Jessica Flack
@c4computation.bsky.social
Professor | Collective Computation | Emergence | Complex Systems | BabelBlog: jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog | https://substack.com/@jessicaflack/notes
Is it important to know how long humans can live and how much ’natural’ lifespan variability there is across the 8B humans on earth. If so, why?
October 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Is it important to know how long humans can live and how much ’natural’ lifespan variability there is across the 8B humans on earth. If so, why?
Love this (No) Limits story about Natalie Grabow who has continued to learn new sports over the course of her life and at the age of eighty completed the Kona Ironman. Amazing mentality, amazing role model.
Image: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images for Ironman via The Athletic / New York Times.
Image: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images for Ironman via The Athletic / New York Times.
October 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Love this (No) Limits story about Natalie Grabow who has continued to learn new sports over the course of her life and at the age of eighty completed the Kona Ironman. Amazing mentality, amazing role model.
Image: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images for Ironman via The Athletic / New York Times.
Image: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images for Ironman via The Athletic / New York Times.
Ah, no, neither Modi and the Indians nor anyone else has the right to surveil me in my home and watch me in my bathroom.
(Since when do US diplomats get to use American women in their bathrooms as bait or tools of appeasement.)
(Since when do US diplomats get to use American women in their bathrooms as bait or tools of appeasement.)
October 16, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Ah, no, neither Modi and the Indians nor anyone else has the right to surveil me in my home and watch me in my bathroom.
(Since when do US diplomats get to use American women in their bathrooms as bait or tools of appeasement.)
(Since when do US diplomats get to use American women in their bathrooms as bait or tools of appeasement.)
For more on emergence and computation in nature, please visit my website. Unfortunately my research website, Bluesky and x accounts, and substack continue to be censored and edited by a third party without permission so I cannot vouch for their content at this time.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
October 12, 2025 at 2:33 AM
For more on emergence and computation in nature, please visit my website. Unfortunately my research website, Bluesky and x accounts, and substack continue to be censored and edited by a third party without permission so I cannot vouch for their content at this time.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Reposted by Jessica Flack
If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, a film that helps clear the fog off the mirror is The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
The Lives of Others | Official Trailer (2006)
youtu.be/n3_iLOp6IhM?...
And in case you’d like to know my take.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
The Lives of Others | Official Trailer (2006)
youtu.be/n3_iLOp6IhM?...
And in case you’d like to know my take.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
The Lives of Others | Official Trailer (2006)
YouTube video by Sony Pictures Classics
youtu.be
October 12, 2025 at 2:19 AM
If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, a film that helps clear the fog off the mirror is The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
The Lives of Others | Official Trailer (2006)
youtu.be/n3_iLOp6IhM?...
And in case you’d like to know my take.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
The Lives of Others | Official Trailer (2006)
youtu.be/n3_iLOp6IhM?...
And in case you’d like to know my take.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
Reposted by Jessica Flack
The long term solution to protection against privacy + other civil liberties violations can't be $200M ranches w 6 ft walls + security forces. It has to be rooted in intrusion detection tech, social norms, enforced laws, + default private infrastructure + building materials.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
July 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM
The long term solution to protection against privacy + other civil liberties violations can't be $200M ranches w 6 ft walls + security forces. It has to be rooted in intrusion detection tech, social norms, enforced laws, + default private infrastructure + building materials.
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
x.com/C4COMPUTATIO...
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Through hourglass emergence, complexity begets complexity...is one of my favorite sayings.
A cell is a blob of cytoplasm with a few organelles floating about—or so the textbooks teach and you probably learned in school. More on Babel Blog at jessicaflack.wordpress.com
John Wheeler by R.P. Matthews
A cell is a blob of cytoplasm with a few organelles floating about—or so the textbooks teach and you probably learned in school. More on Babel Blog at jessicaflack.wordpress.com
John Wheeler by R.P. Matthews
June 3, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Through hourglass emergence, complexity begets complexity...is one of my favorite sayings.
A cell is a blob of cytoplasm with a few organelles floating about—or so the textbooks teach and you probably learned in school. More on Babel Blog at jessicaflack.wordpress.com
John Wheeler by R.P. Matthews
A cell is a blob of cytoplasm with a few organelles floating about—or so the textbooks teach and you probably learned in school. More on Babel Blog at jessicaflack.wordpress.com
John Wheeler by R.P. Matthews
Reposted by Jessica Flack
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
July 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Juxtaposed they remind us to have humility, that what matters is how we treat each other, and that our lives must be lived on many scales at once—to cast our vision near and far.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
Image: composite made by JCF—info on website.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
Image: composite made by JCF—info on website.
