Konrad Kording
@kordinglab.bsky.social
@Penn Prof, deep learning, brains, #causality, rigor, http://neuromatch.io, Transdisciplinary optimist, Dad, Loves outdoors, 🦖 , c4r.io
While much of machine learning is retrospective (learn the past distribution) learning in biology is prospective (learn for the future) - here we discuss some implications for neuroscience (with @tdverstynen.bsky.social, Josh Vogelstein, Pratik Chaudhari): www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
Toward a science of prospective learning
In a constantly changing world, effective intelligence means anticipating future changes.
Kording et al. argue that organisms adapt prospectively, modeling how environments
and capabilities of the org...
www.cell.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:47 PM
While much of machine learning is retrospective (learn the past distribution) learning in biology is prospective (learn for the future) - here we discuss some implications for neuroscience (with @tdverstynen.bsky.social, Josh Vogelstein, Pratik Chaudhari): www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
Reposted by Konrad Kording
So great! To paraphrase @lucinauddin.bsky.social: If we (researchers) aren't clear, it has downstream effects on translation (eg to) psychiatry. We must strive not just to publish papers, but to be clear!
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆?
@lucinauddin.bsky.social explains many of the challenges and controversies! Great discussion too.
Check out the latest Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
youtu.be/pP5swFPR0Ns
@lucinauddin.bsky.social explains many of the challenges and controversies! Great discussion too.
Check out the latest Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
youtu.be/pP5swFPR0Ns
Prof. Lucina Uddin from UCLA discusses her views on brain networks as studied with functional MRI
YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon
youtu.be
December 16, 2025 at 10:31 PM
So great! To paraphrase @lucinauddin.bsky.social: If we (researchers) aren't clear, it has downstream effects on translation (eg to) psychiatry. We must strive not just to publish papers, but to be clear!
Reposted by Konrad Kording
How might AI shape the future of work? @kordinglab.bsky.social (Neuroscience) & @imarinescu.bsky.social (@pennsp2.bsky.social) have developed an interactive model that incorporates assumptions from both their fields to predict how AI will affect wages, jobs & the overall economy tinyurl.com/49b7vzmm
December 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
How might AI shape the future of work? @kordinglab.bsky.social (Neuroscience) & @imarinescu.bsky.social (@pennsp2.bsky.social) have developed an interactive model that incorporates assumptions from both their fields to predict how AI will affect wages, jobs & the overall economy tinyurl.com/49b7vzmm
Reposted by Konrad Kording
In which @kordinglab.bsky.social argues LLMs are more like an electric motor than a drill, and starts to build a drill for scientific research.
open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
The Electric Motor and the Drill - we use AI in the wrong way
Power tools are better than general purpose tools for most applications, my science planning app planyourscience.com is a result of this philosophy
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
In which @kordinglab.bsky.social argues LLMs are more like an electric motor than a drill, and starts to build a drill for scientific research.
open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
New post: The Electric Motor and the Drill
LLM chat bots are like electric motors: can do anything, bad at everything. The problem is UI/UX. AI should be more like power tools. I built a science planner around this philosophy. 10,000 scientists use it now. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
LLM chat bots are like electric motors: can do anything, bad at everything. The problem is UI/UX. AI should be more like power tools. I built a science planner around this philosophy. 10,000 scientists use it now. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
The Electric Motor and the Drill - we use AI in the wrong way
Power tools are better than general purpose tools for most applications, my science planning app planyourscience.com is a result of this philosophy
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
New post: The Electric Motor and the Drill
LLM chat bots are like electric motors: can do anything, bad at everything. The problem is UI/UX. AI should be more like power tools. I built a science planner around this philosophy. 10,000 scientists use it now. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
LLM chat bots are like electric motors: can do anything, bad at everything. The problem is UI/UX. AI should be more like power tools. I built a science planner around this philosophy. 10,000 scientists use it now. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
Reposted by Konrad Kording
I'm biased, but I think Neuromatch has done a lot of good in helping make computational science education accessible. Please consider donating to help us continue!
Today is #GivingTuesday! Join us in helping to make computational science education accessible to everyone, everywhere!
Since, 2021, Neuromatch Academy and Climatematch Academy have supported nearly 14,000 learners from 135 countries.
Your support makes this possible.
neuromatch.io/donate/
Since, 2021, Neuromatch Academy and Climatematch Academy have supported nearly 14,000 learners from 135 countries.
Your support makes this possible.
neuromatch.io/donate/
December 2, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I'm biased, but I think Neuromatch has done a lot of good in helping make computational science education accessible. Please consider donating to help us continue!
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all time
I believe we should talk about the mistakes we make.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:27 AM
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
Reposted by Konrad Kording
PlanYourScience.com is live! 🔥
Professors: Running a class with research projects? You and your TAs will never have enough time to carefully guide every student through gap, hypotheses, experiment, data analysis, etc. I think every larger course running research projects should use this.
I think almost all scientific projects should be planned carefully. And I think an app can dramatically improve that. So I wrote an app for that (free for now, if you can fund this let me know). I tested it quite a bit (>8000 users in beta so far). try it: planyourscience.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:12 PM
PlanYourScience.com is live! 🔥
Let's compare our world models. I find that different people seem to have rather distinct internal world models. E.g. I personally have neither visual imagination nor an inner voice, found it weird others do. Here is a quick google forms to check idea:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
World-models in your head
Talking with a lot of people, they have rather shocking different kinds of world-models. I believe that people have somewhat specialized simulators. Let me list some and then give you the chance to ad...
docs.google.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Let's compare our world models. I find that different people seem to have rather distinct internal world models. E.g. I personally have neither visual imagination nor an inner voice, found it weird others do. Here is a quick google forms to check idea:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Konrad Kording
I am recruiting graduate students for the experimental side of my lab @mcgill.ca for admission in Fall 2026!
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
November 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I am recruiting graduate students for the experimental side of my lab @mcgill.ca for admission in Fall 2026!
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
Interesting mystery. It is known that animals can learn to control neurons pretty much anywhere in the brain. But they can not learn to ignore hunger which probably means they can't turn of hunger sensing neurons. How is that avoided in the brain? They even have DA inputs.
November 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Interesting mystery. It is known that animals can learn to control neurons pretty much anywhere in the brain. But they can not learn to ignore hunger which probably means they can't turn of hunger sensing neurons. How is that avoided in the brain? They even have DA inputs.
VTA DA neurons. I read they have heterogenous projections to cortex. And they have different tuning curves in terms of Reward, punishment, hunger, etc. Computationally it would make a lot of sense that the relevant reward signals make it to the right cortical areas. Known? Computationally important.
November 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
VTA DA neurons. I read they have heterogenous projections to cortex. And they have different tuning curves in terms of Reward, punishment, hunger, etc. Computationally it would make a lot of sense that the relevant reward signals make it to the right cortical areas. Known? Computationally important.
Professors: Running a class with research projects? You and your TAs will never have enough time to carefully guide every student through gap, hypotheses, experiment, data analysis, etc. I think every larger course running research projects should use this.
I think almost all scientific projects should be planned carefully. And I think an app can dramatically improve that. So I wrote an app for that (free for now, if you can fund this let me know). I tested it quite a bit (>8000 users in beta so far). try it: planyourscience.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Professors: Running a class with research projects? You and your TAs will never have enough time to carefully guide every student through gap, hypotheses, experiment, data analysis, etc. I think every larger course running research projects should use this.
As we are having a discussion on neural codes: @earlkmiller.bsky.social is entirely right that the "only spike rates matter" idea that is so prominent in neuroscience has no credible evidence. We simply do not currently know how neurons code relevant information. Oscillations are likely part of it.
November 20, 2025 at 9:19 PM
As we are having a discussion on neural codes: @earlkmiller.bsky.social is entirely right that the "only spike rates matter" idea that is so prominent in neuroscience has no credible evidence. We simply do not currently know how neurons code relevant information. Oscillations are likely part of it.
Reposted by Konrad Kording
DYK, you can see many of our seminars on our YouTube page!
"Behind the CV" talks with Weiji Ma & Konrad Kording have thousands of views.
The newest talk is Allie Sinclair on "Resistance and Resilience: Science Communication and Advocacy in a Federal Funding Crisis"
www.youtube.com/@pennmindcor...
"Behind the CV" talks with Weiji Ma & Konrad Kording have thousands of views.
The newest talk is Allie Sinclair on "Resistance and Resilience: Science Communication and Advocacy in a Federal Funding Crisis"
www.youtube.com/@pennmindcor...
November 17, 2025 at 5:59 PM
DYK, you can see many of our seminars on our YouTube page!
"Behind the CV" talks with Weiji Ma & Konrad Kording have thousands of views.
The newest talk is Allie Sinclair on "Resistance and Resilience: Science Communication and Advocacy in a Federal Funding Crisis"
www.youtube.com/@pennmindcor...
"Behind the CV" talks with Weiji Ma & Konrad Kording have thousands of views.
The newest talk is Allie Sinclair on "Resistance and Resilience: Science Communication and Advocacy in a Federal Funding Crisis"
www.youtube.com/@pennmindcor...
I think almost all scientific projects should be planned carefully. And I think an app can dramatically improve that. So I wrote an app for that (free for now, if you can fund this let me know). I tested it quite a bit (>8000 users in beta so far). try it: planyourscience.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I think almost all scientific projects should be planned carefully. And I think an app can dramatically improve that. So I wrote an app for that (free for now, if you can fund this let me know). I tested it quite a bit (>8000 users in beta so far). try it: planyourscience.com
It is a good day. Reached inbox zero after months of never getting below inbox five.
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 AM
It is a good day. Reached inbox zero after months of never getting below inbox five.
