David Pfau
@davidpfau.com
So far I have not found the science, but the numbers keep on circling me.
Views my own, unfortunately.
Views my own, unfortunately.
Excited to share our latest preprint, on using deep learning to extract the weird fractional quantum statistics of 2D topological materials: arxiv.org/abs/2512.15872
Extracting Anyon Statistics from Neural Network Fractional Quantum Hall States
Fractional quantum Hall states host emergent anyons with exotic exchange statistics, but obtaining direct access to their topological properties in real systems remains a challenge. Neural-network wav...
arxiv.org
December 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Excited to share our latest preprint, on using deep learning to extract the weird fractional quantum statistics of 2D topological materials: arxiv.org/abs/2512.15872
Not sure why they bother asking for my age on this app, everyone knows everyone on Bluesky is exactly 39.
December 9, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Not sure why they bother asking for my age on this app, everyone knows everyone on Bluesky is exactly 39.
The first recorded case of COVID-19 was on November 30, 2019.
ChatGPT launched to the public on November 30, 2022.
What new horror was unleashed on the world yesterday?
ChatGPT launched to the public on November 30, 2022.
What new horror was unleashed on the world yesterday?
December 1, 2025 at 11:23 PM
The first recorded case of COVID-19 was on November 30, 2019.
ChatGPT launched to the public on November 30, 2022.
What new horror was unleashed on the world yesterday?
ChatGPT launched to the public on November 30, 2022.
What new horror was unleashed on the world yesterday?
I'm a bit surprised that in the era of conversational LLMs, there hasn't been a revival of interest in the art world in Cohen, Frank and Ippolito's "Argument Drawings" www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/2/ric...
Utterance Is Place Enough | Frances Richard
Mapping conversation
www.cabinetmagazine.org
November 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I'm a bit surprised that in the era of conversational LLMs, there hasn't been a revival of interest in the art world in Cohen, Frank and Ippolito's "Argument Drawings" www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/2/ric...
New (sort of) preprint on arXiv today: a generalized bias-variance decomposition for Bregman divergences! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08789
A Generalized Bias-Variance Decomposition for Bregman Divergences
The bias-variance decomposition is a central result in statistics and machine learning, but is typically presented only for the squared error. We present a generalization of the bias-variance decompos...
arxiv.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
New (sort of) preprint on arXiv today: a generalized bias-variance decomposition for Bregman divergences! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08789
Trump's approval rating is now roughly comparable to what it was in mid-2020, at the height of COVID unemployment and George Floyd protests.
November 13, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Trump's approval rating is now roughly comparable to what it was in mid-2020, at the height of COVID unemployment and George Floyd protests.
I think that we should all strive to live our lives in such a way that, when we die, our greatest accomplishments are not overshadowed by constant bickering about exactly how racist or sexist we were.
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I think that we should all strive to live our lives in such a way that, when we die, our greatest accomplishments are not overshadowed by constant bickering about exactly how racist or sexist we were.
I think every one of my ML colleagues from a decade ago who stayed in academia and avoided the AGI/LLM race is now doing "AI for science". Really feels like those are the only two options left.
November 7, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I think every one of my ML colleagues from a decade ago who stayed in academia and avoided the AGI/LLM race is now doing "AI for science". Really feels like those are the only two options left.
I feel like these Catholic converts who think they can argue with the Pope just did not do their research. If they want a religion where they can argue nonstop with everyone, up to and including God, they would obviously be better served by converting to Judaism.
November 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I feel like these Catholic converts who think they can argue with the Pope just did not do their research. If they want a religion where they can argue nonstop with everyone, up to and including God, they would obviously be better served by converting to Judaism.
Just checked on ClearSky and I'm not on a single blocklist and now I'm worried that I'm not influential enough.
November 2, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Just checked on ClearSky and I'm not on a single blocklist and now I'm worried that I'm not influential enough.
Joel is on a mission to get the EA/rationalist set to embrace Rortyian pragmatism. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.
[1/9] Excited to share our new paper "A Pragmatic View of AI Personhood" published today. We feel this topic is timely, and rapidly growing in importance as AI becomes agentic, as AI agents integrate further into the economy, and as more and more users encounter AI.
November 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Joel is on a mission to get the EA/rationalist set to embrace Rortyian pragmatism. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.
If things become so polarized that anything "AI", no matter how broadly construed, becomes knee-jerk associated with the Trumpian right wing, I should probably just kms. www.axios.com/2025/10/31/m...
