Scott McFarnell
@scottmcf.bsky.social
Assistant Headteacher. Interested in how neuroscience can support education.
#EduSky
#EduSky
Beautiful morning - with the cliff from Shakespeare’s King Lear in the background.
December 31, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Beautiful morning - with the cliff from Shakespeare’s King Lear in the background.
It seems to be an exciting time in AI development with Embodied Spatial Intelligence progressing from 1-dimensional Large Language Models to World Labs’ 4-dimensional Large World Models, via Dreamer’s virtual simulations & Liquid’s adaptive (C. elegans inspired) networks.
December 30, 2025 at 10:01 PM
It seems to be an exciting time in AI development with Embodied Spatial Intelligence progressing from 1-dimensional Large Language Models to World Labs’ 4-dimensional Large World Models, via Dreamer’s virtual simulations & Liquid’s adaptive (C. elegans inspired) networks.
The sun is just peeking out
December 30, 2025 at 12:52 PM
The sun is just peeking out
Is intelligence about mining the future?
December 29, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Is intelligence about mining the future?
Science Fiction fans - what do you think of this? 😉
December 28, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Science Fiction fans - what do you think of this? 😉
Microsoft Copilot - Is it suddenly getting better?
Anyone tried it lately?
Unexpectedly seems to be keeping pace with (& sometimes outdoing) GPT-5.2 & Gemini 3.
Or have I just had a lucky run?
Anyone tried it lately?
Unexpectedly seems to be keeping pace with (& sometimes outdoing) GPT-5.2 & Gemini 3.
Or have I just had a lucky run?
December 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Microsoft Copilot - Is it suddenly getting better?
Anyone tried it lately?
Unexpectedly seems to be keeping pace with (& sometimes outdoing) GPT-5.2 & Gemini 3.
Or have I just had a lucky run?
Anyone tried it lately?
Unexpectedly seems to be keeping pace with (& sometimes outdoing) GPT-5.2 & Gemini 3.
Or have I just had a lucky run?
We’ve reached the point where AI reads your emails… and replies to emails written by another AI.
‘Real Genius’ (1985) saw this coming: students recording lectures on tape until even the professor was just a tape recorder.
We’re nearly at ‘no humans in the room.’
‘Real Genius’ (1985) saw this coming: students recording lectures on tape until even the professor was just a tape recorder.
We’re nearly at ‘no humans in the room.’
December 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
We’ve reached the point where AI reads your emails… and replies to emails written by another AI.
‘Real Genius’ (1985) saw this coming: students recording lectures on tape until even the professor was just a tape recorder.
We’re nearly at ‘no humans in the room.’
‘Real Genius’ (1985) saw this coming: students recording lectures on tape until even the professor was just a tape recorder.
We’re nearly at ‘no humans in the room.’
“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
Sydney J. Harris
Sydney J. Harris
December 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
Sydney J. Harris
Sydney J. Harris
Watching Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social discuss The AI Mirror with Jeremy Carrette, I was struck by the link to Sydney J. Harris: education turns mirrors into windows.
AI as mirror risks a Narcissus loop. Human growth needs reflection that opens onto other minds.
youtu.be/26H3ELlJFMg?...
AI as mirror risks a Narcissus loop. Human growth needs reflection that opens onto other minds.
youtu.be/26H3ELlJFMg?...
New College Festival 2025 | Shannon Vallor: ‘The AI Mirror’
YouTube video by School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
youtu.be
December 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Watching Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social discuss The AI Mirror with Jeremy Carrette, I was struck by the link to Sydney J. Harris: education turns mirrors into windows.
AI as mirror risks a Narcissus loop. Human growth needs reflection that opens onto other minds.
youtu.be/26H3ELlJFMg?...
AI as mirror risks a Narcissus loop. Human growth needs reflection that opens onto other minds.
youtu.be/26H3ELlJFMg?...
“You said you really liked the theory that consciousness was this consequence of evolution.
That at some point in our evolutionary past there was an advantage to understanding the internal state of another.
And then we turned it in on ourselves.”
Hannah Fry to Demis Hassabis.
That at some point in our evolutionary past there was an advantage to understanding the internal state of another.
And then we turned it in on ourselves.”
