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Intelligence is everywhere. Now what? Natural intelligence in the age of the artificial.
Slides from a talk I gave last month to a team of researchers and engineers building oscillatory neural networks and analog computers. The argument: nature computes everywhere, oscillation is one of its core primitives, and the real frontier is not bigger datacenters but using AI to work with natural intelligence. Plus how a small team could get there with agentic science, and whether invention itself can scale.
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From resonance to chaos by modulating spatiotemporal patterns through a synthetic optogenetic oscillator
Oscillations are a recurrent phenomenon in biological systems across scales, but deciphering their fundamental principles is very challenging. Here, we tackle this challenge by redesigning the wellcharacterised synthetic oscillator known as “repressilator” in Escherichia coli and controlling it using optogenetics, creating the “optoscillator”. Bacterial colonies manifest oscillations as spatial ring patterns. When we apply periodic light pulses, the optoscillator behaves as a forced oscillator and we systematically investigate the properties of the rings under various light conditions. Combining experiments with mathematical modeling, we demonstrate that this simple oscillatory circuit can generate complex dynamics that are transformed into distinct spatial patterns. We report the observation of synchronisation, resonance, subharmonic resonance and period doubling. Furthermore, we present evidence of a chaotic regime. This work highlights the intricate spatiotemporal patterns accessible by synthetic oscillators and underscores the potential of our approach in revealing fundamental principles of biological oscillations.
#Comment: I am dreaming of growing my oscillatory computer in a petri dish one day...
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The Mathematics of Power
“We urge mathematicians to discontinue their work with OpenAI and to return to a vision of science that centers human understanding.” - AHM Statement on OpenAI’s October 6 Release of Mathematical Documents
"We urge mathematicians to discontinue the illusion that their talents aren't aligned with the highest bidder in the geopolitical arena, recognizing that modern science is driven entirely by wealth accumulation and global dominance rather than abstract ideals." - Samim's Real Politics of Science Statement
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Codebases are starting to look like optimized topology 3d prints
Codebases are starting to look like optimized topology 3d prints. When AI is better at math than humans it also becomes better at algorithm & codebase design. At that point the system and delivering quality software doesn’t require human understanding to exist in the actual code layer.
Only needs to be understood by humans at the high level of passing testing, verification, vibe checks and being understandable when queried via AI in the rare case one need to dive deeper.
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Hungersteine is visible again
Hungersteine are becoming visible. Large stones, their name "Hunger Stones" linked to the risk of famine during droughts, and often inscribed with dates or other markings commemorating periods of low water. They remain hidden for decades.
But water levels in Europe’s biggest rivers are falling towards record lows, including the Rhine, Europe’s busiest inland waterway, and this Hunger Stone, with the dates 1892 and 2003, is a natural rock water level marker near 15th century Leckwitz on the Elbe river, in Saxony eastern Germany.
While a town along the Elbe in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, has a stone carved with:
Geht dieser Stein unter, wird das Leben wieder bunter.
If this stone goes under, life will become more colourful again.
Photo credit: Hungersteine bei Leckwitz, Murkel267, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Pay attention, today is a wonderful day! May you be blessed with that rare, beautiful feeling of being totally inspired yet deeply at ease - as if you just know profoundly good news is on its way.
