Kelly Clancy
@kellybclancy.bsky.social
Author of PLAYING WITH REALITY, how games have shaped our world— a New Yorker, Economist, Guardian book of the year. Neuroscientist prev @ MIT, Berkeley, UCL, DeepMind. Words in Wired, The New Yorker, WSJ, SciAm, Harper’s and more.
This will be a fascinating read!
News: the final front cover for the U.K. edition of Power Play, my debut non-fiction book, has landed.
Thank you to the team @wildfirebooks.bsky.social and @headlinebooks.bsky.social for the great work.
Pre-order your copy ahead of its June 2026 release here: linktr.ee/Power_play_b...
Thank you to the team @wildfirebooks.bsky.social and @headlinebooks.bsky.social for the great work.
Pre-order your copy ahead of its June 2026 release here: linktr.ee/Power_play_b...
November 13, 2025 at 10:40 AM
This will be a fascinating read!
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Hadn't seen this "Cartography of Generative AI" before. From Estampa, a collective of programmers, filmmakers and researchers working in the fields of audiovisual media and digital environments: cartography-of-generative-ai.net
October 3, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Hadn't seen this "Cartography of Generative AI" before. From Estampa, a collective of programmers, filmmakers and researchers working in the fields of audiovisual media and digital environments: cartography-of-generative-ai.net
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
I reviewed two books about games, @kellybclancy.bsky.social's superb Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World, and Marcus du Sautoy's more superficial Around the World in 80 Games, which come at some of the same subjects from different angles: meadowparty.com/blog/2025/09...
Two books about games.
meadowparty.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I reviewed two books about games, @kellybclancy.bsky.social's superb Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World, and Marcus du Sautoy's more superficial Around the World in 80 Games, which come at some of the same subjects from different angles: meadowparty.com/blog/2025/09...
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Any rich dems want to fund an independent science news and commentary outlet, hmu
(climate, vaccines, energy, public health, biomedical research, assults on science writ large, etc)
(climate, vaccines, energy, public health, biomedical research, assults on science writ large, etc)
September 19, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Any rich dems want to fund an independent science news and commentary outlet, hmu
(climate, vaccines, energy, public health, biomedical research, assults on science writ large, etc)
(climate, vaccines, energy, public health, biomedical research, assults on science writ large, etc)
What do caribou bones have to do with AI? Graphic artist Drew Dernavich made an awesome comic explainer for part of my book, Playing with Reality, and did an amazing job of crystallizing dense ideas into lovely art! whisperbubble.substack.com/p/the-dice-r...
The Dice Roll On
What do caribou bones have to do with AI technology?
whisperbubble.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 4:58 PM
What do caribou bones have to do with AI? Graphic artist Drew Dernavich made an awesome comic explainer for part of my book, Playing with Reality, and did an amazing job of crystallizing dense ideas into lovely art! whisperbubble.substack.com/p/the-dice-r...
There's gotta be a German word for the phenomenon whereby I like a particular book/show/media but consider it a red flag if someone else likes it.
August 27, 2025 at 8:31 PM
There's gotta be a German word for the phenomenon whereby I like a particular book/show/media but consider it a red flag if someone else likes it.
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Yes! What’s exciting is how cultural and technological systems can display macroevolutionary patterns we usually associate with biology — diversification, collapse, persistence. Arcade games are just one tractable case study.
cultural/technological evolution is a fascinating topic
What do Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Mortal Kombat have to teach us about #cultural #evolution? As a social-technological phenomenon, #arcade game genres evolved like cultural species—some diversified, while others became "living fossils." 🕹️🧪 👉 doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
August 21, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Yes! What’s exciting is how cultural and technological systems can display macroevolutionary patterns we usually associate with biology — diversification, collapse, persistence. Arcade games are just one tractable case study.
In a crazy 1960s experiment, a patient was implanted with 50 different stimulating electrodes in his brain--including in an area that gave him orgasmic feelings. He could stimulate any of these at will.
Billionaires are convinced AI is on the verge of making new scientific discoveries because they don't understand how AI chatbots work.
Billionaires Convince Themselves AI Is Close to Making New Scientific Discoveries
gizmodo.com
July 16, 2025 at 5:08 PM
In a crazy 1960s experiment, a patient was implanted with 50 different stimulating electrodes in his brain--including in an area that gave him orgasmic feelings. He could stimulate any of these at will.
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Support indie magazines and pick up @thebeliever.net! I have a little story in this delightful new issue, which was mainly an excuse to get a cute illustration of my cats into the magazine. But every issue is packed with goodness! Why not subscribe and get strange and profound observations all year?
Our summer 2025 edition—The Believer’s 150th issue!—is out now. Here’s what you’ll find inside.
www.thebeliever.net/product/summ...
www.thebeliever.net/product/summ...
Summer 2025 - Believer Magazine
www.thebeliever.net
June 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Support indie magazines and pick up @thebeliever.net! I have a little story in this delightful new issue, which was mainly an excuse to get a cute illustration of my cats into the magazine. But every issue is packed with goodness! Why not subscribe and get strange and profound observations all year?
Those who have incorrectly ascribed much of the progress made in the last century to capitalism are about to learn where it really came from.
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
June 24, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Those who have incorrectly ascribed much of the progress made in the last century to capitalism are about to learn where it really came from.
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
I recommend everyone consider reading the United Nation’s charter these days.
I wonder why we don’t talk about it more. Imagine the world if we truly resolved ourselves to join efforts toward the aims of the UN charter.
www.un.org/en/about-us/...
I wonder why we don’t talk about it more. Imagine the world if we truly resolved ourselves to join efforts toward the aims of the UN charter.
www.un.org/en/about-us/...
Preamble | United Nations
www.un.org
June 21, 2025 at 1:51 AM
I recommend everyone consider reading the United Nation’s charter these days.
I wonder why we don’t talk about it more. Imagine the world if we truly resolved ourselves to join efforts toward the aims of the UN charter.
www.un.org/en/about-us/...
I wonder why we don’t talk about it more. Imagine the world if we truly resolved ourselves to join efforts toward the aims of the UN charter.
www.un.org/en/about-us/...
Yarvin attempting to justify autocracy with word play has precisely as much explanatory power as a New Age healer willfully mispronouncing disease as “dis-ease”
Always funny to me that Yarvin is held up as the great intellect of the New Right and then when he argues for stuff it's this - here's some etymology for a synonym of a word you're using, so we gotta have a tyrant -- checkmate libs. Behold the philosopher.
June 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Yarvin attempting to justify autocracy with word play has precisely as much explanatory power as a New Age healer willfully mispronouncing disease as “dis-ease”
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
I wrote a quick-start guide for people to replicate this across the country. It was, in our experience, a very effective way to get real action in a short amount of time.
People are willing to talk to scientists! And when you provide everything, they are happy to contact their reps too. Try it!
People are willing to talk to scientists! And when you provide everything, they are happy to contact their reps too. Try it!
June 16, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I wrote a quick-start guide for people to replicate this across the country. It was, in our experience, a very effective way to get real action in a short amount of time.
People are willing to talk to scientists! And when you provide everything, they are happy to contact their reps too. Try it!
People are willing to talk to scientists! And when you provide everything, they are happy to contact their reps too. Try it!
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Pleased to say "Space, Time, and Memory", an academic book by Oxford University Press edited by the inimitable Lynn Nadel & Sara Aronowitz is now out.
I contributed a chapter, "Memory and Planning in Brains and Machines".
You can download the entire book for free:
library.oapen.org/bitstream/ha...
I contributed a chapter, "Memory and Planning in Brains and Machines".
You can download the entire book for free:
library.oapen.org/bitstream/ha...
June 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Pleased to say "Space, Time, and Memory", an academic book by Oxford University Press edited by the inimitable Lynn Nadel & Sara Aronowitz is now out.
I contributed a chapter, "Memory and Planning in Brains and Machines".
You can download the entire book for free:
library.oapen.org/bitstream/ha...
I contributed a chapter, "Memory and Planning in Brains and Machines".
You can download the entire book for free:
library.oapen.org/bitstream/ha...
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
🚨 New preprint! 🚨
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
April 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
🚨 New preprint! 🚨
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
AI is moving forward at the hands of people utterly ignorant of 2500 years of epistemology. I beg philosophers to stop thinking that the only issues with AI are ethics issues.
oh this is a cool epistemological distinction between producing correct answers and producing factual answers.
however it seems to me like the idea of solving it through "data curation" won't work, unless *possibly* they mean "eliminate answers that refer to stuff the LLM can't have done"
however it seems to me like the idea of solving it through "data curation" won't work, unless *possibly* they mean "eliminate answers that refer to stuff the LLM can't have done"
April 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
AI is moving forward at the hands of people utterly ignorant of 2500 years of epistemology. I beg philosophers to stop thinking that the only issues with AI are ethics issues.
An absolute honor to be included among these authors 🙏
CONGRATULATIONS to @kellybclancy.bsky.social, author of PLAYING WITH REALITY, for being a @penamerica.bsky.social / E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist!!! 🥳👏
April 11, 2025 at 10:26 PM
An absolute honor to be included among these authors 🙏
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Inspired by @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social , I wrote an op ed for my hometown newspaper (the Lexington Herald-Leader) about the importance of protecting science and universities from destruction by the government. Think about writing one of your own! www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-e...
Kentucky needs to stand up for science; ask lawmakers to stop federal research cuts | Opinion
OpEd: In particular, the University of Kentucky’s federal research funding generates medical breakthroughs, sustains thousands of Kentucky jobs, and trains Kentucky students to be the leaders of tomor...
www.kentucky.com
April 4, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Inspired by @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social , I wrote an op ed for my hometown newspaper (the Lexington Herald-Leader) about the importance of protecting science and universities from destruction by the government. Think about writing one of your own! www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-e...
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
What a world. Capitalism "externalizes" costs to the point where the costs are "externalized" into our own bodies.
March 14, 2025 at 10:36 AM
What a world. Capitalism "externalizes" costs to the point where the costs are "externalized" into our own bodies.
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
I just received my copy of "Evolution Evolving," and I read chapter 1 and loved it: "nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of development." @kevinlala.bsky.social
March 13, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I just received my copy of "Evolution Evolving," and I read chapter 1 and loved it: "nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of development." @kevinlala.bsky.social
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Truly believe that the ability of optimization-like processes to develop brain-like properties in sufficiently-complex distributed systems is one of the biggest insights in theoretical neuroscience.
I don't know if Romain would agree with this but I think one of the fascinating things about using task trained neural networks as neuroscience models is that when you start digging deeper and asking how they do what they do, you can find solutions just as wild and surprising as in biology. 🤖🧠🧪
March 5, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Truly believe that the ability of optimization-like processes to develop brain-like properties in sufficiently-complex distributed systems is one of the biggest insights in theoretical neuroscience.
Reposted by Kelly Clancy
Just finished 'Playing with Reality' by @kellybclancy.bsky.social. Loved it! I picked it up because I thought it was about the history of games, which it is... but it's also so much more than that. Touches upon game theory, minimax, RL, economics, auctions, evolution, Simcity, and more.
February 5, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Just finished 'Playing with Reality' by @kellybclancy.bsky.social. Loved it! I picked it up because I thought it was about the history of games, which it is... but it's also so much more than that. Touches upon game theory, minimax, RL, economics, auctions, evolution, Simcity, and more.
15 years ago I published a graphic novel about the US wars in the Middle East/Central Asia from the perspective of civilians. This page seems apt today.
January 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
15 years ago I published a graphic novel about the US wars in the Middle East/Central Asia from the perspective of civilians. This page seems apt today.
Well this is an incredible opening paragraph
January 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Well this is an incredible opening paragraph
I've long wondered why indigo is considered a separate color in the rainbow. Is ROY G BIV just a pedagogical mnemonic for kids learning their colors? Nope! Turns out Isaac Newton wanted there to be 7 colors in the rainbow for the number's mysticism: 7 musical notes, 7 days for biblical creation, etc
January 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I've long wondered why indigo is considered a separate color in the rainbow. Is ROY G BIV just a pedagogical mnemonic for kids learning their colors? Nope! Turns out Isaac Newton wanted there to be 7 colors in the rainbow for the number's mysticism: 7 musical notes, 7 days for biblical creation, etc