Welcome to Dan’s brain

The contents of my head are not useful if they stay in there, so I regularly copy-paste them onto the internet, in fact, into this very website you are reading now. Please, make yourself comfortable in my mental house. Here you can find most of the things I am thinking about, in the form of a higgledy heap of half-finished notebooks and occasional polished essays. Themes include whatever shiny thing distracted me into taking notes about it, including, but not limited to,

You might be after information about me generally, or what I am doing right now.

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Causal abstraction

AI safety
approximation
Bayes
causal
generative
graphical models
language
machine learning
meta learning
neural nets
NLP
probabilistic algorithms
probability
statistics
stringology
time series

Bayesian nonparametric statistics

Bayes
functional analysis
Gaussian
generative
how do science
Monte Carlo
nonparametric
statistics
stochastic processes

The deep history of intelligence

adversarial
AI safety
catastrophe
economics
faster pussycat
innovation
language
machine learning
mind
neural nets
NLP
security
technology

Ensemble Kalman updates are empirical Matheron updates

Bayes
distributed
dynamical systems
generative
linear algebra
machine learning
Monte Carlo
optimization
particle
probabilistic algorithms
probability
sciml
signal processing
state space models
statistics
stochastic processes
time series

“Opponent shaping” as a model for manipulation and cooperation

adaptive
agents
bandit problems
bounded compute
collective knowledge
control
cooperation
distributed
economics
evolution
extended self
game theory
incentive mechanisms
learning
machine learning
mind
networks
utility

Neural flow matching models

approximation
Bayes
generative
Monte Carlo
neural nets
optimization
probabilistic algorithms
probability
score function
statistics

Neural likelihood inference

approximation
Bayes
feature construction
likelihood free
machine learning
measure
metrics
probability
sciml
statistics
time series

Spamularity and slop

adversarial
AI safety
bounded compute
communicating
cooperation
culture
economics
faster pussycat
language
machine learning
mind
neural nets
NLP
security
technology
wonk

Ensemble Kalman methods

Bayes
distributed
dynamical systems
generative
graphical models
linear algebra
machine learning
Monte Carlo
optimization
particle
probabilistic algorithms
probability
sciml
signal processing
state space models
statistics
stochastic processes
time series

Model interpretation and explanation

adversarial
AI safety
game theory
hierarchical models
machine learning
sparser than thou

Distributed community NN training

bounded compute
collective knowledge
concurrency hell
distributed
diy
economics
edge computing
extended self
faster pussycat
incentive mechanisms
innovation
language
machine learning
model selection
neural nets
NLP
optimization
premature optimization
statmech
technology
UI

Creating scientific knowledge

adaptive
bounded compute
collective knowledge
distributed
economics
how do science
incentive mechanisms
institutions
learning
mind
networks
provenance
sociology
standards

Building and Running Scientific Institutions

adaptive
bounded compute
collective knowledge
distributed
economics
how do science
incentive mechanisms
institutions
learning
mind
networks
provenance
sociology
standards

Degrees of freedom in NNs

estimator distribution
information
likelihood
model selection
statistics

Quasi-gradients of discrete parameters

calculus
classification
optimization
probabilistic algorithms
probability
score function
statistics

Discretizing and quantizing neural nets

edge computing
machine learning
model selection
neural nets
sparser than thou

Foundation models for geoscience

dynamical systems
machine learning
neural nets
sciml
SDEs
signal processing
spatial
stochastic processes
time series

Fine tuning foundation models

adaptive
agents
approximation
bandit problems
Bayes
control
generative
incentive mechanisms
language
learning
machine learning
meta learning
networks
neural nets
NLP
optimization
stochastic processes
stringology
time series
utility

Conditioning neural denoising diffusion models

approximation
Bayes
generative
Monte Carlo
neural nets
optimization
probabilistic algorithms
probability
score function
statistics

Backprop-free methods for training neural networks

Bayes
dynamical systems
likelihood free
linear algebra
machine learning
Monte Carlo
neural nets
nonparametric
particle
probability
sciml
signal processing
sparser than thou
statistics
statmech
uncertainty

Numerical Python

compsci
computers are awful
premature optimization
python

Architecture and construction (doing it)

cooperation
culture
design
diy
economics
housing
making things
the rather superior sort of city

Singular Learning Theory

AI safety
dynamical systems
machine learning
neural nets
physics
pseudorandomness
sciml
statistics
statmech
stochastic processes

Retirement saving in Australia

diy
economics
money
Southeast Asia
utility

Self-organization

agents
compsci
distributed
extended self
game theory
generative art
hidden variables
incentive mechanisms
life
photon choreography
self similar
spatial
statmech

Queerness

culture
diy
gender
personality
sex
sociology
wonk

Science

academe
agents
collective knowledge
economics
faster pussycat
game theory
how do science
incentive mechanisms
institutions
mind
networks
provenance
sociology
wonk

Validating and reproducing science

academe
agents
collective knowledge
economics
faster pussycat
game theory
how do science
incentive mechanisms
institutions
mind
networks
provenance
sociology
wonk

Quarto integrated website system

academe
faster pussycat
how do science
javascript
julia
language
making things
plain text
premature optimization
python
R
writing

Science for policy

catastrophe
communicating
economics
ethics
how do science
mind
probability
statistics
tail risk
wonk

Research discovery, synthesis

academe
collective knowledge
faster pussycat
how do science
institutions
mind
networks
provenance
sociology
wonk

Quarto

academe
faster pussycat
how do science
javascript
julia
language
making things
plain text
premature optimization
python
R
writing

Reinforcement learning

adaptive
agents
bandit problems
control
incentive mechanisms
learning
networks
stochastic processes
time series
utility

q-exponential process

Gaussian
Hilbert space
kernel tricks
Lévy processes
nonparametric
regression
spatial
stochastic processes
time series

Recurrent / convolutional / state-space

Bayes
convolution
dynamical systems
functional analysis
linear algebra
machine learning
making things
music
networks
neural nets
nonparametric
probability
signal processing
sparser than thou
state space models
statistics
time series

Singapore

South East Asia
statistics

Contemporary rationalists

catastrophe
culture
ethics
history
how do science
incentive mechanisms
institutions
language
learning
mind
wonk

Schelling-Goodhart coordination problems

economics
game theory
incentive mechanisms
institutions
machine learning
optimization
religion
statistics
utility

Science communication of ML research

academe
communicating
faster pussycat
learning
mind
statistics

Voice transcriptions and speech recognition

faster pussycat
language
machine learning
NLP
real time
signal processing
stringology
time series
UI
writing
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