Reposted by Konrad Kording
Working on an abstract and could use some help? Join us on Tuesday, December 2 for a virtual abstract-writing workshop led by our P.I. Konrad Kording @kordinglab.bsky.social
Register for free at
Register for free at
Rigorous and Glamorous in 100 Words or Less 2.0 - An abstract-writing workshop with Konrad Kording
It’s hard to write an abstract. It’s harder to write a glamorous one that tells your story without overselling your results.
buff.ly
November 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Working on an abstract and could use some help? Join us on Tuesday, December 2 for a virtual abstract-writing workshop led by our P.I. Konrad Kording @kordinglab.bsky.social
Register for free at
Register for free at
I have so many issues with this podcast with @earlkmiller.bsky.social . I think that this podcast nicely shows why I have trouble with such approaches. Lets go through some of the claims.
Giant Shoulders podcast: Meet the MIT Neuroscientist Proving Brainwaves are the Secret to Consciousness.
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
Meet the MIT Neuroscientist Proving Brain Waves Are the Secret Engine Behind Consciousness
YouTube video by Giant's Shoulder
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I have so many issues with this podcast with @earlkmiller.bsky.social . I think that this podcast nicely shows why I have trouble with such approaches. Lets go through some of the claims.
Reposted by Konrad Kording
Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, Editor-in-Chief, now reporting for duty. 🫡
Catch me at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Booth (3928) today and tomorrow from 2-3 pm if you want to chat about your manuscript or what JUNE is up to.
#SfN2025 #SfN25 @sfn.org
Catch me at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Booth (3928) today and tomorrow from 2-3 pm if you want to chat about your manuscript or what JUNE is up to.
#SfN2025 #SfN25 @sfn.org
November 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Put your belief about how ai and bi, capital and labor interact and simulate the economy using our intelligencesaturation.org simulator. Depending parameters you obtain runaway success with wages going to infinity, the evisceration of wages, or everything in between.
November 15, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Put your belief about how ai and bi, capital and labor interact and simulate the economy using our intelligencesaturation.org simulator. Depending parameters you obtain runaway success with wages going to infinity, the evisceration of wages, or everything in between.
Incidentally this is the first time that writing a paper made me buy put options.
New @brookings.edu paper w. @kordinglab.bsky.social : Artificial Intelligence Saturation & the Future of Work. Wages can ↗️&↘️with #AI automation, as humans are pushed into physical jobs. In the longer run, intelligence saturation limits benefits from #AI. www.brookings.edu/articles/art... #EconSky
(Artificial) Intelligence saturation and the future of work | Brookings
In a new working paper, UPenn's Konrad Kording and Ioana Marinescu present a novel framework for assessing AI and the future of work
www.brookings.edu
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Incidentally this is the first time that writing a paper made me buy put options.
Reposted by Konrad Kording
New @brookings.edu paper w. @kordinglab.bsky.social : Artificial Intelligence Saturation & the Future of Work. Wages can ↗️&↘️with #AI automation, as humans are pushed into physical jobs. In the longer run, intelligence saturation limits benefits from #AI. www.brookings.edu/articles/art... #EconSky
(Artificial) Intelligence saturation and the future of work | Brookings
In a new working paper, UPenn's Konrad Kording and Ioana Marinescu present a novel framework for assessing AI and the future of work
www.brookings.edu
November 14, 2025 at 5:28 PM
New @brookings.edu paper w. @kordinglab.bsky.social : Artificial Intelligence Saturation & the Future of Work. Wages can ↗️&↘️with #AI automation, as humans are pushed into physical jobs. In the longer run, intelligence saturation limits benefits from #AI. www.brookings.edu/articles/art... #EconSky
AI is growing exponentially at a timescale of months while the economy is growing at a timescale of decades. How should we model the economy with rapidly increasing intelligence tech and slowly increasing physical tech? New AI+econ paper.
November 13, 2025 at 4:42 PM
AI is growing exponentially at a timescale of months while the economy is growing at a timescale of decades. How should we model the economy with rapidly increasing intelligence tech and slowly increasing physical tech? New AI+econ paper.
Reposted by Konrad Kording
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?
In a sense yes, but does network science help us understand the brain as a complex system? Intriguing paper.
If anything the paper has 800+ refs!
#neuroskyence #complexsystems
doi.org/10.1016/j.pl...
In a sense yes, but does network science help us understand the brain as a complex system? Intriguing paper.
If anything the paper has 800+ refs!
#neuroskyence #complexsystems
doi.org/10.1016/j.pl...
November 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?
In a sense yes, but does network science help us understand the brain as a complex system? Intriguing paper.
If anything the paper has 800+ refs!
#neuroskyence #complexsystems
doi.org/10.1016/j.pl...
In a sense yes, but does network science help us understand the brain as a complex system? Intriguing paper.
If anything the paper has 800+ refs!
#neuroskyence #complexsystems
doi.org/10.1016/j.pl...