Hannah Fry to Demis Hassabis.
“Put it this way, nobody’s found anything in the universe that’s non computable.” Demis Hassabis to Hannah Fry.
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
The future of intelligence | Demis Hassabis (Co-founder and CEO of DeepMind)
YouTube video by Google DeepMind
youtu.be
December 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
“You said you really liked the theory that consciousness was this consequence of evolution.
That at some point in our evolutionary past there was an advantage to understanding the internal state of another.
And then we turned it in on ourselves.”
Hannah Fry to Demis Hassabis.
That at some point in our evolutionary past there was an advantage to understanding the internal state of another.
And then we turned it in on ourselves.”
Hannah Fry to Demis Hassabis.
“Put it this way, nobody’s found anything in the universe that’s non computable.” Demis Hassabis to Hannah Fry.
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
The future of intelligence | Demis Hassabis (Co-founder and CEO of DeepMind)
YouTube video by Google DeepMind
youtu.be
December 26, 2025 at 8:45 AM
“Put it this way, nobody’s found anything in the universe that’s non computable.” Demis Hassabis to Hannah Fry.
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
Would anyone disagree?
youtu.be/PqVbypvxDto?...
LLMs struggle with maps and clocks because they don’t learn the world they inhabit.
Danijar Hafner @danijarh.bsky.social shows another path: reinforcement learning agents trained in Minecraft that build internal world models and plan inside them.
Even mining diamonds 💎
Danijar Hafner @danijarh.bsky.social shows another path: reinforcement learning agents trained in Minecraft that build internal world models and plan inside them.
Even mining diamonds 💎
I've seen people struggle to get good performance out of latent replay. But that being said, there has been some success in latent replay more recently, notably, the Dreamer models from Danijar Hafner and Tim Lillicrap:
arxiv.org/pdf/2301.04104
arxiv.org/pdf/2301.04104
arxiv.org
December 26, 2025 at 8:24 AM
LLMs struggle with maps and clocks because they don’t learn the world they inhabit.
Danijar Hafner @danijarh.bsky.social shows another path: reinforcement learning agents trained in Minecraft that build internal world models and plan inside them.
Even mining diamonds 💎
Danijar Hafner @danijarh.bsky.social shows another path: reinforcement learning agents trained in Minecraft that build internal world models and plan inside them.
Even mining diamonds 💎
Modelling others creates ourselves.
This seems to be a theme in the work of @anilseth.bsky.social , @alisongopnik.bsky.social & many others.
How far do you agree?
This seems to be a theme in the work of @anilseth.bsky.social , @alisongopnik.bsky.social & many others.
How far do you agree?
December 24, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Modelling others creates ourselves.
This seems to be a theme in the work of @anilseth.bsky.social , @alisongopnik.bsky.social & many others.
How far do you agree?
This seems to be a theme in the work of @anilseth.bsky.social , @alisongopnik.bsky.social & many others.
How far do you agree?
Do you think that our models of others lead to our models of ourselves?
December 23, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Do you think that our models of others lead to our models of ourselves?
I wondered how Ed Witten’s 11 dimensional M-theory (string theory) could be compatible with Juan Maldacena’s 2 dimensional Holographic Principle.
It appears the extra dimensions emerge from the ‘flat’ boundary as this image attempts to convey.
It appears the extra dimensions emerge from the ‘flat’ boundary as this image attempts to convey.
December 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I wondered how Ed Witten’s 11 dimensional M-theory (string theory) could be compatible with Juan Maldacena’s 2 dimensional Holographic Principle.
It appears the extra dimensions emerge from the ‘flat’ boundary as this image attempts to convey.
It appears the extra dimensions emerge from the ‘flat’ boundary as this image attempts to convey.
The Universe’s Secret Maze?
I asked ChatGPT to explain Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Amplituhedron, especially in relation to the Holographic Universe idea. This is what it generated. I quite like it.
But how accurate is it?
I asked ChatGPT to explain Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Amplituhedron, especially in relation to the Holographic Universe idea. This is what it generated. I quite like it.
But how accurate is it?
December 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
The Universe’s Secret Maze?
I asked ChatGPT to explain Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Amplituhedron, especially in relation to the Holographic Universe idea. This is what it generated. I quite like it.
But how accurate is it?
I asked ChatGPT to explain Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Amplituhedron, especially in relation to the Holographic Universe idea. This is what it generated. I quite like it.
But how accurate is it?
Reposted by Scott McFarnell
𝗢𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗔 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺
Excellent paper discussing how considering biology is important to understand consciousness.
Really enjoyed this one.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
#neuroskyence
Excellent paper discussing how considering biology is important to understand consciousness.
Really enjoyed this one.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
#neuroskyence
December 21, 2025 at 4:50 PM
𝗢𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗔 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺
Excellent paper discussing how considering biology is important to understand consciousness.
Really enjoyed this one.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
#neuroskyence
Excellent paper discussing how considering biology is important to understand consciousness.
Really enjoyed this one.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
#neuroskyence
Where are thoughts in the brain? Are they in the brain?
December 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Where are thoughts in the brain? Are they in the brain?
Reposted by Scott McFarnell
1/2 🎉🎉🎉 New paper alert!!
Read this to see why we don’t think P and A are two *types* of C, but two conditions for C. And why we think this can truly advance the field and solve controversies. Open access until Feb 5th:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mHug4sIRv...
Read this to see why we don’t think P and A are two *types* of C, but two conditions for C. And why we think this can truly advance the field and solve controversies. Open access until Feb 5th:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mHug4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:51 PM
1/2 🎉🎉🎉 New paper alert!!
Read this to see why we don’t think P and A are two *types* of C, but two conditions for C. And why we think this can truly advance the field and solve controversies. Open access until Feb 5th:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mHug4sIRv...
Read this to see why we don’t think P and A are two *types* of C, but two conditions for C. And why we think this can truly advance the field and solve controversies. Open access until Feb 5th:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mHug4sIRv...
Looking for recommendations from this lineup: what would you watch first and why?
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• King of New York (1990)
• War (2019)
• Doctor Sleep (2019)
• Frankenstein (2025)
• Crank (2006)
• Thief (1981)
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• King of New York (1990)
• War (2019)
• Doctor Sleep (2019)
• Frankenstein (2025)
• Crank (2006)
• Thief (1981)
December 20, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Looking for recommendations from this lineup: what would you watch first and why?
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• King of New York (1990)
• War (2019)
• Doctor Sleep (2019)
• Frankenstein (2025)
• Crank (2006)
• Thief (1981)
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• King of New York (1990)
• War (2019)
• Doctor Sleep (2019)
• Frankenstein (2025)
• Crank (2006)
• Thief (1981)
Quick A/B test: same prompt, same task. Illustrate the lyrics of a famous song. Google’s Gemini 3 Nano Banana Pro is on the left, ChatGPT Images on the right.
Which image wins for you, and what song do you think it is?
Which image wins for you, and what song do you think it is?
December 19, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Quick A/B test: same prompt, same task. Illustrate the lyrics of a famous song. Google’s Gemini 3 Nano Banana Pro is on the left, ChatGPT Images on the right.
Which image wins for you, and what song do you think it is?
Which image wins for you, and what song do you think it is?
Gil Gerard (23.01.1943 – 16.12.2025)
Buck Rogers RIP
Buck Rogers RIP
December 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Gil Gerard (23.01.1943 – 16.12.2025)
Buck Rogers RIP
Buck Rogers RIP
“The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August” by Claire North.
Fantastic, philosophical novel - think Groundhog Day/Life After Life/Replay.
This time, the protagonist can remember every previous life in perfect detail as he lives the same life over & over again.
What would you do?
Fantastic, philosophical novel - think Groundhog Day/Life After Life/Replay.
This time, the protagonist can remember every previous life in perfect detail as he lives the same life over & over again.
What would you do?
December 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM
“The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August” by Claire North.
Fantastic, philosophical novel - think Groundhog Day/Life After Life/Replay.
This time, the protagonist can remember every previous life in perfect detail as he lives the same life over & over again.
What would you do?
Fantastic, philosophical novel - think Groundhog Day/Life After Life/Replay.
This time, the protagonist can remember every previous life in perfect detail as he lives the same life over & over again.
What would you do?
“If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
December 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
“If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein