Tomer Ullman
@tomerullman.bsky.social
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University. Computation, cognition, development.
Reposted by Tomer Ullman
ICYMI
I wrote a funny book to trick children into reading literature!
I wrote a funny book to trick children into reading literature!
After generations of family adventures, Sawyer Lee is determined to sink in the couch! The problem is that it will take a regrettable amount of energy for him to escape the mysteries, conspiracies, and gourd-based festivities the whole town throws his way.
us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
ICYMI
I wrote a funny book to trick children into reading literature!
I wrote a funny book to trick children into reading literature!
new pre-print,
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
new pre-print,
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
can we all agree on a short designator to the paragraph "LLMs have proven surprisingly useful at (X), but are still not great at (Y), and we don't uite understand what's going on" and just move to using that?
Feels like it would save time/space for many papers to both Reader and Writer.
Feels like it would save time/space for many papers to both Reader and Writer.
November 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM
can we all agree on a short designator to the paragraph "LLMs have proven surprisingly useful at (X), but are still not great at (Y), and we don't uite understand what's going on" and just move to using that?
Feels like it would save time/space for many papers to both Reader and Writer.
Feels like it would save time/space for many papers to both Reader and Writer.
[whispering to date while watching Frankenstein when Frankenstein first appears on the screen] That's The Monster
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
[whispering to date while watching Frankenstein when Frankenstein first appears on the screen] That's The Monster
the girl (9) made a postcard for Illinois. I'm not exactly sure on the "Why" but full marks for the "What"
November 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
the girl (9) made a postcard for Illinois. I'm not exactly sure on the "Why" but full marks for the "What"
PART 2: LETTERS
1. "warn" people ahead of time that you are going to ask them for letters, it takes a while to write these.
2. Some ppl think more letters = better. I don't. Letters are not additive, they average. If you have 4 letters that correspond to [8, 8, 9, 6], just send in the top 3.
1. "warn" people ahead of time that you are going to ask them for letters, it takes a while to write these.
2. Some ppl think more letters = better. I don't. Letters are not additive, they average. If you have 4 letters that correspond to [8, 8, 9, 6], just send in the top 3.
PART 1: THE RESEARCH STATEMENT
This is about 'WHAT is it that you want to do, why this PLACE/PI specifically, why are YOU the relevant person to be doing THIS'.
Standard structure:
There is no one right way to do this, but here is a good breakdown:
This is about 'WHAT is it that you want to do, why this PLACE/PI specifically, why are YOU the relevant person to be doing THIS'.
Standard structure:
There is no one right way to do this, but here is a good breakdown:
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
PART 2: LETTERS
1. "warn" people ahead of time that you are going to ask them for letters, it takes a while to write these.
2. Some ppl think more letters = better. I don't. Letters are not additive, they average. If you have 4 letters that correspond to [8, 8, 9, 6], just send in the top 3.
1. "warn" people ahead of time that you are going to ask them for letters, it takes a while to write these.
2. Some ppl think more letters = better. I don't. Letters are not additive, they average. If you have 4 letters that correspond to [8, 8, 9, 6], just send in the top 3.
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
November 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
for various reasons I had to briefly explain the plot of Hamlet to my seminar class yesterday (turns out none of the students had read or seen it), and so I got to use the phrase "Hamlet is Big Mad about this"
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
for various reasons I had to briefly explain the plot of Hamlet to my seminar class yesterday (turns out none of the students had read or seen it), and so I got to use the phrase "Hamlet is Big Mad about this"
mid-semester shout out to Andrew Shtulman's book "Learning to Imagine"; I'm teaching a seminar on imagination and pretense, and the book has fun and useful, and leads to interesting discussions
November 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
mid-semester shout out to Andrew Shtulman's book "Learning to Imagine"; I'm teaching a seminar on imagination and pretense, and the book has fun and useful, and leads to interesting discussions
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
as above, so below
November 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
as above, so below
מסורת האלווין: בבוקר אחרי, הילדים מוסרים את מה שנשאר תמורת מתנה, וזה מוסדר בחוזה.
(דרך ללמוד על פרצות בחוק. בגרסאות קודמות של החוזה לא היה כתוב איזה מתנה הם יקבלו ומתי, למשל)
(דרך ללמוד על פרצות בחוק. בגרסאות קודמות של החוזה לא היה כתוב איזה מתנה הם יקבלו ומתי, למשל)
November 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
מסורת האלווין: בבוקר אחרי, הילדים מוסרים את מה שנשאר תמורת מתנה, וזה מוסדר בחוזה.
