Eddie Lee
@spintheory.bsky.social
Taking physics and bringing it to Life. 물리학을 생명으로. Assistant Professor in Physics, Seoul National University (fall of 2026). At Complexity Science Hub. Team leader PoETs Lab.
https://eddielee.co
https://eddielee.co
Pinned
🦋🧪 New research out in Royal Society Open Science! We used #MachineLearning to discover that armed #conflict in #Africa sorts into three distinct types—and found a surprising warning about predicting #violence. 🧵
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
People are often using AI to increase the seeming complexity of minimal ideas, where I find I spend most of my time taking highly complex ideas and compressing them as much as possible into minimal descriptions. Can AI do that? I would say not.
January 7, 2026 at 1:59 PM
People are often using AI to increase the seeming complexity of minimal ideas, where I find I spend most of my time taking highly complex ideas and compressing them as much as possible into minimal descriptions. Can AI do that? I would say not.
It’s times like these that remind me of Asimov’s Mule. And an interesting question about how far we can go beyond probabilities in looking ahead with social behavior.
January 6, 2026 at 8:48 PM
It’s times like these that remind me of Asimov’s Mule. And an interesting question about how far we can go beyond probabilities in looking ahead with social behavior.
Your daily reminder that in complex conflict scenarios, long-term strategy is important: arxiv.org/abs/2508.13213
AI sustains higher strategic tension than humans in chess
Strategic decision-making involves managing the tension between immediate opportunities and long-term objectives. We study this trade-off in chess by characterizing and comparing dynamics between huma...
arxiv.org
January 3, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Your daily reminder that in complex conflict scenarios, long-term strategy is important: arxiv.org/abs/2508.13213
„ Die Empfindung sagt mir, dass etwas ist; das Denken, was etwas ist; das fühlen, was etwas für mich bedeutet; die Intuition, was etwas werden kann.“
- Jung
The four basic mental functions: sensation, thought, feeling, and intuition.
- Jung
The four basic mental functions: sensation, thought, feeling, and intuition.
December 30, 2025 at 9:08 AM
„ Die Empfindung sagt mir, dass etwas ist; das Denken, was etwas ist; das fühlen, was etwas für mich bedeutet; die Intuition, was etwas werden kann.“
- Jung
The four basic mental functions: sensation, thought, feeling, and intuition.
- Jung
The four basic mental functions: sensation, thought, feeling, and intuition.
“Unreason darkens that gap of time bridged by our lightspeed ships, and in the darkness uncertainty and disproportion grow like weeds.”
- Ursula Le Guin
- Ursula Le Guin
December 27, 2025 at 9:34 PM
“Unreason darkens that gap of time bridged by our lightspeed ships, and in the darkness uncertainty and disproportion grow like weeds.”
- Ursula Le Guin
- Ursula Le Guin
2026년 가을부터 서울대학교 물리학과에 조교수로 합류하게 되어 매우 기쁘게 알립니다!
저에게는 새로운 장이 될 것이며, 학과에서 이미 진행되고 있는 놀라운 연구에 새롭고 복합적이며 다양한 기여를 더하게 될 것입니다.
마지막으로, 이러한 혼란스러운 시기에 민주주의와 법치주의를 수호하는 젊지만 활기찬 문화를 포용하는 곳으로 가게 된다는 것을 말할 수 있어 안도감을 느낍니다.
새해를 앞두고 미리 건배합니다! 🥂
저에게는 새로운 장이 될 것이며, 학과에서 이미 진행되고 있는 놀라운 연구에 새롭고 복합적이며 다양한 기여를 더하게 될 것입니다.
마지막으로, 이러한 혼란스러운 시기에 민주주의와 법치주의를 수호하는 젊지만 활기찬 문화를 포용하는 곳으로 가게 된다는 것을 말할 수 있어 안도감을 느낍니다.
새해를 앞두고 미리 건배합니다! 🥂
December 27, 2025 at 10:03 AM
2026년 가을부터 서울대학교 물리학과에 조교수로 합류하게 되어 매우 기쁘게 알립니다!
저에게는 새로운 장이 될 것이며, 학과에서 이미 진행되고 있는 놀라운 연구에 새롭고 복합적이며 다양한 기여를 더하게 될 것입니다.
마지막으로, 이러한 혼란스러운 시기에 민주주의와 법치주의를 수호하는 젊지만 활기찬 문화를 포용하는 곳으로 가게 된다는 것을 말할 수 있어 안도감을 느낍니다.
새해를 앞두고 미리 건배합니다! 🥂
저에게는 새로운 장이 될 것이며, 학과에서 이미 진행되고 있는 놀라운 연구에 새롭고 복합적이며 다양한 기여를 더하게 될 것입니다.
마지막으로, 이러한 혼란스러운 시기에 민주주의와 법치주의를 수호하는 젊지만 활기찬 문화를 포용하는 곳으로 가게 된다는 것을 말할 수 있어 안도감을 느낍니다.
새해를 앞두고 미리 건배합니다! 🥂
Merry xmas to Boltzmann!
December 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Merry xmas to Boltzmann!
🦋🧪 New research out in Royal Society Open Science! We used #MachineLearning to discover that armed #conflict in #Africa sorts into three distinct types—and found a surprising warning about predicting #violence. 🧵
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 PM
🦋🧪 New research out in Royal Society Open Science! We used #MachineLearning to discover that armed #conflict in #Africa sorts into three distinct types—and found a surprising warning about predicting #violence. 🧵
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
Great story about the power law that describes how prices on average move with buying and selling on the #stock market by the one and only Jean-Philippe Bouchaud.
#physics #complexity
🧪🦋
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
#physics #complexity
🧪🦋
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
December 16, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Great story about the power law that describes how prices on average move with buying and selling on the #stock market by the one and only Jean-Philippe Bouchaud.
#physics #complexity
🧪🦋
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
#physics #complexity
🧪🦋
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
@Neon_sci I'm noticing that a lot of the SCBI precip data is blank when I download the data. Does anyone know what's up? NEON website claims all the data should be present.
🧪🌳
🧪🌳
December 15, 2025 at 4:41 PM
@Neon_sci I'm noticing that a lot of the SCBI precip data is blank when I download the data. Does anyone know what's up? NEON website claims all the data should be present.
🧪🌳
🧪🌳
Finally got around to read Darwin. The clarity of thought is wholly impressive and still compelling today.
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
November 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Finally got around to read Darwin. The clarity of thought is wholly impressive and still compelling today.
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
#Schumpeter on #creative #destruction. Note the mention of #globalization and ref to #biology:
"The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process...
(1/2)
🧪🦋
"The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process...
(1/2)
🧪🦋
November 17, 2025 at 1:02 PM
#Schumpeter on #creative #destruction. Note the mention of #globalization and ref to #biology:
"The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process...
(1/2)
🧪🦋
"The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process...
(1/2)
🧪🦋
This is nuts
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This is nuts
A fun read about group selection on culture, not genes 🧪
What changes when humans change: individuals with genes, or groups with culture?
In this month's Q&A, I talk with @twaring.bsky.social about his argument that humans are going through an evolutionary transition: groups are the new individual, and culture is the new genome. 🧪
In this month's Q&A, I talk with @twaring.bsky.social about his argument that humans are going through an evolutionary transition: groups are the new individual, and culture is the new genome. 🧪
The individual isn't what it used to be
Tim Waring thinks human evolution is shifting from genetic and individual to cultural and collective
www.reviewertoo.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:31 PM
A fun read about group selection on culture, not genes 🧪
🧪🦋
Last month's Q&A with @spintheory.bsky.social dug into the ~physics~ of polarization in the US Senate and what it has to do with the simple neural network models that sparked the AI boom:
Politicians talk big. But what if (with a bit of physics) you could let their votes speak for themselves?
In this Q&A, I chat with @spintheory.bsky.social about what his mathematical maps of US Senate politics reveal about polarization — with a surprising link to the physics foundations of AI 🧪⚛️
In this Q&A, I chat with @spintheory.bsky.social about what his mathematical maps of US Senate politics reveal about polarization — with a surprising link to the physics foundations of AI 🧪⚛️
November 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM
🧪🦋
🍁A call for PhD positions in complex systems relevant to ecology
#Ecosystems, #ecology, and #forests as an example are marvelous examples of #complex systems. In collaboration with our colleagues at BOKU, we are also interested in applicants who want to study these topics! Applications due soon!
🧪🦋🌳
🧪🦋🌳
Ready to tackle the world’s most complex challenges?
We are looking for #PhD candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues.
csh.ac.at/education/gr...
We are looking for #PhD candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues.
csh.ac.at/education/gr...
November 7, 2025 at 6:52 PM
🍁A call for PhD positions in complex systems relevant to ecology
#Ecosystems, #ecology, and #forests as an example are marvelous examples of #complex systems. In collaboration with our colleagues at BOKU, we are also interested in applicants who want to study these topics! Applications due soon!
🧪🦋🌳
🧪🦋🌳
Ready to tackle the world’s most complex challenges?
We are looking for #PhD candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues.
csh.ac.at/education/gr...
We are looking for #PhD candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues.
csh.ac.at/education/gr...
November 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM
#Ecosystems, #ecology, and #forests as an example are marvelous examples of #complex systems. In collaboration with our colleagues at BOKU, we are also interested in applicants who want to study these topics! Applications due soon!
🧪🦋🌳
🧪🦋🌳
Highlighting this Simons postdoc fellowship again. Looking for junior postdocs who might team up with Brian Enquist and me.
Keywords include nonlinear dynamics, reaction diffusion, population dynamics, metabolic scaling.
🧪🦋🌳
Keywords include nonlinear dynamics, reaction diffusion, population dynamics, metabolic scaling.
🧪🦋🌳
This is a great Simons foundation #postdoc opportunity for theorists with incipient interest. If you’re interested in working in quantitative laws of life in ecosystems, please message me.
Due date Dec. 4.
Note the 3 years w/in PhD condition.
#ecology #physics #maths
🧪🦋
Due date Dec. 4.
Note the 3 years w/in PhD condition.
#ecology #physics #maths
🧪🦋
Postdoc Opportunity - Interested in plant scaling, quantitative botany, or theoretical plant biology? join our group to explore how plant form, function & scaling principles connect across levels of organization
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology🧪🌾🌐
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology🧪🌾🌐
October 29, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Highlighting this Simons postdoc fellowship again. Looking for junior postdocs who might team up with Brian Enquist and me.
Keywords include nonlinear dynamics, reaction diffusion, population dynamics, metabolic scaling.
🧪🦋🌳
Keywords include nonlinear dynamics, reaction diffusion, population dynamics, metabolic scaling.
🧪🦋🌳
“the progress of culture consists only in the ever-increasing permeation of all of life by artistic purposes.”
- Klimt
- Klimt
October 28, 2025 at 10:04 AM
“the progress of culture consists only in the ever-increasing permeation of all of life by artistic purposes.”
- Klimt
- Klimt
Reposted by Eddie Lee
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
This is a great Simons foundation #postdoc opportunity for theorists with incipient interest. If you’re interested in working in quantitative laws of life in ecosystems, please message me.
Due date Dec. 4.
Note the 3 years w/in PhD condition.
#ecology #physics #maths
🧪🦋
Due date Dec. 4.
Note the 3 years w/in PhD condition.
#ecology #physics #maths
🧪🦋
Postdoc Opportunity - Interested in plant scaling, quantitative botany, or theoretical plant biology? join our group to explore how plant form, function & scaling principles connect across levels of organization
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology🧪🌾🌐
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology🧪🌾🌐
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
October 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Eddie Lee
One of the most fascinating points from the Q&A:
Polarization isn't just about what we believe. It's about what we choose to make into a political issue.
Some issues divide, others unite. The Senate is voting on more polarizing issues and, predictably, getting more divided outcomes.
Polarization isn't just about what we believe. It's about what we choose to make into a political issue.
Some issues divide, others unite. The Senate is voting on more polarizing issues and, predictably, getting more divided outcomes.
@spintheory.bsky.social used statistical physics to study 50 years of #Senate votes, and accidentally recreated the network architecture that won the 2024 Nobel in Physics. He finds #polarization is more complex than R vs D. Read the Q&A with @elisecutts.bsky.social 👉 shorturl.at/TD3bN
Political (neural) networking
A Q&A with Eddie Lee on physics and polarization in the Senate
shorturl.at
October 20, 2025 at 9:17 AM
One of the most fascinating points from the Q&A:
Polarization isn't just about what we believe. It's about what we choose to make into a political issue.
Some issues divide, others unite. The Senate is voting on more polarizing issues and, predictably, getting more divided outcomes.
Polarization isn't just about what we believe. It's about what we choose to make into a political issue.
Some issues divide, others unite. The Senate is voting on more polarizing issues and, predictably, getting more divided outcomes.
The well-deserved #NobelPrize in #Economics this year reminds us how important (and really how little is known) about the dual forces of #innovation and #obsolescence as we discuss in our #arXiv #preprint.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.05182
🧪🦋
1/n
arxiv.org/abs/2505.05182
🧪🦋
1/n
Synthesis of innovation and obsolescence
Innovation and obsolescence describe the dynamics of ever-churning social and biological systems, from the development of economic markets to scientific and technological progress to biological evolut...
arxiv.org
October 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The well-deserved #NobelPrize in #Economics this year reminds us how important (and really how little is known) about the dual forces of #innovation and #obsolescence as we discuss in our #arXiv #preprint.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.05182
🧪🦋
1/n
arxiv.org/abs/2505.05182
🧪🦋
1/n
October 19, 2025 at 9:48 PM