Umberto Tilomelli
@tilo67.bsky.social
Graduate in philosophy and recently fascinated by neuroscience. I'm looking for learning tools and inputs. I'm an old dog trying to learn new tricks.
Also a climber.
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections
go.nature.com/4nLbCoC
go.nature.com/4nLbCoC
Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria
Nature - Surprise discovery could pave the way for new treatments against drug-resistant infections.
go.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:43 PM
By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections
go.nature.com/4nLbCoC
go.nature.com/4nLbCoC
When autumn cultivates some doubts, results flourish immediately.
November 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
When autumn cultivates some doubts, results flourish immediately.
humans and technologies are co-constitutive […] Technologies are imbued with human subjectivity and deployed by creative subjects. […]
People may use technologies in innovative and creative ways […]
Affordance: objects afford but do not determine.
How Artifacts Afford, Jenny L. Davis
People may use technologies in innovative and creative ways […]
Affordance: objects afford but do not determine.
How Artifacts Afford, Jenny L. Davis
October 11, 2025 at 12:16 PM
humans and technologies are co-constitutive […] Technologies are imbued with human subjectivity and deployed by creative subjects. […]
People may use technologies in innovative and creative ways […]
Affordance: objects afford but do not determine.
How Artifacts Afford, Jenny L. Davis
People may use technologies in innovative and creative ways […]
Affordance: objects afford but do not determine.
How Artifacts Afford, Jenny L. Davis
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Outside of the US, we're not very confused about this either.
No one would be confused about what is happening here if they saw it in another country.
September 9, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Outside of the US, we're not very confused about this either.
“same/except”: a visual relationship in which forms are clearly similar, yet slightly varied > brain perceives both sameness and difference at once.
The repetition/variation interplay is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm and depth across mediums.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/why-repetiti...
The repetition/variation interplay is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm and depth across mediums.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/why-repetiti...
The Pleasure of Patterns in Art
The interplay between repetition and variation is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm, and depth across mediums.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
August 30, 2025 at 7:21 AM
“same/except”: a visual relationship in which forms are clearly similar, yet slightly varied > brain perceives both sameness and difference at once.
The repetition/variation interplay is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm and depth across mediums.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/why-repetiti...
The repetition/variation interplay is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm and depth across mediums.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/why-repetiti...
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
“You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.” 🚲🧪
Read my story in Science Magazine on how I dealt with my "Mid-PhD Crisis".
www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org
@sciencecareers.bsky.social
#ScienceWorkingLife
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
#ScienceTwitter
Read my story in Science Magazine on how I dealt with my "Mid-PhD Crisis".
www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org
@sciencecareers.bsky.social
#ScienceWorkingLife
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
#ScienceTwitter
"For half an hour, I vented everything I had been holding in for months … my supervisor … then calmly offered a line I’ll never forget: 'You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.' That one sentence landed softly, but it cracked something open." https://scim.ag/4lt1Ru0
August 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
“You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.” 🚲🧪
Read my story in Science Magazine on how I dealt with my "Mid-PhD Crisis".
www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org
@sciencecareers.bsky.social
#ScienceWorkingLife
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
#ScienceTwitter
Read my story in Science Magazine on how I dealt with my "Mid-PhD Crisis".
www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org
@sciencecareers.bsky.social
#ScienceWorkingLife
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
#ScienceTwitter
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Neuroscience needs a new paradigm: the brain is not a machine | By Nicole Rust
“The brain is a dynamic complex system—like the weather or a megacity—whose parts interact via feedback loops that are impossible to study in isolation from each other.” iai.tv/articles/neu... #philsky #philsci #neuro
“The brain is a dynamic complex system—like the weather or a megacity—whose parts interact via feedback loops that are impossible to study in isolation from each other.” iai.tv/articles/neu... #philsky #philsci #neuro
Neuroscience needs a new paradigm: the brain is not a machine | Nicole Rust
iai.tv
August 12, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Neuroscience needs a new paradigm: the brain is not a machine | By Nicole Rust
“The brain is a dynamic complex system—like the weather or a megacity—whose parts interact via feedback loops that are impossible to study in isolation from each other.” iai.tv/articles/neu... #philsky #philsci #neuro
“The brain is a dynamic complex system—like the weather or a megacity—whose parts interact via feedback loops that are impossible to study in isolation from each other.” iai.tv/articles/neu... #philsky #philsci #neuro
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
I wrote a little bit about a cool recent paper looking at heritability estimates from very large registry data, and how we still really don't understand why outcomes track in families. A short 🧵:
We still do not understand family resemblance
...
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I wrote a little bit about a cool recent paper looking at heritability estimates from very large registry data, and how we still really don't understand why outcomes track in families. A short 🧵:
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
A short thread on free will and accountability…
Because I advance the case for free will, some people have inferred that I "must just like to blame people". But it's perfectly possible to take circumstances into account without denying some degree of personal control or responsibility.
July 7, 2025 at 8:35 PM
A short thread on free will and accountability…
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
There is - education.
I wish there were a vaccine for this cognitive error whereby people take the success of public health measures (e.g. eliminating measles from the US) as permission to abandon the public health measures
June 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM
There is - education.
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Bjorn Bremb’s arguing that most systems in living organisms are neither completely deterministic nor completely stochastic, but in a middle domain: underdetermined
June 12, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Bjorn Bremb’s arguing that most systems in living organisms are neither completely deterministic nor completely stochastic, but in a middle domain: underdetermined
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Gemma de les Coves being entirely honest from the start. #Helgoland2025
June 13, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Gemma de les Coves being entirely honest from the start. #Helgoland2025
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Zeilinger: One day another theory will replace quantum mechanics, and it will be even more counterintuitive. (And those who now criticise quantum mechanics will want it back.)
June 10, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Zeilinger: One day another theory will replace quantum mechanics, and it will be even more counterintuitive. (And those who now criticise quantum mechanics will want it back.)
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Classic NS, & I mean that in a friendly way. No experiments in quantum physics will, or need, resolve this issue. But I'm sad that I can't get at the article all the same.
(BTW there is no "partial free will". Either we have it or we don't. Whatever volition we have is obviously highly constrained.)
(BTW there is no "partial free will". Either we have it or we don't. Whatever volition we have is obviously highly constrained.)
Whether or not we have partial free will could soon be resolved by experiments in quantum physics, with potential consequences for everything from religion to quantum computers
Do we have free will? Quantum experiments may soon reveal the answer
Whether or not we have partial free will could soon be resolved by experiments in quantum physics, with potential consequences for everything from religion to quantum computers
www.newscientist.com
May 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Classic NS, & I mean that in a friendly way. No experiments in quantum physics will, or need, resolve this issue. But I'm sad that I can't get at the article all the same.
(BTW there is no "partial free will". Either we have it or we don't. Whatever volition we have is obviously highly constrained.)
(BTW there is no "partial free will". Either we have it or we don't. Whatever volition we have is obviously highly constrained.)
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Seeing as it's getting topical again, my book INNATE lays out how we can think about genetic influences on behavior without being essentialist about it. Barb Kaiser called it "A powerful antidote to genetic determinism"... press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Innate
A leading neuroscientist explains why your personal traits are more innate than you think
press.princeton.edu
May 26, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Seeing as it's getting topical again, my book INNATE lays out how we can think about genetic influences on behavior without being essentialist about it. Barb Kaiser called it "A powerful antidote to genetic determinism"... press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
A thought for Saturday mornings in spring:
Electric cars have sparked great debates, but it can never be too early for electric gardening tools! We need a moratorium on two-stroke gardening engines or it will always be like waking up to an 80s motorbike grand prix.
Electric cars have sparked great debates, but it can never be too early for electric gardening tools! We need a moratorium on two-stroke gardening engines or it will always be like waking up to an 80s motorbike grand prix.
May 24, 2025 at 7:36 AM
A thought for Saturday mornings in spring:
Electric cars have sparked great debates, but it can never be too early for electric gardening tools! We need a moratorium on two-stroke gardening engines or it will always be like waking up to an 80s motorbike grand prix.
Electric cars have sparked great debates, but it can never be too early for electric gardening tools! We need a moratorium on two-stroke gardening engines or it will always be like waking up to an 80s motorbike grand prix.
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?
Don't expect simple mappings between mind and brain.
Check out this piece I wrote for Aeon.
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
Don't expect simple mappings between mind and brain.
Check out this piece I wrote for Aeon.
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
aeon.co
May 19, 2025 at 5:28 PM
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?
Don't expect simple mappings between mind and brain.
Check out this piece I wrote for Aeon.
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
Don't expect simple mappings between mind and brain.
Check out this piece I wrote for Aeon.
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
In a living cell, there is not only dependence of activity on activity but of existence on activity [… :] on the very metabolic activity that they enable for their ongoing repair and replacement […] as an existential imperative.
1/2
A Drive to Survive by
@kathrynnave.bsky.social
1/2
A Drive to Survive by
@kathrynnave.bsky.social
May 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
In a living cell, there is not only dependence of activity on activity but of existence on activity [… :] on the very metabolic activity that they enable for their ongoing repair and replacement […] as an existential imperative.
1/2
A Drive to Survive by
@kathrynnave.bsky.social
1/2
A Drive to Survive by
@kathrynnave.bsky.social
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
From Michael Muthukrishna's hopeful message for building a better, more sustainable future, to how humans can stay in charge in a world populated by algorithms, we've compiled a collection of the best reads for this year's graduates:
mitpress.mit.edu/the-best-rea...
mitpress.mit.edu/the-best-rea...
The best reads for recent graduates
Big books on science, technology, and design for eager minds.
mitpress.mit.edu
May 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
From Michael Muthukrishna's hopeful message for building a better, more sustainable future, to how humans can stay in charge in a world populated by algorithms, we've compiled a collection of the best reads for this year's graduates:
mitpress.mit.edu/the-best-rea...
mitpress.mit.edu/the-best-rea...
KIBRA & PKMζ proteins stabilize each other by forming a bond.
If a protein needs to be replaced, the other remains in place. Bond & its location at the synapses activated in learning are preserved: a new partner can slot itself in, perpetuating your memories.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-molecula...
If a protein needs to be replaced, the other remains in place. Bond & its location at the synapses activated in learning are preserved: a new partner can slot itself in, perpetuating your memories.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-molecula...
The Molecular Bond That Helps Secure Your Memories | Quanta Magazine
How do memories last a lifetime when the molecules that form them turn over within days, weeks or months? An interaction between two proteins points to a molecular basis for memory.
www.quantamagazine.org
May 7, 2025 at 5:01 PM
KIBRA & PKMζ proteins stabilize each other by forming a bond.
If a protein needs to be replaced, the other remains in place. Bond & its location at the synapses activated in learning are preserved: a new partner can slot itself in, perpetuating your memories.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-molecula...
If a protein needs to be replaced, the other remains in place. Bond & its location at the synapses activated in learning are preserved: a new partner can slot itself in, perpetuating your memories.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-molecula...
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Apropos absolutely nothing:
Everything you put *into* ChatGPT/Copilot etc becomes a part of their training data, too.
That means if you ask it a question like, "is Carl in Accounting a cheat?" it might say no, but also "Carl in Accounting is a cheat" is part of its training data.
Everything you put *into* ChatGPT/Copilot etc becomes a part of their training data, too.
That means if you ask it a question like, "is Carl in Accounting a cheat?" it might say no, but also "Carl in Accounting is a cheat" is part of its training data.
May 7, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Apropos absolutely nothing:
Everything you put *into* ChatGPT/Copilot etc becomes a part of their training data, too.
That means if you ask it a question like, "is Carl in Accounting a cheat?" it might say no, but also "Carl in Accounting is a cheat" is part of its training data.
Everything you put *into* ChatGPT/Copilot etc becomes a part of their training data, too.
That means if you ask it a question like, "is Carl in Accounting a cheat?" it might say no, but also "Carl in Accounting is a cheat" is part of its training data.
“even if you could incorporate every detail about the imaged neurons and their interactions with one another, the connectome would still represent a single moment in time, devoid of information about how these connections change with experience.”
www.thetransmitter.org/connectome/c...
www.thetransmitter.org/connectome/c...
Connectomics 2.0: Simulating the brain
With a complete fly connectome in hand, researchers are taking the next step to model how brain circuits fuel function.
www.thetransmitter.org
May 2, 2025 at 12:09 PM
“even if you could incorporate every detail about the imaged neurons and their interactions with one another, the connectome would still represent a single moment in time, devoid of information about how these connections change with experience.”
www.thetransmitter.org/connectome/c...
www.thetransmitter.org/connectome/c...
Reposted by Umberto Tilomelli
Way too many people hear “language model” and think the algorithm understands language. It does not. It reduces letters to numbers and looks for patterns in the numbers. That’s all it does. That’s all it can do. It does not derive meaning; it does not extrapolate consequences.
“THE ALGORITHM IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE CAPABLE OF DISCERNMENT.”
Never. AI is a misnomer. It’s not intelligent. It’s a calculator. If you’re like “calculators can’t do language, silly,” that’s the entire goddamn point.
Never. AI is a misnomer. It’s not intelligent. It’s a calculator. If you’re like “calculators can’t do language, silly,” that’s the entire goddamn point.
As a culture, we don’t teach nearly enough media literacy and critical interrogation of sources, but if there aren’t sources, it’s not possible to interrogate them, and with LLMs, sometimes, even if a source is cited, it’s unreliable. The algorithm is not and never will be capable of discernment.
April 25, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Way too many people hear “language model” and think the algorithm understands language. It does not. It reduces letters to numbers and looks for patterns in the numbers. That’s all it does. That’s all it can do. It does not derive meaning; it does not extrapolate consequences.