(דרך ללמוד על פרצות בחוק. בגרסאות קודמות של החוזה לא היה כתוב איזה מתנה הם יקבלו ומתי, למשל)
(דרך ללמוד על פרצות בחוק. בגרסאות קודמות של החוזה לא היה כתוב איזה מתנה הם יקבלו ומתי, למשל)
a relevant False Knees
October 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
a relevant False Knees
[moments after creating my AI digital clone]
ME: alright clone, do my chores
CLONE-ME: no
US: my god, it worked
ME: alright clone, do my chores
CLONE-ME: no
US: my god, it worked
October 30, 2025 at 1:02 PM
[moments after creating my AI digital clone]
ME: alright clone, do my chores
CLONE-ME: no
US: my god, it worked
ME: alright clone, do my chores
CLONE-ME: no
US: my god, it worked
"and how wide do you want your stairs?"
"oh, about 1 Yuki"
"...what"
"oh, about 1 Yuki"
"...what"
October 29, 2025 at 12:58 PM
"and how wide do you want your stairs?"
"oh, about 1 Yuki"
"...what"
"oh, about 1 Yuki"
"...what"
Reposted by Tomer Ullman
if I were a VC I would interview potential employees just on their ability to categorize AI startups as [potentially legit] / [impossible] / [nonsensical] / [tractable but dystopian]
October 28, 2025 at 8:44 PM
if I were a VC I would interview potential employees just on their ability to categorize AI startups as [potentially legit] / [impossible] / [nonsensical] / [tractable but dystopian]
I got an invitation to use the "Nature Research Assistant", put up a paper on intuitive physics and asked it for more references to relevant papers; can you guess why I marked those parts in red
October 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
I got an invitation to use the "Nature Research Assistant", put up a paper on intuitive physics and asked it for more references to relevant papers; can you guess why I marked those parts in red
קיימברידג׳, הגזמת
October 27, 2025 at 12:58 PM
קיימברידג׳, הגזמת
Reposted by Tomer Ullman
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
October 24, 2025 at 7:15 PM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
overheard in coffee-shop convo now between two tech bros.:
"I don't want to think about AI 24/7, you know? I want to think about other stuff! Like...like...stoicism, you know?"
"I don't want to think about AI 24/7, you know? I want to think about other stuff! Like...like...stoicism, you know?"
October 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
overheard in coffee-shop convo now between two tech bros.:
"I don't want to think about AI 24/7, you know? I want to think about other stuff! Like...like...stoicism, you know?"
"I don't want to think about AI 24/7, you know? I want to think about other stuff! Like...like...stoicism, you know?"
Reposted by Tomer Ullman
In case you don't know already, the journal Open Mind has a Bluesky account that automatically posts new papers:
@openmindjournal.bsky.social
The journal is diamond open access (free to read, free to publish) thanks to the support of MIT Press, Harvard Library, & MIT Library.
@openmindjournal.bsky.social
The journal is diamond open access (free to read, free to publish) thanks to the support of MIT Press, Harvard Library, & MIT Library.
October 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
In case you don't know already, the journal Open Mind has a Bluesky account that automatically posts new papers:
@openmindjournal.bsky.social
The journal is diamond open access (free to read, free to publish) thanks to the support of MIT Press, Harvard Library, & MIT Library.
@openmindjournal.bsky.social
The journal is diamond open access (free to read, free to publish) thanks to the support of MIT Press, Harvard Library, & MIT Library.
(niche nonsense)
I've been reading on taboos and unsavory exchanges (part of a reading group on vagueness/indirect speech)
The notion is that some exchanges cross moral boundaries, e.g. buying a kidney or a child; so you ways around that
I've been reading on taboos and unsavory exchanges (part of a reading group on vagueness/indirect speech)
The notion is that some exchanges cross moral boundaries, e.g. buying a kidney or a child; so you ways around that
October 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM
(niche nonsense)
I've been reading on taboos and unsavory exchanges (part of a reading group on vagueness/indirect speech)
The notion is that some exchanges cross moral boundaries, e.g. buying a kidney or a child; so you ways around that
I've been reading on taboos and unsavory exchanges (part of a reading group on vagueness/indirect speech)
The notion is that some exchanges cross moral boundaries, e.g. buying a kidney or a child; so you ways around that