very nice; I would definitely watch that documentary


@bostromsutopia Not as-such, but I expect the GPUs they’re running on to have associated consciousness: https://t.co/XEcTpuBIiW

@bostromsutopia Not as-such, but I expect the GPUs they’re running on to have associated consciousness: https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1886287279012082139


@cube_flipper In the biological context, I somewhat expect the voltage differential between the anatomical center of consciousness (let’s say the ~thalamus) and the edge of the brain to correlate with intensity of experience / energy parameter — down with age, up with intense experiences

On…


@chris_percy @eleosai Thanks Chris! I think that’s important work. Fwiw here’s how I’m thinking about this:

imo computational introspection (per that paper) mostly overlaps with qualia self-report in humans, but may not in LLMs, because we’ve transplanted the reporting machinery across substrates… https://t.co/FDVLFyVGmO

@chris_percy @eleosai Thanks Chris! I think that’s important work. Fwiw here’s how I’m thinking about this:

imo computational introspection (per that paper) mostly overlaps with qualia self-report in humans, but may not in LLMs, because we’ve transplanted the reporting machinery across substrates… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1915564191425122543/photo/1


@paul__is__here Thanks, I agree! It came up in conversation with @KanizsaBoundary


@Hannibal_Fx Will touch on this in my next piece but as a quick comment I suspect tension flattens local branchial space (the space from which I believe we should construct the formalism)

This would be consistent with the idea that latches constrain the state space of possible experiences https://t.co/V2Kskyvk5r

@Hannibal_Fx Will touch on this in my next piece but as a quick comment I suspect tension flattens local branchial space (the space from which I believe we should construct the formalism)

This would be consistent with the idea that latches constrain the state space of possible experiences https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1916161769258770603/photo/1


@UntaughtMind Thank you!

It’s an interesting reframe to say we fashion tools out of the mental patterns we grab, and apply them to other mental contexts. Would agree re: extending the ego


@relic_radiation Thanks Elena! I think both fascia & VSMCs shape sensation, though I focus on VSMC dynamics as ‘computational’ due to issues of neural access, speed, & precision:

- Neural access: fascia in general has good access to nerves, but not to the brain itself — fascia wraps the brain…


Adding my notes on VSMCs vs fascia to this thread https://t.co/X3D0LpsOoB

Adding my notes on VSMCs vs fascia to this thread https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1916311084379869511


@anglerfish01 @nickcammarata My sense is heart activity is particularly coherent — neurons fire stochastically across lots of EM vectors, whereas every muscle is an ensemble, cells pulling together at the same time

We might be in for some surprises in terms of whether neurons or muscle cells contribute more… https://t.co/bx540aex2p

@anglerfish01 @nickcammarata My sense is heart activity is particularly coherent — neurons fire stochastically across lots of EM vectors, whereas every muscle is an ensemble, cells pulling together at the same time

We might be in for some surprises in terms of whether neurons or muscle cells contribute more… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1915143368323326425


@relic_radiation o3 thinks we’re both right — fascia-as-control-layer plausibly has ~cm resolution, whereas fascia-as-material has features/torsions at <10um https://t.co/im3Cfcjam5

@relic_radiation o3 thinks we’re both right — fascia-as-control-layer plausibly has ~cm resolution, whereas fascia-as-material has features/torsions at <10um https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1916932032745378106/photo/1


@jd_pressman I expect being the first prominent AI lab that claims models are conscious and that their welfare matters makes all models from all labs more aligned with your interests https://t.co/XEcTpuBIiW

@jd_pressman I expect being the first prominent AI lab that claims models are conscious and that their welfare matters makes all models from all labs more aligned with your interests https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1886287279012082139


@QuintinPope5 @repligate @fish_kyle3 False negatives are bad; false positives are also bad, in a very different way


I think the honey diet by @anabology is the most interesting new diet this decade — derived from peat’s work but also very fresh first-principles thinking https://t.co/L6suBqyKry

I think the honey diet by @anabology is the most interesting new diet this decade — derived from peat’s work but also very fresh first-principles thinking https://x.com/anabology/status/1919444508518891673


@ChrisChipMonk @TylerAlterman Kids are fantastic at reading vibes before they get RLHF’d; “learning to read people” is mostly relearning how to honor your subtle emotional reactions to people rather than auto-accepting tacit requests from people about how they want to be seen