Behind the Curtain: Anti-AI socialism could be Democrats' future
This climate is ripe for an anti-AI socialist to emerge as a counter to Trump.
www.axios.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
If things become so polarized that anything "AI", no matter how broadly construed, becomes knee-jerk associated with the Trumpian right wing, I should probably just kms. www.axios.com/2025/10/31/m...
I can't believe how fast they went from "removing this cookie-cutter statue is erasing history" to "well, the East Wing was kind of shabby anyway".
October 23, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I can't believe how fast they went from "removing this cookie-cutter statue is erasing history" to "well, the East Wing was kind of shabby anyway".
Even the Jacobins didn't tear down Versailles. They sold off the furniture and let it fall into disrepair, but they didn't just knock down a whole wing.
October 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Even the Jacobins didn't tear down Versailles. They sold off the furniture and let it fall into disrepair, but they didn't just knock down a whole wing.
Very excited to be able to talk about something I've been working on for a while now - we're working with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, IMO the leading fusion startup in the world, to take our work on AI and tokamaks and make it work at the frontier of fusion energy. deepmind.google/discover/blo...
Google DeepMind is bringing AI to the next generation of fusion energy
We’re announcing our research partnership with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to bring clean, safe, limitless fusion energy closer to reality with our advanced AI systems. This partnership...
deepmind.google
October 16, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Very excited to be able to talk about something I've been working on for a while now - we're working with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, IMO the leading fusion startup in the world, to take our work on AI and tokamaks and make it work at the frontier of fusion energy. deepmind.google/discover/blo...
Obviously everyone on Bluesky is going to hate on this because it involves Musk, but the idea of using next-token-predictors (which LLMs are an instance of) to help the disabled communicate has a long history: www.inference.org.uk/dasher/Speci...
October 12, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Obviously everyone on Bluesky is going to hate on this because it involves Musk, but the idea of using next-token-predictors (which LLMs are an instance of) to help the disabled communicate has a long history: www.inference.org.uk/dasher/Speci...
Trump basically forgot about the whole annexing Canada thing after like three months and hasn't mentioned it in ages, but America's reputation in Canada has been destroyed for a generation. Just one of a million sad stupid pointless things from the last year.
October 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Trump basically forgot about the whole annexing Canada thing after like three months and hasn't mentioned it in ages, but America's reputation in Canada has been destroyed for a generation. Just one of a million sad stupid pointless things from the last year.
Reposted by David Pfau
Even I’m not sure this will end well. Graphics courtesy of Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis.
September 23, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Even I’m not sure this will end well. Graphics courtesy of Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis.
The fate of the global economy hinges on whether the AGI race is the Manhattan Project or the Philosopher's Stone.
September 23, 2025 at 9:47 AM
The fate of the global economy hinges on whether the AGI race is the Manhattan Project or the Philosopher's Stone.
So IIUC, the position of the UK government is that Israel's actions in Gaza are so grave that there must be immediate recognition for a Palestinian state, but also that if you wear a shirt that says "Palestine Action" you are supporting a terrorist organization and should be arrested.
September 21, 2025 at 11:23 PM
So IIUC, the position of the UK government is that Israel's actions in Gaza are so grave that there must be immediate recognition for a Palestinian state, but also that if you wear a shirt that says "Palestine Action" you are supporting a terrorist organization and should be arrested.
Ok maybe this site has the sauce.
might be time
September 20, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Ok maybe this site has the sauce.
Genuinely don't think I've ever seen a ratio this big. Certainly not on a post this obviously correct.
One of the biggest mistakes left-of-center pundits and influencers made was decamping to Bluesky. They made themselves irrelevant, shrunk their audiences, and dramatically lessened the positive impact they could have on our public debate at the precise time we needed it most.
September 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Genuinely don't think I've ever seen a ratio this big. Certainly not on a post this obviously correct.
I have friends who live next to this road-turned-park. The article doesn't even mention that there is a second major road literally right next to the park.
Breaking News: Voters on San Francisco’s west side ousted a politician who helped close a beloved coastal highway and turn it into a park.
San Francisco Politician Recalled Over the Great Highway’s Closure
Supervisor Joel Engardio was ousted by voters who were angry that he helped turn a thoroughfare into a park.
nyti.ms
September 17, 2025 at 9:34 AM
I have friends who live next to this road-turned-park. The article doesn't even mention that there is a second major road literally right next to the park.
Reposted by David Pfau
Want some free career advice? #AcademicChatter
September 17, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Want some free career advice? #AcademicChatter