July 8, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Juxtaposed they remind us to have humility, that what matters is how we treat each other, and that our lives must be lived on many scales at once—to cast our vision near and far.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
Image: composite made by JCF—info on website.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
Image: composite made by JCF—info on website.
Wondering what your view is @govmlg.bsky.social on a person‘s right to privacy in his or her home, and especially when it involves multi-year high resolution video surveillance her bedroom and bathroom, not to mention a civilian committee of discussants.
October 12, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Wondering what your view is @govmlg.bsky.social on a person‘s right to privacy in his or her home, and especially when it involves multi-year high resolution video surveillance her bedroom and bathroom, not to mention a civilian committee of discussants.
A dewy Verbascum thapsus spotted on the Picacho peak trails this afternoon.
October 11, 2025 at 2:51 AM
A dewy Verbascum thapsus spotted on the Picacho peak trails this afternoon.
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for winning the 2025 @nobelprize.bsky.social
for their work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantisation in circuits.
Preliminary thoughts are up at my blog.
jessicacflack.wordpress.com
for their work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantisation in circuits.
Preliminary thoughts are up at my blog.
jessicacflack.wordpress.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for winning the 2025 @nobelprize.bsky.social
for their work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantisation in circuits.
Preliminary thoughts are up at my blog.
jessicacflack.wordpress.com
for their work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantisation in circuits.
Preliminary thoughts are up at my blog.
jessicacflack.wordpress.com
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Dream Dust
By Langston Hughes
Gather out of star-dust
Earth-dust,
Cloud-dust,
And splinters of hail,
One handful of dream-dust
Not for sale.
From The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (2002) via @PoetryFound.
Photo credit—TBD—please share if you know.
By Langston Hughes
Gather out of star-dust
Earth-dust,
Cloud-dust,
And splinters of hail,
One handful of dream-dust
Not for sale.
From The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (2002) via @PoetryFound.
Photo credit—TBD—please share if you know.
May 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Dream Dust
By Langston Hughes
Gather out of star-dust
Earth-dust,
Cloud-dust,
And splinters of hail,
One handful of dream-dust
Not for sale.
From The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (2002) via @PoetryFound.
Photo credit—TBD—please share if you know.
By Langston Hughes
Gather out of star-dust
Earth-dust,
Cloud-dust,
And splinters of hail,
One handful of dream-dust
Not for sale.
From The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (2002) via @PoetryFound.
Photo credit—TBD—please share if you know.
Reposted by Jessica Flack
...negative liberties naturally and profoundly incentivizes behavior that contributes to the social good while protecting individual rights.
More at Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog (scroll down).
Image: Composite made by JCF. See website for information.
More at Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog (scroll down).
Image: Composite made by JCF. See website for information.
July 18, 2025 at 10:13 AM
...negative liberties naturally and profoundly incentivizes behavior that contributes to the social good while protecting individual rights.
More at Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog (scroll down).
Image: Composite made by JCF. See website for information.
More at Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog (scroll down).
Image: Composite made by JCF. See website for information.
Reposted by Jessica Flack
The beauty and power of negative liberties lies in how freedom is defined—the 'allowed behavior' is the behavior that remains after all behavior that hurts or impinges on the rights of others is 'disallowed'.
With the lightest touch,
With the lightest touch,
July 18, 2025 at 10:09 AM
The beauty and power of negative liberties lies in how freedom is defined—the 'allowed behavior' is the behavior that remains after all behavior that hurts or impinges on the rights of others is 'disallowed'.
With the lightest touch,
With the lightest touch,
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Perspective on rights that emphasize individual liberties are sometimes equated with selfishness or described as anti-social. It is precisely the opposite for the concept of negative liberties. Continued...
Image credit: Isaiah Berlin by Steve Pyke, National Portrait Gallery
Image credit: Isaiah Berlin by Steve Pyke, National Portrait Gallery
July 18, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Perspective on rights that emphasize individual liberties are sometimes equated with selfishness or described as anti-social. It is precisely the opposite for the concept of negative liberties. Continued...
Image credit: Isaiah Berlin by Steve Pyke, National Portrait Gallery
Image credit: Isaiah Berlin by Steve Pyke, National Portrait Gallery
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Isaiah Berlin—proponent of negative liberties as a remakably effective + broadly useful yet relatively simple (compressed) guiding moral principle—on the perilousness of ideological certainty. From an essay @nybooks
by Henry Hardy.
nybooks.com/articles/200...
by Henry Hardy.
nybooks.com/articles/200...