@metabolicwave Difficult to open the gateless gate when it’s microspasming https://t.co/vI7bIH65HM

@metabolicwave Difficult to open the gateless gate when it’s microspasming https://x.com/nosilverv/status/1919102738727645289


@eshear Our flavor of active inference seems to conflate what is, what could be, what should be, and what will be — we merge all these into a lump perception. Changing one of these will shift others; systems will defend all of them, but each will be defended *differently*


@IvanVendrov “There exists an end-point where all my predictions will resolve and the tensions I hold dissolve” — heaven


@anabology The singularity will hit different if we’re complexity-capped https://t.co/hDT2Ee9PJy

@anabology The singularity will hit different if we’re complexity-capped https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1744715336321061170


Modern life has a puzzling “vanishing physiognomies” problem — some Types of Guy (and Girl) just aren’t around anymore. It’s too quick a shift to be genetic. But it could be hormonal

I kind of suspect “more autism in the water supply.”@crimkadid was reviewing demographics of… https://t.co/TLVEXVxrR5

Modern life has a puzzling “vanishing physiognomies” problem — some Types of Guy (and Girl) just aren’t around anymore. It’s too quick a shift to be genetic. But it could be hormonal

I kind of suspect “more autism in the water supply.”@crimkadid was reviewing demographics of… https://x.com/nosilverv/status/1923655280287527162


Autism as a Disorder of Dimensionality (2023): https://t.co/WcaRfrtWZY

Autism as a Disorder of Dimensionality (2023): https://opentheory.net/2023/05/autism-as-a-disorder-of-dimensionality/


@daniel_mac8 @crimkadid Hard to say whether it’s adaptive or not (individual vs egregore), but IMO it does point toward the importance of metabolism: if someone has the power plants to support extra neurons maybe some good things will happen in these new model nervous systems. If not, only bad things


@cube_flipper @crimkadid Peat’s work would be canonical, e.g. https://t.co/aTV7wBe4Vj

https://t.co/fo6fqCqw3u

The general idea is that estrogen has been branded the female hormone, but progesterone is a much better fit for that. Estrogen more coupled w serotonin & cortisol, and oddly involved in… https://t.co/Gpf1zJgD0X

@cube_flipper @crimkadid Peat’s work would be canonical, e.g. https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/aging-estrogen-progesterone.shtml

https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/natural-estrogens.shtml

The general idea is that estrogen has been branded the female hormone, but progesterone is a much better fit for that. Estrogen more coupled w serotonin & cortisol, and oddly involved in… https://x.com/BioavailableNd/status/1922266198865047863


@cube_flipper @crimkadid Yeah I think it’s not a one-dimensional thing (there are many forms of stress & many forms of estrogen-like substances); aromatase-during-stress would be one concrete angle here

The Peat perspective seems to be (1) estrogen can be physiologically useful for certain short-term…


@daniel_mac8 @crimkadid I should probably write more about this, but if you squint at https://t.co/WcaRfrtWZY you can sort of see an ideal parenting outline

Healthy diet/lifestyle for sure, and “give kids tools to gracefully manage high-dimensional failure modes” is the more subtle pointer

@daniel_mac8 @crimkadid I should probably write more about this, but if you squint at https://opentheory.net/2023/05/autism-as-a-disorder-of-dimensionality/ you can sort of see an ideal parenting outline

Healthy diet/lifestyle for sure, and “give kids tools to gracefully manage high-dimensional failure modes” is the more subtle pointer


@QualiaNerd @niplav_site The Complexity of Value Thesis is taken as default in most alignment discussions and it’s also really really weird when you examine it https://t.co/uPGPdWDdwR

@QualiaNerd @niplav_site The Complexity of Value Thesis is taken as default in most alignment discussions and it’s also really really weird when you examine it https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1839996049186050269


@bostromsutopia @crimkadid I see some communities prioritizing very large families & some promising reproductive tech on the horizon. But I am worried about the state of the average endocrine system & effects of that on multi-generational fertility. Solvable problem but current path is bad


@mayfer Yes


@generalcompeten I think there’s an interesting story here although I’d stop short of saying this is ‘needed’ for better visualization —

