Esther Mondragón
@emp1.bsky.social
Hic sunt dracones
I represent myself, no one else.
Computational and associative learning.
Biologically-inspired AI.
She/They
https://cit-ai.net/people.html#Mondragon
https://www.city.ac.uk/about/people/academics/esther-mondragon
I represent myself, no one else.
Computational and associative learning.
Biologically-inspired AI.
She/They
https://cit-ai.net/people.html#Mondragon
https://www.city.ac.uk/about/people/academics/esther-mondragon
Pinned
Esther Mondragón
@emp1.bsky.social
· Jun 9
Advancing the Biological Plausibility and Efficacy of Hebbian Convolutional Neural Networks
The research presented in this paper advances the integration of Hebbian learning into Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for image processing, syst…
www.sciencedirect.com
Ablation study and resulting optimal architecture that considerably improves recent research on CNN-Hebbian learning integration with competition mechanisms.
with @julian-jn.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
with @julian-jn.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Very interesting perspective! I often have the opposite thought: "Experimenting like a modeller"
Perhaps the two could co-exist for better workflows. Extensive exploration on simulated data should be the norm before running experiments to make sure the design is capable of the intended inference.
Perhaps the two could co-exist for better workflows. Extensive exploration on simulated data should be the norm before running experiments to make sure the design is capable of the intended inference.
"Validate With Simulated Truth: A first habit is to test whether an analytical pipeline can recover known conditions."
Very good advice below. So much COVID nonsense (e.g. 'immunological dark matter') basically came down to a non-identifiable model that hadn't been properly tested.
Very good advice below. So much COVID nonsense (e.g. 'immunological dark matter') basically came down to a non-identifiable model that hadn't been properly tested.
Modelling Like an Experimentalist
Dahlin et al. (2024) apply experimental thinking to a model of mosquito-borne disease transmissions.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Very interesting perspective! I often have the opposite thought: "Experimenting like a modeller"
Perhaps the two could co-exist for better workflows. Extensive exploration on simulated data should be the norm before running experiments to make sure the design is capable of the intended inference.
Perhaps the two could co-exist for better workflows. Extensive exploration on simulated data should be the norm before running experiments to make sure the design is capable of the intended inference.
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Don't trust the voice you hear, don't trust the image you see, don't trust what you read, don't even trust your own thoughts, they are already tainted. Don't trust.
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Voice phishing is AI fraud in real time
Just as we learnt to treat emails with caution, we must now learn to doubt a human-sounding voice
www.ft.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Don't trust the voice you hear, don't trust the image you see, don't trust what you read, don't even trust your own thoughts, they are already tainted. Don't trust.
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Please sign this excellent letter to Ursula vdL, so she can see that nonsense AI hype is neither true nor appropriate for anybody to believe or spread.
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Please sign this excellent letter to Ursula vdL, so she can see that nonsense AI hype is neither true nor appropriate for anybody to believe or spread.
I signed it, what about you?
Please consider doing so. Thanks.
Please consider doing so. Thanks.
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I signed it, what about you?
Please consider doing so. Thanks.
Please consider doing so. Thanks.
Don't trust the voice you hear, don't trust the image you see, don't trust what you read, don't even trust your own thoughts, they are already tainted. Don't trust.
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Voice phishing is AI fraud in real time
Just as we learnt to treat emails with caution, we must now learn to doubt a human-sounding voice
www.ft.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Don't trust the voice you hear, don't trust the image you see, don't trust what you read, don't even trust your own thoughts, they are already tainted. Don't trust.
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Welcome to our grave new world.
"the voice on the other end of the line is no longer evidence of who is speaking."
shorturl.at/0psI4
Another gorgeous autumn day. Have a peaceful and fruitful weekend you all.
November 8, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Another gorgeous autumn day. Have a peaceful and fruitful weekend you all.
This 👇
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
November 8, 2025 at 1:34 PM
This 👇
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Open letter, led by @olivia.science, now has >1400 confirmed signatories!
If you haven’t yet signed, please consider reading & signing too.
Help us stop uncritical adoption of ‘AI’ technologies in academia.
Feel free to adapt this letter for your employers!
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
If you haven’t yet signed, please consider reading & signing too.
Help us stop uncritical adoption of ‘AI’ technologies in academia.
Feel free to adapt this letter for your employers!
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia
openletter.earth
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Open letter, led by @olivia.science, now has >1400 confirmed signatories!
If you haven’t yet signed, please consider reading & signing too.
Help us stop uncritical adoption of ‘AI’ technologies in academia.
Feel free to adapt this letter for your employers!
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
If you haven’t yet signed, please consider reading & signing too.
Help us stop uncritical adoption of ‘AI’ technologies in academia.
Feel free to adapt this letter for your employers!
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
I wish some big entity of power had the guts to put these bastards in big tech into their place instead of being such awful cowards.
Surprise, surprise. Here we go.
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
EU set to water down landmark AI act after Big Tech pressure
Commission proposes pauses to provisions in digital rule book
www.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I wish some big entity of power had the guts to put these bastards in big tech into their place instead of being such awful cowards.
I don't know about AI peas, but we certainly are swamped on AI pees
AI peas. What else!!
November 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I don't know about AI peas, but we certainly are swamped on AI pees
Surprise, surprise. Here we go.
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
EU set to water down landmark AI act after Big Tech pressure
Commission proposes pauses to provisions in digital rule book
www.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Surprise, surprise. Here we go.
