Bret Beheim
@babeheim.bsky.social
cultural evolution, behavioral ecology, math models, data provenance, MOSAIC group leader @ Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology + faculty at the Leipzig School of Human Origins https://babeheim.com/
Thanks for the invitation! It was a lot of fun talking with you both
November 4, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Thanks for the invitation! It was a lot of fun talking with you both
There's a lot more in the paper itself, here's the link!
Opening strategies in the game of go from feudalism to superhuman AI | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Opening strategies in the game of go from feudalism to superhuman AI - Volume 7
www.cambridge.org
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
There's a lot more in the paper itself, here's the link!
Consistent with other recent work in cultural evolution, there's also strong evidence of an inverse-U relationship between player community size and behavioral diversity. The most diverse era in the game was characterized by many small groups, versus the modern game.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Consistent with other recent work in cultural evolution, there's also strong evidence of an inverse-U relationship between player community size and behavioral diversity. The most diverse era in the game was characterized by many small groups, versus the modern game.
In short, it seems like centuries of collective, cumulative innovation has done pretty well, all things considered. Humans can't play as good as AI but AI seem to have rediscovered much of the human strategic repertoire.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
In short, it seems like centuries of collective, cumulative innovation has done pretty well, all things considered. Humans can't play as good as AI but AI seem to have rediscovered much of the human strategic repertoire.
AI has introduced a lot of new moves into the game tree and defied a lot of conventional wisdom, but overall the families of strategies have only changed incrementally post-AlphaGo.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
AI has introduced a lot of new moves into the game tree and defied a lot of conventional wisdom, but overall the families of strategies have only changed incrementally post-AlphaGo.
Even though superhuman Go AI like AlphaGo have led to a measurable increase in innovation, player skill and move diversity, in the full context of historical time, the disruptiveness of AI has so far been pretty minor!
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Even though superhuman Go AI like AlphaGo have led to a measurable increase in innovation, player skill and move diversity, in the full context of historical time, the disruptiveness of AI has so far been pretty minor!
I remember when AlphaGo first appeared and beat Lee Sedol, wondering if AI was going to show us we've been playing the game wrong this whole time....
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I remember when AlphaGo first appeared and beat Lee Sedol, wondering if AI was going to show us we've been playing the game wrong this whole time....
Zooming in, it's clear the tempo of evolutionary change has increased since the arrival of the internet, with faster turnover and lower strategic diversity.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Zooming in, it's clear the tempo of evolutionary change has increased since the arrival of the internet, with faster turnover and lower strategic diversity.
The diversity of opening moves ebbs and flows with world events; industrialization, revolution and the arrival of the internet all have measurable impacts on the information ecology and strategic repertoires of high-level players
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The diversity of opening moves ebbs and flows with world events; industrialization, revolution and the arrival of the internet all have measurable impacts on the information ecology and strategic repertoires of high-level players
Using sequence alignment algorithms on historical game records, we can identify families of opening strategies, and track how they rise and fall in popularity over the centuries. Here are the most common opening sequences as a decision tree, from the 1600s up until World War II.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Using sequence alignment algorithms on historical game records, we can identify families of opening strategies, and track how they rise and fall in popularity over the centuries. Here are the most common opening sequences as a decision tree, from the 1600s up until World War II.
Relevant:
Short posts on useful concepts I : Flattery Inflation
Grotesque self-abasement can be entirely rational.
www.programmablemutter.com
August 27, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Relevant:
Your restraint is a model for us all 😅
Incidentally, this paper largely wouldn't exist without your Current Biology paper on sequence alignment algorithms, which is a huge advance for cultural evolution. Getting to this MDS plot suddenly made a lot of stuff make sense in Go.
Incidentally, this paper largely wouldn't exist without your Current Biology paper on sequence alignment algorithms, which is a huge advance for cultural evolution. Getting to this MDS plot suddenly made a lot of stuff make sense in Go.
August 27, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Your restraint is a model for us all 😅
Incidentally, this paper largely wouldn't exist without your Current Biology paper on sequence alignment algorithms, which is a huge advance for cultural evolution. Getting to this MDS plot suddenly made a lot of stuff make sense in Go.
Incidentally, this paper largely wouldn't exist without your Current Biology paper on sequence alignment algorithms, which is a huge advance for cultural evolution. Getting to this MDS plot suddenly made a lot of stuff make sense in Go.
