Alex Clark
Alex Clark
@rationalempiricism.bsky.social
Interdisciplinary language researcher.
Reposted by Alex Clark
We present The Transformer Cookbook: a collection of recipes for programming algorithms directly into transformers!

Hungry for an induction head? Craving a Dyck language recognizer? We show you step-by-step how to cook up transformers for these algorithms and many more!
The Transformer Cookbook
We present the transformer cookbook: a collection of techniques for directly encoding algorithms into a transformer's parameters. This work addresses the steep learning curve of such endeavors, a prob...
arxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
Trump Spends Entire U.K. Trip Trying To Figure Out Where He Knows Prince Andrew From
Trump Spends Entire U.K. Trip Trying To Figure Out Where He Knows Prince Andrew From
LONDON—Claiming that he recognized the member of the royal family, but his memory was hazy, President Donald Trump has spent his entire trip to the U.K. trying to figure out where he knows Prince Andr...
theonion.com
September 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
I have yet to see any political acknowledgement of the fact that in 20 or so years, a significant swathe of the population, much more than has been anticipated, will be approaching retirement age without owning a home, and many if not most of them still in the private rental sector.
June 15, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
There’s this anti-Austin Powers view where the world is run by a crazed network of rich and powerful liberals who want to ruin things by ending child poverty, making immigrants welcome, respecting people in their differences and encouraging people from all backgrounds. What a shame it isn’t true.
The very term "globalisat" is DEEPLY, Deeply problematic... you know apart from every other appalling thing about this.
June 2, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by Alex Clark
Yeah there's like a niche but disproportionately powerful cos Trump aligned section of the tech political world wherein they simultaneously want to automate away artistic endeavours and bring back child labour in factories. It's... the exact opposite of what I would want from technological advance?
The level of hatred these AI bros have for creative people I just do not understand
May 26, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Alex Clark
RIP linguist Haj Ross (1938-2025) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R....
John R. Ross - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
May 14, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse.
May 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
The real masculinity crisis is that it took less than one generation for women to outcompete men in higher ed and home ownership once the legal barriers to both were both were removed and they are collectively losing their minds faced with the reality that they were never naturally superior.
May 12, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Alex Clark
My favorite bit: The filename is:
"US UK EPD_050825_FINAL rev v2.pdf"
(don't know why they didn't include "_latestDJT")

That title might also yield a hint as to why the press conference started late.
May 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I’ve started using Claude.ai for textbook type questions and it’s pretty good, and has given correct citations so far.
Claude
Talk with Claude, an AI assistant from Anthropic
Claude.ai
May 6, 2025 at 11:49 AM
A depressingly small proportion of the people pontificating about the Supreme Court judgment seem to have read even the first page.
April 17, 2025 at 9:14 AM
I had a joke about Zeno but it never finished.
I had a joke about Icarus, but it didn't land.
I had a joke about Achilles, but it had a certain weakness
April 13, 2025 at 6:20 AM
The .Os
The U.S. is the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee workers a paid vacation.

When a husband, wife & kids are unable to spend any time together on vacation, that is not a family value. It's an attack on everything a family is supposed to stand for.

Unacceptable.
April 11, 2025 at 6:38 AM
What’s the best AI for converting hand written diagrams to LaTeX , tikz?
April 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM
What an NP
March 30, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Alex Clark
New Public First polling shows how tough the “gun and butter” debate is for Starmer — public is wildly cakeist and Lab voters think butter more important. With @theboysmithy.ft.com dataviz for @financialtimes.com

on.ft.com/421yt6y New poll shows risks for Keir Starmer over spending choices
March 24, 2025 at 7:39 AM
good Moby dick content on the timeline 💯
March 18, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Alex Clark
subscriptions >>> shop.viz.co.uk/viz343bs
March 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Alex Clark
Never before have I encountered a tool that behaves so much like it *wants* to do the one thing it’s utterly useless at. Like a jackhammer that with each thrust begs to be allowed to perform a root canal.
February 22, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Feeling mild accelerationist impulses. Send help.
February 8, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Wise words from Emefa Ansah www.vittlesmagazine.com
January 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
What is the behavioural evidence *for* a binary notion of grammaticality?
December 27, 2024 at 7:52 AM
Really a lot of AI generated text on Reddit these days - obvious engagement farming posts and quite a lot of longer comments.
December 22, 2024 at 3:48 AM