LLM product placement and search optimization is here and it's as dystopian as you expected.

Hand holding a copy of "A Drive to Survive: The Free Energy Principle and the Meaning of Life" by Kathryn Nave. The cover is blue with orange text and features a geometric design at the center.

“A game-changer for cognitive science." — @evanthompson.bsky.social‬

In "A Drive to Survive," @kathrynnave.bsky.social‬ offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of the free energy principle. Available #openaccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255132...

I talked about this with @kathrynnave.bsky.social at @divintelligence.bsky.social last year, and it was one of the most fascinating topics I've heard about in 2024!

Uncertainty, bias and the institution bootstrapping problem Institutions play a critical role in enabling communities to manage common-pool resources and avert tragedies of the commons. However, a fundamental issue arises: Individuals typically perceive partic...

Special thanks to Christopher Santos-Lang and Van Parunak for their feedback.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2504.21579

Workshop: coin-workshop.github.io/coine-2025-d... (13/13)

Thanks to my co-authors @christophsalge.bsky.social and @petelewis.bsky.social, the COINE organisers, and everyone who engaged with our work. (12/13)

We also derive insights for 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻:

1. Perfect information isn’t always best for cooperation
2. Different kinds of noise affect outcomes differently, so designers should model them carefully (11/13)

We show that these “flaws” create cognitive conditions where institutions can bootstrap into existence. What looks irrational for the individual may be beneficial for the group, and ultimately, for the individual (groups are often more successful than individuals (10/13)

-𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Small probabilities are overestimated.
-𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗶𝘁𝘆 (𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲): Individuals perceive the world differently due to noise, bias, and unique experiences. (9/13)

This brings us to the role of 𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 and 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺, long viewed as flaws, but which might actually help institutions form.

We investigate:
-𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Individuals perceive losses as larger than wins. (8/13)

Standard game theory assumes agents have perfect information, e.g. exact knowledge of current participation.

But what if agents misperceive an institution as already existing? (7/13)

We explore this paradox using an 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹: Benefits of joining and penalties of not joining grow as more people join. However, unless a threshold is reached, no one wants to join - even when it’s beneficial overall. (6/13)

However, a fundamental issue arises: individuals typically perceive participation as advantageous only after an institution is established, creating a paradox—how can institutions form if no one will join before a critical mass exists? (5/13)

We introduce the institution bootstrapping problem: Prior research suggests institutions emerge when universal participation yields greater collective benefits than non-cooperation. (4/13)

Institutions help communities manage common-pool resources and regulate individual greed, e.g. a village organises irrigation use and enforces rules collectively. (3/13)

We recently presented our paper: “Uncertainty, Bias and the Institution Bootstrapping Problem” at the International Workshop on Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, Norms and Ethics for Governance of Multi-Agent Systems (COINE) @ AAMAS 2025. (2/13)

B𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀!

A thread... (1/13)

Craig Reynolds (left) having just received the 2025 IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award from Yevgeniy Vorobeychik at AAMAS 2025 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, on May 22, 2025.

I enjoyed being invited to attend AAMAS last week in Detroit to receive the 2025 IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award for my 1987 SIGGRAPH paper “Flocks, Herds and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model.”

aamas2025.org/index.php/co...

#autonomous #agents #multiagent #boids #flocks

New postdoc positions at the (DISI-affiliated) Center for Possible Minds at Indiana University.

Looking for scholars interested in interdisciplinary research on the nature of biological, artificial, and collective intelligence.

Please share widely!

indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/29547

Article alleging to tell people how to respond when science is under existential threat that costs $29.99 to read.

How NOT to respond when science is under existential threat

"This book could not have been written without support from the inhabitant of a large basement that lies just beneath where the M4 motorway passes between Wokingham and Reading..."

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255132...

Can’t recommend enough, great experience. Especially if you want to meet collaborators outside of the fields you interact with.

📣📣📣

Applications for the 2025 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!!

Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply!

More info: disi.org

David Lynch: Where do ideas come from? YouTube video by BAMorg

"Keep your eyes on the donut, not the hole"
RIP David Lynch
This interview of his is etched into my brain: Where do ideas come from?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxr-...

I keep seeing TikToks where students show off this AI program that records audio from a lecturer and turns it into notes while the student just plays a videogame in class.
With this, AI summaries of readings, and ChatGPT writing, we are basically just teaching AI students now.

The Trustworthy AI Lab at Ontario Tech enjoyed a lunchtime winter walk, after our lab meeting today! ❄️

Paranoid and teleological thinking give rise to distinct social hallucinations in vision - Communications Psychology When asked to judge if a chase was present in a visual display of moving discs, people with higher paranoia and teleological thinking were more likely to perceive a chase in its absence. They were als...

Out today: we discovered a new class of social hallucination - perception of chasing with high confidence. It is elevated in people who are paranoid and people who perceive meaning in the universe www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Followers count going up, time to share this again: go.bsky.app/LgoJN2N

If you work in artificial life (in your day-to-day job or as your secret nighttime mission) and you're not on the list already, reply and I'll add you!

Share this with your contacts and tell me who else should be on it. #ALife

“What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore). Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street … you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.” The Grays’ shirts would feature “Bitcoin or Elon or other kinds of logos … Y Combinator is a good one for the city of San Francisco in particular.” Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly “policeman’s banquets” to win t

There's losing your mind and then there's this.

newrepublic.com/article/1804...

Thursday at 2pm UK time we will be discussing the BBS call re: Our Roots Run Deep: Historical Myths as Culturally Evolved Technologies for Coalitional Recruitment (Sijilmassi, Safra, & Baumard).

All welcome. Link to discord: discord.gg/KX832Qnwdy

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...