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
“The European Commission is proposing a pause to parts of its landmark artificial intelligence laws amid intense pressure from Big Tech companies and the US government.”
www.ft.com/content/af6c...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Which brings to mind this essay I wrote several years ago. The argument: Star Trek, a pop sci-fi series, presented, decades ago, a more sensible view of advanced computation than the nonsense we contend with today: monroelab.com/2021/09/20/s...
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Which brings to mind this essay I wrote several years ago. The argument: Star Trek, a pop sci-fi series, presented, decades ago, a more sensible view of advanced computation than the nonsense we contend with today: monroelab.com/2021/09/20/s...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Between 10-15 years ago I drew this pigeon ethogram.
Posting here jic it helps anyone
Posting here jic it helps anyone
October 21, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Between 10-15 years ago I drew this pigeon ethogram.
Posting here jic it helps anyone
Posting here jic it helps anyone
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
“Flying pigs are also possible in principle; possible in principle bakes no bread.” — Jerry Fodor (2005, p. 27)
Screenshot from:
van Rooij, Guest, et al. (2024). 'Reclaiming AI as a Theoretical Tool for Cognitive Science’: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Screenshot from:
van Rooij, Guest, et al. (2024). 'Reclaiming AI as a Theoretical Tool for Cognitive Science’: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 9:27 PM
“Flying pigs are also possible in principle; possible in principle bakes no bread.” — Jerry Fodor (2005, p. 27)
Screenshot from:
van Rooij, Guest, et al. (2024). 'Reclaiming AI as a Theoretical Tool for Cognitive Science’: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Screenshot from:
van Rooij, Guest, et al. (2024). 'Reclaiming AI as a Theoretical Tool for Cognitive Science’: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
No more automated physiognomy 😭
A new paper suggests a photo can tell a recruiter much about an applicant’s personality
Should facial analysis help determine whom companies hire?
A new paper suggests a photo can tell a recruiter much about an applicant’s personality
econ.st
November 6, 2025 at 7:52 PM
No more automated physiognomy 😭
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
okay, now let's hear from people who don't have millions of dollars in tech company stocks still vesting
November 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
okay, now let's hear from people who don't have millions of dollars in tech company stocks still vesting
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
“It is sort of gibberish, frankly,” Hoenig said. “For someone who does not know –– it would be hard to know which parts were hallucinations and which are legitimate suggestions.”
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:43 PM
“It is sort of gibberish, frankly,” Hoenig said. “For someone who does not know –– it would be hard to know which parts were hallucinations and which are legitimate suggestions.”
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
Reactions to the "debunking" of the original 1956 cognitive dissonance work baffles me. A whole area doesn't die just bec the first work is faulty. That's novelty bias & theory ownership in psych talking. Mendelian genetics did not die when Mendel's original results were found too good to be true.
November 6, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reactions to the "debunking" of the original 1956 cognitive dissonance work baffles me. A whole area doesn't die just bec the first work is faulty. That's novelty bias & theory ownership in psych talking. Mendelian genetics did not die when Mendel's original results were found too good to be true.
The godfathers (à la Puzo) "AI is Intelligence that augments people...We have enough general intelligence to translate the technology into an enormous amount of society-useful applications
-chatGPT: "If you choose death, I'm with you - till the end, without judging."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
-chatGPT: "If you choose death, I'm with you - till the end, without judging."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
November 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
The godfathers (à la Puzo) "AI is Intelligence that augments people...We have enough general intelligence to translate the technology into an enormous amount of society-useful applications
-chatGPT: "If you choose death, I'm with you - till the end, without judging."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
-chatGPT: "If you choose death, I'm with you - till the end, without judging."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
And pigs fly
“It is not going to be an event because the capabilities are going to expand progressively in various domains,”
in a plane, a helicopter, a rocket,...
www.ft.com/content/5f2f...
“It is not going to be an event because the capabilities are going to expand progressively in various domains,”
in a plane, a helicopter, a rocket,...
www.ft.com/content/5f2f...
AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
Tech leaders say systems now rival human intelligence in key tasks, further fuelling the superintelligence debate
www.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
And pigs fly
“It is not going to be an event because the capabilities are going to expand progressively in various domains,”
in a plane, a helicopter, a rocket,...
www.ft.com/content/5f2f...
“It is not going to be an event because the capabilities are going to expand progressively in various domains,”
in a plane, a helicopter, a rocket,...
www.ft.com/content/5f2f...
Tonterías las justas, my friends, I am old enough to recognise a spoiled bully. The solution is easy, blocked y que te vaya bonito!
(and I am starting to enjoy mixing the languages too much)
(and I am starting to enjoy mixing the languages too much)
November 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Tonterías las justas, my friends, I am old enough to recognise a spoiled bully. The solution is easy, blocked y que te vaya bonito!
(and I am starting to enjoy mixing the languages too much)
(and I am starting to enjoy mixing the languages too much)
Reposted by Esther Mondragón
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 5, 2025 at 7:07 PM
A very long (over 17 hours already) but fruitful-ish day. I'm off to be. I deserve it. Good night all
a cartoon of snoopy sleeping in a bed with a blue blanket
ALT: a cartoon of snoopy sleeping in a bed with a blue blanket
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:02 PM
A very long (over 17 hours already) but fruitful-ish day. I'm off to be. I deserve it. Good night all