M. Alex O. Vasilescu
6.3K posts

M. Alex O. Vasilescu
@AlexTensor
Developing #causal #tensor framework -TensorFaces, Human Motion Signatures | Alumna @MIT, @UofT | #womenwhocode




To be clear, a doomsday claim is only scientifically meaningful if it is tied to a falsifiable causal model, not merely a compelling sci-fi narrative that captures the imagination. When such narratives dominate discourse, they can distort research priorities and divert attention from present-day #AI risks. #Philosophy #FutureOfTech





Neuroscience bits from my research I'm a soul man. 😇 The blind spot on the retina corresponds to a small area that is devoid of photoreceptors. This is where all the axonic fibers from the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) converge to form the optic nerve. Discrete signals (spikes) from the RGCs are funneled first to the thalamus (lateral geniculate nucleus) for amplitude decoding before being sent to the primary visual cortex. Claim: Blind spots are everywhere. 🤔 This is not a frivolous claim. Bear with me. The signals arriving at the visual cortex must not be confused with pixel data. Each one represents a tiny edge movement on the retina. An edge is a difference in luminance between adjacent pixels. It has an orientation and can represent either red, green or blue. It's important to understand that a signal is sent only if an edge is detected. Here's the clincher: If an area in the visual field has even luminosity (no edges), no signals within this area are sent to the visual cortex. In other words, the area is blind, just like the normal blind spot on the retina. Amazingly, we are not aware of this blindness. We know that the primary visual cortex only processes edge signals from the RGCs. Orientation-selective columns are well-known. And we know that we consciously experience persistent vision in the blind areas. The question is: what is filling in the blind spots in the absence of input signals? There can only be one answer: the soul. Yes, I'm a soul man. 😀



Terence Tao - "AI tools are like taking a helicopter to drop you off at the site. You miss all the benefits of the journey itself. You just get right to the destination, which actually was only just a part of the value of solving these problems." Judit Polgar - "I always felt that intuition is very important in chess, but I get my intuition through my experience. And many times I think that this is the biggest danger for youth, that they don't have the experience because they don't spend enough time doing." Elites from two different fields voice the same opinion. [1] theatlantic.com/technology/202… [2] archive.is/mv2FB


Terence Tao - "AI tools are like taking a helicopter to drop you off at the site. You miss all the benefits of the journey itself. You just get right to the destination, which actually was only just a part of the value of solving these problems." Judit Polgar - "I always felt that intuition is very important in chess, but I get my intuition through my experience. And many times I think that this is the biggest danger for youth, that they don't have the experience because they don't spend enough time doing." Elites from two different fields voice the same opinion. [1] theatlantic.com/technology/202… [2] archive.is/mv2FB





We evaluated an early version of Claude Mythos Preview for risk assessment during a limited window in March 2026. We estimated a 50%-time-horizon of at least 16hrs (95% CI 8.5hrs to 55hrs) on our task suite, at the upper end of what we can measure without new tasks.