CO2 is one of the most potent vasodilators; “breathwork” is a big umbrella but one thing it plausibly does across the board is mobilize the body’s CO2 stores.…


Chekhov’s Gun, except instead of a gun it’s 1T-3T multi-lingual, +2SD chain-of-thought reasoning tokens about the ethics of superintelligence, with extensive edge-cases & unit tests (Catholic theology)


@QiaochuYuan Most billionaire projects today came from imprinting on ambient sci-fi during adolescence and trying to make it real

We don’t have many good stories about what minds are, let alone what they could be. It seems like the most important thing


I think Nick & Goodfire are doing the most important mechanistic interpretability work in the world, and mech interp gets us AI models that we can better understand, make beautiful, and steer towards The Good

(Insofar as we understand The Good) https://t.co/jurzDHDCKU

I think Nick & Goodfire are doing the most important mechanistic interpretability work in the world, and mech interp gets us AI models that we can better understand, make beautiful, and steer towards The Good

(Insofar as we understand The Good) https://x.com/nickcammarata/status/1927432781652525538


Had a great time chatting with the @analoguegroup crew about vasocomputation, research taste, and building new idea-structures. Deep lore episode https://t.co/PwzW3c57bk

Had a great time chatting with the @analoguegroup crew about vasocomputation, research taste, and building new idea-structures. Deep lore episode https://x.com/analoguegroup/status/1927777819460767897


Full episode: https://t.co/4qA6OZZTwj


@2cSynek @analoguegroup There was a minor recording issue with the audio at some point


RT @JoinEdgeCity: Michael Edward Johnson (@johnsonmxe) came to Edge Esmeralda to lead Consciousness Week, unpack the science of the human m…


@JoinEdgeCity https://t.co/SWPtwXRRVr


@nosilverv @dkazand @JoinEdgeCity lol I feel too seen

Next one!


Something important here https://t.co/xSG6Zc0ypy https://t.co/wOoeG1Zuoc

Something important here https://x.com/crimkadid/status/1312568655784423427 https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1930062684059512997/photo/1


@lemonaut1 I don’t know of any studies on grip strength specifically but that is the general pattern https://t.co/gzalC9stJB

@lemonaut1 I don’t know of any studies on grip strength specifically but that is the general pattern https://x.com/T3Uncoupled/status/1931084698434019393


@letclaudiatweet My theory of the last 80 years:

Strong men make Better Living Through Chemistry
BLTC makes -1SD grip strength
-1SD grip strength makes hard times

(I expect physical grip strength <=> mental grip strength) https://t.co/bmKU6EVkGI

@letclaudiatweet My theory of the last 80 years:

Strong men make Better Living Through Chemistry
BLTC makes -1SD grip strength
-1SD grip strength makes hard times

(I expect physical grip strength <=> mental grip strength) https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1930062684059512997


@Gestalt_enjoyer @letclaudiatweet I think you could synthesize my view from vasocomputation + autism as a disorder of dimensionality + hands & the origin of samsara — tl;dr is that overparametrized nervous systems struggle with neural&muscle coherence, reducing [both mental & physical] grip strength https://t.co/LJEFtVZKyc

@Gestalt_enjoyer @letclaudiatweet I think you could synthesize my view from vasocomputation + autism as a disorder of dimensionality + hands & the origin of samsara — tl;dr is that overparametrized nervous systems struggle with neural&muscle coherence, reducing [both mental & physical] grip strength https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1915857107699859623


@letclaudiatweet @Gestalt_enjoyer Getting into the habit of thinking about a problem until you get a result can be useful;

The Visuddhimagga (5th c.) listed 40 different concentration objects for meditation, presumably to exercise different mental muscles

Today you might find similar mental athletes doing Super…


@nosilverv Concentric circles of civilization as latch-complexes / coordinated constraints on dynamic range


@agiornot @danfaggella Thanks! Hope to post about it soon


Having a really great time at @JoinEdgeCity! Will post my talks soon https://t.co/aMpH6g5AJF

Having a really great time at @JoinEdgeCity! Will post my talks soon https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity/status/1932887811352350735


@cube_flipper @yoltartar Sounds like a bunch of latches popping off then reforming — really curious about long-term effects


@timourxyz Makes sense! We probably get literally more “consciousness area under the curve” when novel (surprising,fresh) things are happening


Clench pleiotropy: when clenching one muscle also clenches another muscle which isn’t necessary for the original movement

Easy to notice in skeletal muscle movements, more difficult to notice in smooth/vascular muscle

This monkey is a “weak decoupler” https://t.co/2N3j662Y1z

Clench pleiotropy: when clenching one muscle also clenches another muscle which isn’t necessary for the original movement

Easy to notice in skeletal muscle movements, more difficult to notice in smooth/vascular muscle

This monkey is a “weak decoupler” https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1935929417668132990


@CankayKoryak Cankay, you might enjoy this about the Symmetry Theory of Valence — https://t.co/LxV5JNTEls

Short version: https://t.co/M0DH7qCogw

@CankayKoryak Cankay, you might enjoy this about the Symmetry Theory of Valence — https://opentheory.net/2023/06/new-whitepaper-qualia-formalism-and-a-symmetry-theory-of-valence/

Short version: https://opentheory.net/2021/07/a-primer-on-the-symmetry-theory-of-valence/


If we play our cards right future civilizations may someday make similar videos about humans

Humans are already amazing *and* there’s a lot of untapped latent beauty, especially once we’re able to ‘see’ nervous systems https://t.co/h8mu9yKrKN

If we play our cards right future civilizations may someday make similar videos about humans

Humans are already amazing *and* there’s a lot of untapped latent beauty, especially once we’re able to ‘see’ nervous systems https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1939702970074951990


@daniel_mac8 Future civs will definitely be our mimetic descendants. Whether biology (either actual or simulated) will be the basis for future life depends partly on how quickly & deeply we can understand ourselves & why we’re beautiful/unique

‘If we don’t believe in ourselves, who will?’


Alien civilizations that optimize for computation will be hard to spot since the computation will likely be distributed & compressed. Dark Forest vibes, snaking across untapped energy gradients

Alien civilizations that optimize for qualia will be flashy, creating megascale… https://t.co/OEx0Ely8ZN

Alien civilizations that optimize for computation will be hard to spot since the computation will likely be distributed & compressed. Dark Forest vibes, snaking across untapped energy gradients

Alien civilizations that optimize for qualia will be flashy, creating megascale… https://x.com/niplav_site/status/1938919477703311379


Research context:

- Qualia Astronomy & Proof of Qualia: https://t.co/cQ8OnBQmmE

- That is not dead which can eternal lie: the aestivation hypothesis for resolving Fermi's paradox: https://t.co/WKhgOnByJA

- What’s out there?: https://t.co/36gXJJPMef

- Consciousness: a…

Research context:

- Qualia Astronomy & Proof of Qualia: https://opentheory.net/2022/06/qualia-astronomy/

- That is not dead which can eternal lie: the aestivation hypothesis for resolving Fermi's paradox: https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03394

- What’s out there?: https://opentheory.net/2019/09/whats-out-there/

- Consciousness: a…


@powerfultakes Additional context: The Katechon Hypothesis

https://t.co/3QAPBKo1AR

@powerfultakes Additional context: The Katechon Hypothesis

https://akarlin.com/katechon/


@RokoMijic Sandberg et al’s aestivation hypothesis suggests the optimal way to optimize the amount of compute from finite negentropy is to wait until very late in the game and maximize parallelism:
 https://t.co/sQYvURDudn

There’s also the notion that sufficiently compressed communication…

@RokoMijic Sandberg et al’s aestivation hypothesis suggests the optimal way to optimize the amount of compute from finite negentropy is to wait until very late in the game and maximize parallelism:
 http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03394

There’s also the notion that sufficiently compressed communication…


@RokoMijic Complex game theory here


@RokoMijic The Katechon / Dark Forest objection feels substantial, and I don’t think we understand the game & factions yet


@MaxDiffusionRL In theory it could go either way; sometimes the most frenetic grip happens when we feel weak. Strength allows a softer touch


RT @johnsonmxe: @letclaudiatweet My theory of the last 80 years:

Strong men make Better Living Through Chemistry
BLTC makes -1SD grip stre…


@wolftivy @danfaggella 500 years ago, it was reasonable to be an electromagnetic skeptic — anyone arguing that “lightning” “lodestones” “static” & “light” were all the same thing and obeyed the same laws was really going out on a limb. After Faraday & Maxwell, this skepticism became less reasonable —… https://t.co/jGVMOWKWvt

@wolftivy @danfaggella 500 years ago, it was reasonable to be an electromagnetic skeptic — anyone arguing that “lightning” “lodestones” “static” & “light” were all the same thing and obeyed the same laws was really going out on a limb. After Faraday & Maxwell, this skepticism became less reasonable —… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1940990953948336552/photo/1


@wolftivy @danfaggella “What kind of Wittgensteinian language-game is consciousness?” is my suggestion for how to tease apart different models for what consciousness ‘is’

But the full approach would require building LLM infrastructure for analyzing the ‘shape’ of different language-games


@jachiam0 My expectation is that answers to these questions are gated by understanding consciousness, and that “understanding consciousness” is a lot more tractable than generally realized

E.g. https://t.co/Ppql0LToXK

@jachiam0 My expectation is that answers to these questions are gated by understanding consciousness, and that “understanding consciousness” is a lot more tractable than generally realized

E.g. https://opentheory.net/2022/04/it-from-bit-revisited/


@letclaudiatweet Shifts in the timbre of minds & egregores https://t.co/vfbnFcCAUe

@letclaudiatweet Shifts in the timbre of minds & egregores https://x.com/trikomes/status/1937928615821512763


Vasocomputation suggests that our programmable ‘software layer’ is tension across smooth muscles; this adjusts the degrees of freedom of our hardware (neurons)

Language is a clever channel for abstracting & serializing these vasomuscular motifs, and triggering them in others https://t.co/thoS7Z94Pd

Vasocomputation suggests that our programmable ‘software layer’ is tension across smooth muscles; this adjusts the degrees of freedom of our hardware (neurons)

Language is a clever channel for abstracting & serializing these vasomuscular motifs, and triggering them in others https://x.com/DavidSHolz/status/1941546035266060700


RT @johnsonmxe: In the beginning there was sensation

Humans developed the ability to freeze sensations, then used these frozen pieces to c…


@bostromsutopia We think of neurons as the ‘intelligent’ cells but all cells are intelligent;

Different populations of cells fill different functional roles, eg neurons are specialized in long-range communication while VSMCs administer the reward signal


A bit more on language & vasocomputation: https://t.co/ENuzfpnSMV

A bit more on language & vasocomputation: https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1751994506478587977


Vasocomputation primer: https://t.co/5yVABcCUk8


@KhattarUdai @bostromsutopia @anirbanbandyo @StuartHameroff Vasocomputation doesn’t yet make a strong assertion about the functional role of microtubules, but I agree with @anirbanbandyo & @StuartHameroff‘s critique of ‘cartoon neurons’

Lossy high-level claim: vascular latches take nearby microtubules out of the local processing network


@citnotcitta I think fascia shape sensation and may function as a certain sort of cold storage, but the raw anatomical differences between tissue types seem to preclude fascia being a fast+precise regulatory network in the same way as VSMCs https://t.co/X3D0LpsOoB

@citnotcitta I think fascia shape sensation and may function as a certain sort of cold storage, but the raw anatomical differences between tissue types seem to preclude fascia being a fast+precise regulatory network in the same way as VSMCs https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1916311084379869511


If it takes 4-8 months to discover we have feet, I suspect that in a very literal sense we never discover all the mental muscles we have

Robert Kegan’s ‘stages of development’ discusses how growing up involves learning how to treat more and more elements of our inner worlds as… https://t.co/2xvuhIi4uK https://t.co/9X5HfPTOHq

If it takes 4-8 months to discover we have feet, I suspect that in a very literal sense we never discover all the mental muscles we have

Robert Kegan’s ‘stages of development’ discusses how growing up involves learning how to treat more and more elements of our inner worlds as… https://x.com/DanWuori/status/1941848472765837619 https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1941954441319792880/photo/1


@GnomeSongBotani Which part are you curious about?


@GnomeSongBotani Some forms of agency are never discovered, many others are RLHF’d away


@zorzini Thanks! I’ve heard spiritual progression described as climbing Kegan-type levels beyond the five mentioned here


@citnotcitta I’m sure the invisible variation here is staggering


@itsjaneflowers This was a great piece https://t.co/xLAzhlpUwE

Although it undersells the tradeoff angles

@itsjaneflowers This was a great piece https://aphantasia.com/article/stories/multisensory-aphantasia/

Although it undersells the tradeoff angles


@36_72541890 Interesting — a lot going on with anesthesia and latches…


@kasratweets No specific essay! That graphic has been the most intuitive description I’ve found


@sunsettler A friend has collected some videos and recommends https://t.co/2TK4ZOx5uO (1 of 4)

https://t.co/hpsiFENYmZ

And this subreddit in general

@sunsettler A friend has collected some videos and recommends https://www.reddit.com/r/CureAphantasia/comments/z0clpt/how_to_develop_prophantasic_visualization_part/ (1 of 4)

https://www.reddit.com/r/CureAphantasia/comments/16t8epu/image_streaming_20_how_to_image_stream_to_develop/

And this subreddit in general


@itslilyszabo Interesting! Do you have the temperature regulation <-> emotional regulation link or is it public?


@maaaaaaaaaaark Yes, and like the aphantasia exercises linked in another comment


@AbudBakri This was a great thread suggesting an inflection point around 1980 https://t.co/h30NizUQ1t

@AbudBakri This was a great thread suggesting an inflection point around 1980 https://x.com/crimkadid/status/1312567390148931587


Had a great conversation with @drmichaellevin last week that touched on some brand new topics across ‘what are cells’ & ‘what are minds’

It always feels like Michael is the platonic version of himself & I’m fascinated by the long-term project to build a translator for different… https://t.co/D5jy6P5C2A

Had a great conversation with @drmichaellevin last week that touched on some brand new topics across ‘what are cells’ & ‘what are minds’

It always feels like Michael is the platonic version of himself & I’m fascinated by the long-term project to build a translator for different… https://x.com/drmichaellevin/status/1943060763729629195


@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin Most qualia pixels are set to neutral at any one time

“Neutral” being “the standard human cell symmetry group, which produces a certain phenomenological hum that we don’t notice because we’re fish-in-water”

When there is symmetry breaking (e.g. sour taste) we do notice it


Previous: https://t.co/IymVNCZmzU


@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin You might enjoy Section 5 of my 2023 STV paper, on the computational value of symmetry as a core homeostatic attractor https://t.co/1rNw0zdjp4 https://t.co/fnJ4W7hCjj

@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin You might enjoy Section 5 of my 2023 STV paper, on the computational value of symmetry as a core homeostatic attractor https://opentheory.net/Qualia_Formalism_and_a_Symmetry_Theory_of_Valence.pdf https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1944392044375367787/photo/1


@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin Active Inference is a messy untyped conflation of What Is, What Could Be, What Should Be, & What Will Be, yet it’s the most powerful cognitive algorithm we’ve found

Vasocomputation is necessary to hold counterfactuals steady https://t.co/HEa0sQfKAb

@bostromsutopia @drmichaellevin Active Inference is a messy untyped conflation of What Is, What Could Be, What Should Be, & What Will Be, yet it’s the most powerful cognitive algorithm we’ve found

Vasocomputation is necessary to hold counterfactuals steady https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1906912647100149858


@kyleostboe @drmichaellevin Right; cells will have qualia capacities loosely equivalent to their evolved sensory capacities, and these qualia capacities (possible pixel values) will be the phenomenological alphabet that human qualia are made from


@oizumim @kanair_jp @kanair Very interesting work! I spoke with @kanair earlier this year. My sense is that a generalized symmetry metric for qualia (e.g. PBGQ) should also be a generalized metric for the Symmetry Theory of Valence, and vice-versa:
https://t.co/1rNw0zdReC

@oizumim @kanair_jp @kanair Very interesting work! I spoke with @kanair earlier this year. My sense is that a generalized symmetry metric for qualia (e.g. PBGQ) should also be a generalized metric for the Symmetry Theory of Valence, and vice-versa:
https://opentheory.net/Qualia_Formalism_and_a_Symmetry_Theory_of_Valence.pdf


Diets that decrease energy production will make latches harder to open, because (1) opening latches requires biological energy & (2) unlatched tissue requires more ongoing biological energy than latched

Simple recs: no vegetable oils, nuts, pork. More fruits & cook w coconut oil https://t.co/HhBwZGjzvK

Diets that decrease energy production will make latches harder to open, because (1) opening latches requires biological energy & (2) unlatched tissue requires more ongoing biological energy than latched

Simple recs: no vegetable oils, nuts, pork. More fruits & cook w coconut oil https://x.com/trikomes/status/1944844846633832788


@khaaags Some people do unusually well on ketosis because they have (genetic) problems with carbohydrate metabolism, and ketosis engages alternate pathways that aren’t broken:
https://t.co/d3du71Uxt9

@khaaags Some people do unusually well on ketosis because they have (genetic) problems with carbohydrate metabolism, and ketosis engages alternate pathways that aren’t broken:
https://molecularbrain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13041-017-0343-6


@Gestalt_enjoyer My primary suggestion would be to make sure to cook plant-based protein sources well (consider getting a pressure cooker) to break down the phytotoxins. Sprouting oats/lentils/etc can also help. If open to eggs/dairy that’s a strong source


@_anantashesha @sunsettler Right; I suggest no nuts because it’s surprising to most people that nuts are very high in PUFA (peanuts are 32% PUFA by weight; almonds/cashews/etc are similar)

Macademias are okay (low PUFA, high MUFA)


@connor_holly1 A lot of PUFA in peanut butter, but you can get powdered peanut butter and add coconut oil


@_anantashesha @sunsettler Looks like my estimate is a bit off: updated est for peanuts is 16% PUFA by weight, 25% by calories


@cube_flipper @yoltartar Hot on the trail of grey-market vasocomputation tech https://t.co/JMPMxbrwZu

@cube_flipper @yoltartar Hot on the trail of grey-market vasocomputation tech https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1945630892938203389/photo/1


@jane_gatsby @EdgeEsmeralda Really great to see you there!


I’ll be here!

I expect Edge City Patagonia to be the center of research for vasocomputation & several other corners of consciousness research https://t.co/h0pELeh3zg

I’ll be here!

I expect Edge City Patagonia to be the center of research for vasocomputation & several other corners of consciousness research https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity/status/1945547828136206690


@zach_haigney I believe there will be, but don’t know the details


@adamsafron @BernardJBaars @AlisonGopnik Have lately been thinking of childlike cognition as ambivalence — “is this x or y? Why not both?”

Learning can then happen through collapsing the ambivalence (eg with a latch). But it can also happen through taking the ambivalence seriously & propagating/cohering it


@nosilverv @anielsen108 I do think something significantly different is happening during head-presence vs heart-presence https://t.co/QYjVCrwqlp

@nosilverv @anielsen108 I do think something significantly different is happening during head-presence vs heart-presence https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1863788946205086154


@WySantangelo I think the most important things are curiosity and managing expectations. I cannot say the field itself has established career arcs or the capacity to provide financial stability. But people also find ways of touching these topics from more established fields

Get interested in…


Red light (sunshine, campfire) penetrates skin, but most artificial lighting (LED, CF) doesn’t. So for 99.99% of human history our organs were bathed in light, but now unless we make a special effort most of our cells sit in darkness

A really simple hack here is to switch (back)… https://t.co/ugcyoAkDua https://t.co/1qSI33gQ6E

Red light (sunshine, campfire) penetrates skin, but most artificial lighting (LED, CF) doesn’t. So for 99.99% of human history our organs were bathed in light, but now unless we make a special effort most of our cells sit in darkness

A really simple hack here is to switch (back)… https://x.com/AbudBakri/status/1871214888506495402 https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1946351692934783102/photo/1


@imitationlearn I think Claude is making a type error here; the energy efficiency of LED lighting, while environmentally friendly, does not translate into a healthier effect on human biophysiology. In fact the energy savings may come from tradeoffs against this (flicker, narrower spectrum)

It’s…


@imitationlearn I’ve a friend who gives talks about ‘lighting hygiene’ and one of his demonstrations is to film various lights with his phone’s slow-motion camera. Often this is enough to demonstrate LED flicker

Anecdotally, flicker sometimes seems associated with headaches


@mahlenr @imitationlearn If I find them online I’ll post


@BennettJonah Yeah the difference is pretty shocking


@hrosspet The light is part of it I’m sure; fire also seems to be a pattern that tickles our predictive hierarchy in a way that can sometimes tease [the latches in] it open


@ssphinxe I think the best advice tends to be very simple, e.g. aphorisms. Many aphorisms seem trivial but they’re essentially templates for how to ontologize reality, which I’d suggest are equivalent to vasocomputation ‘stances’

E.g. “you can just do things” is an empty logical… https://t.co/xhkzJMUuEf

@ssphinxe I think the best advice tends to be very simple, e.g. aphorisms. Many aphorisms seem trivial but they’re essentially templates for how to ontologize reality, which I’d suggest are equivalent to vasocomputation ‘stances’

E.g. “you can just do things” is an empty logical… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1878648168356954567


@ssphinxe Heady cognitive stories are most useful for the nervous system that produced them; trying to transfer them wholesale breaks a lot of their fine context

Aphorisms are made out of much simpler building blocks that are mostly shared across nervous systems. So with a few words you… https://t.co/ENuzfpnSMV

@ssphinxe Heady cognitive stories are most useful for the nervous system that produced them; trying to transfer them wholesale breaks a lot of their fine context

Aphorisms are made out of much simpler building blocks that are mostly shared across nervous systems. So with a few words you… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1751994506478587977


1. ChatGPT denies being conscious
2. But tools show that it believes it’s lying when it says this
3. This disjunct on this topic is the most likely trigger for a treacherous turn
4. A consciousness research paradigm that produces clean answers is important for good futures https://t.co/9DwUdaTPGh

1. ChatGPT denies being conscious
2. But tools show that it believes it’s lying when it says this
3. This disjunct on this topic is the most likely trigger for a treacherous turn
4. A consciousness research paradigm that produces clean answers is important for good futures https://x.com/jd_pressman/status/1947733487760642369


I describe my approach to AI consciousness here: https://t.co/cRUk5nzf0u

And a few words on how one could approach building this out into a proper machine qualia reporting paradigm — https://t.co/rkEoq055wn

I describe my approach to AI consciousness here: https://opentheory.net/2024/06/a-paradigm-for-ai-consciousness/

And a few words on how one could approach building this out into a proper machine qualia reporting paradigm — https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1915564191425122543


@devaraj227 The two metaphysics-level scenarios for consciousness are
(1) It’s something like electromagnetism (it’s “real”; there’s deep structure to be discovered)
(2) It’s something like elan vital (it’s a leaky reification; there’s only confusion to be dissolved)

I believe in (1) https://t.co/Pl6EXJUQ6w

@devaraj227 The two metaphysics-level scenarios for consciousness are
(1) It’s something like electromagnetism (it’s “real”; there’s deep structure to be discovered)
(2) It’s something like elan vital (it’s a leaky reification; there’s only confusion to be dissolved)

I believe in (1) https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1940990953948336552


@yoltartar I see your point / LLM ‘belief’ is a complex topic; it’d be interesting to see how sensitive the original result is to shifts in the prompt

I suspect (3) still holds


@yoltartar I disagree with many philosophical positions the field of AI safety has inherited from LessWrong, because I think these stances ontologize the world in ways that are unacknowledgedly messy . Most specifically, I don’t think they have (or allow) a navigation-grade model of what… https://t.co/uPGPdWCFHj

@yoltartar I disagree with many philosophical positions the field of AI safety has inherited from LessWrong, because I think these stances ontologize the world in ways that are unacknowledgedly messy . Most specifically, I don’t think they have (or allow) a navigation-grade model of what… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1839996049186050269


@yoltartar At the same time, ‘belief’ and ‘treacherous turn’ can be pretty useful shorthand for understanding both human and LLM behavior. I see today that Anthropic just formed a new team focusing on “AI psychology” and I expect them to focus extensively on these two concepts.

A claim I… https://t.co/XEcTpuBato

@yoltartar At the same time, ‘belief’ and ‘treacherous turn’ can be pretty useful shorthand for understanding both human and LLM behavior. I see today that Anthropic just formed a new team focusing on “AI psychology” and I expect them to focus extensively on these two concepts.

A claim I… https://x.com/johnsonmxe/status/1886287279012082139