Neil Traft
ntraft.bsky.social
Neil Traft
@ntraft.bsky.social
PhD student at the Vermont Complex Systems Institute. Interested in ML, evolution, self-organization, & collective intelligence.

http://ntraft.com
https://t.co/ja3fdtRLdM
Haha
November 2, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Just take ten minutes to read "Lena" (and enjoy the clever reference to the old school computer vision test image). OMFG so good. qntm.org/mmacevedo
Lena
A note from the author You can now buy this story as part of my collection, Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories. This collection also includes a sequel story, titled "Driver". This articl...
qntm.org
October 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Bela Fleck is so great.
October 22, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Aurora: the best Kim Stanley Robinson by far, provocative ideas about ecosystems and generational ships. And also a really neat depiction of the evolving consciousness of an AI. I wept at the end.
October 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
For something in the "epic space opera" dimension of your list, I'll contribute Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained (a duology).

A Fire Upon the Deep was also quite fun with many clever concepts of different types of aliens.
October 20, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Seconded, as well as the rest of the Manifold trilogy. But the good thing is that they are all pretty independent, so you don't need to read them together. They all bring a heady concoction of mind-bending ideas, similar to what Greg Egan does (though no one is quite as mind-bendy as Egan).
October 20, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Hmm, fair point.
October 14, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Ahhh, talking about generative models, got it.

Yes, interesting thought... Is language fundamentally discrete??
October 13, 2025 at 5:03 PM
What even is a continuous model for vision?
October 13, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Oh, this video really brings it to life! Fantastic!
October 13, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I have found Olivia's writing worth engaging with, at least. But sometimes hard to parse, like a lot of philosophy. Potentially weak arguments hiding in that abstruseness. I don't think just having a strong opinion and wanting to be heard should constitute a conflict, but there is a line.
October 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I do know some EA folks who are real parasites on the system so I agree there's a whole category of faux "experts" causing confusion and wheedling their way into middle-management positions of minor power.
October 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I don't think that's necessary.
October 9, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Well, referring to her paper is just a way of providing commentary. The conflict of interest she's referring to is taking advice from people who have something to gain from adoption of GenAI technologies. (E.g., many experts being consulted may work for GenAI companies. Olivia is just an academic.)
October 9, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reads like satire but is actually enlightened
September 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM