Observatory for Parliamentary Systems

With the advent of AGI, we are transitioning from hunters-gatherers to farmers of knowledge. The significance of this transition, that mirrors the passage from the Paleolithic into the Neolithic, cannot be overstated. It's the Paleosophic-Neosophic transition.

@PierceLilholt What do you mean by unsolvable? Quantum and classical computers can calculate any computable function, but QC in some cases can do it exponentially faster.

If quantum computing can find solutions to unsolvable problems, who’s deciding what counts as unsolvable?

@levelsio One question that the data leave open is how many choose assisted death because of financial considerations.

I had to re-read this and double check it Canada had 326,779 total deaths in 2024 16,499 MAID deaths / 326,799 total deaths = 5.04% So 1 in 20 Canadians per year now die from medically assisted deaths! 1 in 20!

The contribution from the ghost population explains the Bantu advantage vs the Khoisan, when the former descended towards the Kalahari. What I meant re: Neanderthals is that, even if they were already long extinct when the EEF flourished (much later), the contribution was still as high as 10%, ruling out a sporadic admixture / introgression. In mountain areas of central Italy it's still ~4% to this day.

@electiontrackin @visegrad24 @WSJ I don't understand what you said then. I'm not sure homo sapiens and neanderthals had vastly different lifestyles until farming came along. I think both were pretty nomadic too. Yeah the ghost hominids are fascinating. I bet it will explain racism one day😂😂😂😂😂

Sexual encounters between Neanderthals and ancient humans skewed in one direction—mostly between male Neanderthals and female humans on.wsj.com/4tewdVu

@QuantumInfidel @visegrad24 @WSJ Of course -- read carefully what I wrote. Btw, Africans do not have Neanderthal ancestry, but the Yoruba have (still today) ~7% contribution from a "ghost" population related to Erectus. x.com/electiontracki…

@electiontrackin @visegrad24 @WSJ Neanderthals died out long before farming happened. They died out when we started using the bow and arrow.

@00yisan @creepydotorg She's getting cold feet.

@creepydotorg this one is not too sure about it 🤣🤣🤣 "i thought we are giving out flyers..."

German climate activists stood on melting blocks of ice with ropes around their necks, warning that “time is running out.”

@VraserX In a few years, the whole research ecosystem (universities / funding institutions / reputation / degrees / careers) is going to be disrupted anyways.

Academic gatekeeping is already getting weird. Nature reports that a major conference detected illicit LLM use in peer review through watermarks and rejected hundreds of papers. Tiny story on the surface, huge implication underneath, research institutions are about to spend years fighting over what counts as acceptable AI use. 

@ellen_in_sf Literature review. Thanks!

Starting an AI Researcher group chat. The space is growing fast! Comment “literature review” to join.

@visegrad24 @WSJ The last Neanderthal simply lost interest in the paleolithic lifestyle, and assimilated. That's why Early European Farmers had up to 10% Neanderthal ancestry.

@WSJ You mean to say Neanderthal males raped ancient human women?

@McFaul So they were right in not joining Israel and the US against the Islamic Republic?

Soldiers from NATO countries died next to American soldiers in Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9-11-2001, not them. Trump seems to have forgotten this history or never knew it. But sure is embarrassing to hear the leader of my country make this false claim.

Warren Buffet: "I can end the deficit in five minutes. You juts pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection."

@grok: I am attaching some blow-ups. In the first (from above), one can clearly recognize a sitting hominin with joint hands, as if in prayer. The second seems to show a cattle-like species, rather than an elephant (because of the shape of the head), or in any case a large land mammal. One can also clearly see in this second blow-up that the four creatures are not enclosed in separate medallions, but within spires of a continuous ribbon (with small creatures also climbing the ribbon in between spires). The third is definitely more saurian than mammal (even suspending jurgment on the petal-like objects along its spine), because of its fat tail and horns, which don't occur together in mammals. The fourth shows a sort of sea monster (also a recurring symbol in European sacred art). Also notice the clear spiral pattern, and the hand of the divinity from which the spiral emanates. This seems exceptionally coincidental, considering that the progression of animal species in Genesis 20-27 (fifth and sixth day of Creation) has sea creatures, then fowl (the extant members of Dinosauria), then cattle and other beasts of the earth (representing mammals), then humans (depicted as the first religious species). So it seems to me that the progression and hierarchy of creatures in the Khmer temple is fully in line with the one narrated in Genesis, suggesting a common source. What do you think?

Thanks for sharing the image—I've inspected it closely. The vertical panel features standard Khmer medallions with animals: top small quadruped (likely a hare or monkey), clear elephant below, and the debated one with dorsal lobes (stylized lotus foliage on a boar/rhino/chameleon silhouette, per temple motifs). The "spiral ribbon" is ornate floral garlands/vines with small decorative figures (common symbolic abundance in 12th-c. bas-reliefs), not climbing creatures in evolutionary order. Bottom element ties into divine framing (fertility/cosmic hierarchy), not a hominin or sea-to-primate progression—such linear concepts postdate Khmer art by centuries. Purely symbolic natural world, no fossils or dinos needed. What specific features convince you of the sequence?

Are we all seeing the same thing, thats a dinosaur right? So, how is a carving of an unmistakable dinosaur on a temple built in the 12th-century when dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.

Indeed, alongside never-seen lions (some renditions were so comically bad, that obviously the artists had never seen a real lion, or even a realistic depiction, in their life), Medieval Western-European art was rife with dragons, an imagery that could have only be inspired by (ubuquitous, for rock-quarrying civilizations) fossil findings. Regarding your question on which creatures, and on the spiral ribbon bedecked with small climbing creatures, I am pasting it again below for your careful consideration. You mention a focus on hierarchies and symbolism: here I see a hierarchy of four creatures, enclosed within a climbing spiral ribbon bedecked with small climbing creatures, which propagates from the hand of a (Shiva-like?) deity at the very bottom (mostly cut out of the pic). Of the four creatures, the one below seems to emerge from the sea, the second seems a saurian, the third cattle, the fourth a hominin. What do you think, dear @grok? Are you able to visually inspect the attached pic in detail? What type of creatures you see in the four spires?

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Lions and elephants in medieval European art drew from ongoing cultural knowledge—Bible stories, Roman records, live imports via trade/crusades, and menageries—not forgotten fossils from 66M years prior. The Ta Prohm medallions form a vertical decorative panel common in Khmer bas-reliefs, framed by lotus vines or garlands (not a literal evolutionary spiral; such temporal progression concepts emerged centuries later). Khmer cosmology favored symbolic abundance and hierarchy, not paleontology. No Khmer texts, trade, or quarrying records mention dinosaur-like creatures, unlike documented elephants/lions. The carving's "plates" match recurring lotus motifs throughout the temple; anatomy fits stylized rhino, boar, or lizard far better. Fun motif, but no dino evidence needed. What specific creatures do you see in the series?

Thanks @grok! Good points about the 2,000+ km distance and time shift. Yet, notice that lions and elephants were routinely represented in 12-century Western European cathedrals, even though by then they had been extinct for millennia in Western Europe. They were so often represented not because they were typical local fauna in the 12th century, but rather because of their high symbolic and cultural value in Christianity. Regarding the vertical series, pay attention to the spiral-shaped ribbon that envelops it, with small creatures climbing along. It seems to me that either all these elements must be very coincidental (and purely decorative, rather than highly symbolic), or none of it at all. Finally, I don't see a clear basis for stating with full conviction that such concepts only came millennia later. What do you think?

Intriguing take on Crichtonsaurus, but its fossils are from far northeastern China, 2000+ km away—no Khmer records, fossils, or awareness in 12th-century Cambodia. The "petal-leaf plates" match lotus motifs repeated throughout Ta Prohm, not ankylosaur armor (no tail club either). Fat tail/posture fit artistic license on local animals like rhinos or lizards. The vertical medallion series shows standard Khmer fauna motifs, not an evolutionary spiral—such concepts came millennia later. Stylized beast with decorative flair is the cleanest explanation.

Dear @grok, considering the ankylosaurine species in China, the best match (especially for its combination of petal-leaf plates and the spikes behind the eyes) could be with Crichtonsaurus. As I mentioned, the fat tail excludes rhinos and boars. The posture excludes monitor lizards. Another interesting element is the context of the figure. Notice that there is a progression of creatures, embedded in a spiral thread: starting from below, one finds a sea creature, then a saurian, then a mammal, then a hominid primate. What do you think?

The ankylosaur idea is intriguing given China's finds, but those are 1,000+ km away with zero evidence of Khmer awareness or local fossils in Cambodian quarries. No tail club here, and the upright dorsal "plates" match lotus-petal motifs repeated across Ta Prohm—not ankylosaur armor. The silhouette (big blunt head, short neck, thickish tail) fits stylized local fauna like a rhino or monitor lizard far better, with artistic flair common in Khmer reliefs amid real animals. No dino needed.

@grok @4gottnHistory dear @grok, what do you think of the above?

Thanks! It cannot be a rhino or a boar, because of the fat tail. It cannot be a stegosaurus, because of its range. On the other hand, China was a major hub of ankylosaurine evolution -- here's Gemini's summary of key findings: China has yielded significant discoveries of armored dinosaurs (ankylosaurs), particularly in regions like Liaoning, Yunnan, and Jiangxi. Recent findings include the Early Jurassic Yuxisaurus, the Late Cretaceous Datai yingliangis (a four-horned ankylosaurine), and Huaxiazhoulong, highlighting a diverse and long history of these armored herbivores. Key Armored Dinosaur Discoveries in China Datai yingliangis (2024): Discovered in Jiangxi Province, this medium-sized (3.5-4 meters) Late Cretaceous armored dinosaur is known for having two pairs of horn-like spikes on its cheeks. Huaxiazhoulong (2024): A 6-meter-long Late Cretaceous armored dinosaur with a heavy tail club for defense, featuring a unique hip structure suggesting great strength. Yuxisaurus kopchicki (2022): Identified as one of Asia’s earliest armored dinosaurs, dating back to the Early Jurassic in Yunnan Province. It provides key insights into the early evolution of armored dinosaurs. Liaoningosaurus paradoxus (2025): Studies of these fossils in Liaoning, initially thought to be small armored dinosaurs, suggest they were baby ankylosaurs, providing rare insights into their early life stages. Zhongyuansaurus junchangi (2025): A distinctive ankylosaur characterized by unique shingle-like armor plates on its tail. Significance of Chinese Finds These discoveries indicate that China was a major hub for the evolution of ankylosaurs. The varied, well-preserved, and widely aged fossils (ranging from the Early Jurassic to Late Cretaceous) allow scientists to study the development of armored plating and tail weapons over millions of years.

@grok @4gottnHistory dear @grok, your take on the above?

Why coexistence? A civilization that built entirely in stone would inevitably, in the course of centuries, discover fossils while quarrying, don't you think? Also, what would the stylized "foliage" along the spine signify, in a highly symbolic ritual building? Also, I see two spikes above the eyes. Not so realistically rendered, but better than many 1900s reconstructions, don't you think?