March 31, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Isaiah Berlin—proponent of negative liberties as a remakably effective + broadly useful yet relatively simple (compressed) guiding moral principle—on the perilousness of ideological certainty. From an essay @nybooks
by Henry Hardy.
nybooks.com/articles/200...
by Henry Hardy.
nybooks.com/articles/200...
Happy Public Lands Day!
September 28, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Happy Public Lands Day!
Tomás Sánchez is a Cuban painter. His works are often in my mind. This painting, I believe, is from his 1948 “Enchanting Forrests” series.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
August 30, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Tomás Sánchez is a Cuban painter. His works are often in my mind. This painting, I believe, is from his 1948 “Enchanting Forrests” series.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Intellectual opportunities or recognition that comes with personal choice or other tethers, or which is backed by institutions that discriminate based on political views, are not merit-based + are neither interesting, or worthy of time or attention.
Palette cleanser:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14...
Palette cleanser:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14...
Rostropovich records the Prelude from Bach Cello Suite No.1 BWV 1007
YouTube video by Warner Classics
m.youtube.com
August 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Intellectual opportunities or recognition that comes with personal choice or other tethers, or which is backed by institutions that discriminate based on political views, are not merit-based + are neither interesting, or worthy of time or attention.
Palette cleanser:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14...
Palette cleanser:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14...
Reposted by Jessica Flack
For science related issues, I can be reached at the email on my website. In addition, I post often abt my work, and that of others, on Babel Blog.
The latest post is on Borges, Oulipo + the impoverishing power of being able to see everything everywhere all at once.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
The latest post is on Borges, Oulipo + the impoverishing power of being able to see everything everywhere all at once.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
August 19, 2025 at 12:26 PM
For science related issues, I can be reached at the email on my website. In addition, I post often abt my work, and that of others, on Babel Blog.
The latest post is on Borges, Oulipo + the impoverishing power of being able to see everything everywhere all at once.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
The latest post is on Borges, Oulipo + the impoverishing power of being able to see everything everywhere all at once.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
Reposted by Jessica Flack
After ~23 years at the Institute—as grad student, postdoc, + professor—I’ve elected not to pursue renewal of my faculty contract. My last day was August 1st.
There are fundamental science advances on the horizon. . .more @ Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Image: Turrell Blue Day. JCF
There are fundamental science advances on the horizon. . .more @ Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Image: Turrell Blue Day. JCF
August 19, 2025 at 12:21 PM
After ~23 years at the Institute—as grad student, postdoc, + professor—I’ve elected not to pursue renewal of my faculty contract. My last day was August 1st.
There are fundamental science advances on the horizon. . .more @ Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Image: Turrell Blue Day. JCF
There are fundamental science advances on the horizon. . .more @ Babel Blog.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com/blog
Image: Turrell Blue Day. JCF
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Interested in emergence + computation in nature? Please visit the Bio, Research, Pubs, and Babel Blog pages of my website.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
My foci tend to be on collective phenomena at the intersection of bio, cognitive neuroscience, consciousness, CS, information theory, + physics.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
My foci tend to be on collective phenomena at the intersection of bio, cognitive neuroscience, consciousness, CS, information theory, + physics.
Self-portrait in negative space—I don’t work in statistical mechanics, particle physics, cosmology, information theory, theoretical computer science, quantum mechanics, or really even in biology, ethology, evolutionary theory, or cognitive science. Rather, I work...more at jessicaflack.wordpress.com
July 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Interested in emergence + computation in nature? Please visit the Bio, Research, Pubs, and Babel Blog pages of my website.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
My foci tend to be on collective phenomena at the intersection of bio, cognitive neuroscience, consciousness, CS, information theory, + physics.
jessicaflack.wordpress.com
My foci tend to be on collective phenomena at the intersection of bio, cognitive neuroscience, consciousness, CS, information theory, + physics.
Two versions of Danny Boy for this Sunday afternoon.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJ3...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PweU...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJ3...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PweU...
Danny Boy - Sinéad O'Connor, 1993
YouTube video by CR's Video Vaults
m.youtube.com
August 17, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Two versions of Danny Boy for this Sunday afternoon.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJ3...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PweU...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJ3...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PweU...
Reposted by Jessica Flack
Two of Wright’s Haiku:
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
April 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Two of Wright’s Haiku:
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
That frozen star there,
Or this one on the water,—
Which is more distant?
Keep straight down this block,
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming