Announcing: new terminology to think about intelligent agents and an invitation to our Phi/AI retreat for people wanting to engage the AI transformation on a deeper level. My latest piece is the first of two or three part series, getting into the technical details how both LLMs and brains depend on randomness, and how that might help us understand how agency and causation work in our reality. I'm introducing the concepts of predictor and picker – high-level architectural features that intelligent agents seem to converge on – and especially for people thinking conceptually about agentic AI this might be an interesting novel viewpoint. (I'm being mysterious on purpose, as the aim of our collective is to get you to stop scrolling and read/listen to the whole piece, training yourself with some more nutritious brain food instead of the never-ending all-you-can-eat stream of fastfood.) Take it as a small teaser of the deep takes we explore with fellow authors in Phi/AI, and what you now have the opportunity to be part of by joining us on our retreat, at a beautiful Chateau Hostačov in Czechia – hosted on 13-15th November as part of the autumn season of events there. Secure your spot early if you want to come, this will be a cozy, in-depth event with limited spaces. More details in the links below.

Want to keep up with AI but sick of the constant screen tirade? Last two days to order our printed anthology with the best of Phi / AI (including two pieces by yours truly) before it's sent off to print. These are all high-effort articles (for mine, easily 60h+/piece...) If, like us, you think the world could use more independent, thoughtful, long-form media – please support us! Thanks 🙏 (link below)

it would be a moment of complete presence beyond the striving beyond mere acceptance beyond the desire to escape, or fix anything, or plunge ahead a moment of pure seeing, pure feeling a moment in which life simply is and that isness grabs you by all your senses, all your memories, by all your very genes, by your loves, and welcomes you home. (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

Yesterday, I turned 30. Today, I'm announcing the riskiest career choice of my life. We're launching Entropic Science – a research community dedicated to a brand-new scientific field at the intersection of AI, quantum mechanics, artificial life and consciousness research. For TL;DR, the podcast below explains everything (and every click helps!). Years of study. My own independent research. Degree from world's top-10 uni. Co-founding a VC-backed startup working on the cutting-edge of scientific discovery. My rocket career start in psychedelic medicinal chemistry had it all. Why the hell did I leave all of that? Because I've seen that science itself is building on false foundations. And when your assumptions and core operating principles are flawed, even if your intentions are genuinely good, you may actually be causing great harm – only realizing when it's already too late. I've seen this most strongly in our AI development. We were building systems capable of pursuing more and more complex goals, without actually understanding what allows us to set, refine and abandon our own goals – our consciousness. In psychedelic therapy, everyone knows one's state of consciousness is a critical determinant of the outcome – we call it "mindset". But actually, this holds for therapeutic interventions generally – we call it "placebo". But wait, it also holds for any scientific experiment – we call it "expectation bias"... Eventually, you find it affects everything – and that spiritual teachings were trying to tell us just that, for thousands of years. And so I listened. And my own consciousness made me realize what is the No#1 priority in the world: understanding more about consciousness before we make superintelligent autonomous AI. That part is pretty straightforward. The harder part is how to do it. And that's where quantum entropy comes in. It's the mysterious phenomenon that enabled our life to evolve the intelligence, agency and conscious awareness we have. We don't understand why or how, but we're building more intelligent entities without it. I've realized that's the crucial mistake we're making. The one that makes you abandon your entire career. Learn more and help us fix it, below 👇 each click, comment and share helps us!

I care about AI because it's the next thing that can determine the value of things. Up until 21st century it was almost exclusively us humans deciding what matters, what to give our time and attention to, what to live for. 🧵⬇️