Maxim Raginsky
@mraginsky.bsky.social
Reposted by Maxim Raginsky
Have seen this news (cims.nyu.edu/dynamic/news...) about NYU professor Robert Kohn. As good a time as any to share a piece of his work which I found cool: when studying deterministic control problems, one can still end up with second-order PDEs for their solution: math.nyu.edu/~kohn/papers....
January 15, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Have seen this news (cims.nyu.edu/dynamic/news...) about NYU professor Robert Kohn. As good a time as any to share a piece of his work which I found cool: when studying deterministic control problems, one can still end up with second-order PDEs for their solution: math.nyu.edu/~kohn/papers....
Reposted by Maxim Raginsky
When are impossibility proofs misleading? In infinitefaculty.substack.com/p/be-wary-of..., I discuss a common issue I see: proofs that are logically valid, but where the underlying assumptions are unjustified. I discuss ‘proofs’ that cognition cannot be tractably learned, and that LMs are 1/
Be wary of assumptions in impossibility arguments
A proof is only as good as its assumptions
infinitefaculty.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:33 PM
When are impossibility proofs misleading? In infinitefaculty.substack.com/p/be-wary-of..., I discuss a common issue I see: proofs that are logically valid, but where the underlying assumptions are unjustified. I discuss ‘proofs’ that cognition cannot be tractably learned, and that LMs are 1/
From my fall course evaluations: "Go to the lectures, Maxim is a great orator and he covers relevant material while also making the lectures enjoyable to listen to." I'll take it.
January 13, 2026 at 3:28 PM
From my fall course evaluations: "Go to the lectures, Maxim is a great orator and he covers relevant material while also making the lectures enjoyable to listen to." I'll take it.
From “Leopardi and the machine age” by Hilda L. Norman:
January 13, 2026 at 5:22 AM
From “Leopardi and the machine age” by Hilda L. Norman:
Solaris
Stalker
Stalker
we often talk about “what anime would you adapt into a movie” but here is a reverse: what movies would you adapt into an anime?
January 13, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Solaris
Stalker
Stalker
the drukpa kagyu lineage of AI
the hungry ghost
it destroyed its jar
yes
YES
the ghost is out
it destroyed its jar
yes
YES
the ghost is out
January 13, 2026 at 1:50 AM
the drukpa kagyu lineage of AI
vecnological singularity
January 12, 2026 at 3:55 AM
vecnological singularity
I need to make a playlist consisting only of Boris Vian and Mose Allison.
January 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM
I need to make a playlist consisting only of Boris Vian and Mose Allison.
Hayek’s analysis of distributed knowledge in markets is, conceptually, the same as the system counter-argument to Searle’s Chinese room. Helps to understand The Sensory Order better.
January 8, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Hayek’s analysis of distributed knowledge in markets is, conceptually, the same as the system counter-argument to Searle’s Chinese room. Helps to understand The Sensory Order better.
opening up the 2026 reading season
January 6, 2026 at 6:47 PM
opening up the 2026 reading season
lol, lmao even
src: Gian-Carlo Rota, "Husserl and the reform of logic"
src: Gian-Carlo Rota, "Husserl and the reform of logic"
January 6, 2026 at 5:10 PM
lol, lmao even
src: Gian-Carlo Rota, "Husserl and the reform of logic"
src: Gian-Carlo Rota, "Husserl and the reform of logic"
My first foray into systems biology -- this work was led by Boya Hou, a postdoctoral researcher at UIUC, now on the academic job market. She presented an early version of these results at the @nitmb.bsky.social MathBio Convergence Conference in August of 2025.
January 6, 2026 at 4:04 AM
My first foray into systems biology -- this work was led by Boya Hou, a postdoctoral researcher at UIUC, now on the academic job market. She presented an early version of these results at the @nitmb.bsky.social MathBio Convergence Conference in August of 2025.
This is primarily why I left X: couldn’t stand the “vibes.”
Wrote about an obvious and yet profoundly underappreciated aspect of the AI boom: its total narrative capture by Elon Musk's X nymag.com/intelligence...
January 5, 2026 at 10:16 PM
This is primarily why I left X: couldn’t stand the “vibes.”
Reposted by Maxim Raginsky
Some people question whether misalignment in LLMs results from deeper characteristics, like intentionality or consciousness.
Others use this possibility as a bludgeon.
I wrote about this to get the thoughts out of my head and move on to something else.
vincentcarchidi.substack.com/p/against-fa...
Others use this possibility as a bludgeon.
I wrote about this to get the thoughts out of my head and move on to something else.
vincentcarchidi.substack.com/p/against-fa...
Against False Indulgences in LLM Alignment
Unnecessary moral concern, and the false indulgences that drive it.
vincentcarchidi.substack.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Some people question whether misalignment in LLMs results from deeper characteristics, like intentionality or consciousness.
Others use this possibility as a bludgeon.
I wrote about this to get the thoughts out of my head and move on to something else.
vincentcarchidi.substack.com/p/against-fa...
Others use this possibility as a bludgeon.
I wrote about this to get the thoughts out of my head and move on to something else.
vincentcarchidi.substack.com/p/against-fa...
The final post of 2025, where I propose the "paradox of highly optimized tolerance" (with nods to Carlson-Doyle and to Popper) as a frame for thinking about the impact of AI.
Thank you all for reading, subscribing, and commenting! Happy New Year!
Thank you all for reading, subscribing, and commenting! Happy New Year!
The Paradox of Highly Optimized Tolerance
There really is no antimemetics division.
realizable.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 10:49 PM
The final post of 2025, where I propose the "paradox of highly optimized tolerance" (with nods to Carlson-Doyle and to Popper) as a frame for thinking about the impact of AI.
Thank you all for reading, subscribing, and commenting! Happy New Year!
Thank you all for reading, subscribing, and commenting! Happy New Year!
Some thoughts on what Hermann Weyl's dialectic of the infinite in science and mathematics has to say about the age of AI: realizable.substack.com/p/games-with...
Games Without Frontiers
Hermann Weyl's dialectic of the infinite in the age of AI.
realizable.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Some thoughts on what Hermann Weyl's dialectic of the infinite in science and mathematics has to say about the age of AI: realizable.substack.com/p/games-with...
magret de canard, pommes de terre sarladaises, good burgundy
December 25, 2025 at 1:18 AM
magret de canard, pommes de terre sarladaises, good burgundy
books I read in 2025 (no ratings, no notes)
1. Brian Evenson, “Good Night, Sleep Tight”
2. John Crowley, “Flint and Mirror”
3. Jean-Pierre Changeux and Paul Ricoeur, “What Makes Us Think?”
4. Deborah Modrak, “Aristotle: The Power of Perception”
5. Keiji Nishitani, “The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism”
1. Brian Evenson, “Good Night, Sleep Tight”
2. John Crowley, “Flint and Mirror”
3. Jean-Pierre Changeux and Paul Ricoeur, “What Makes Us Think?”
4. Deborah Modrak, “Aristotle: The Power of Perception”
5. Keiji Nishitani, “The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism”
December 24, 2025 at 5:07 PM
books I read in 2025 (no ratings, no notes)
1. Brian Evenson, “Good Night, Sleep Tight”
2. John Crowley, “Flint and Mirror”
3. Jean-Pierre Changeux and Paul Ricoeur, “What Makes Us Think?”
4. Deborah Modrak, “Aristotle: The Power of Perception”
5. Keiji Nishitani, “The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism”
1. Brian Evenson, “Good Night, Sleep Tight”
2. John Crowley, “Flint and Mirror”
3. Jean-Pierre Changeux and Paul Ricoeur, “What Makes Us Think?”
4. Deborah Modrak, “Aristotle: The Power of Perception”
5. Keiji Nishitani, “The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism”
Swedish cardamom bun time
December 24, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Swedish cardamom bun time
Reposted by Maxim Raginsky
Here's the delicious Chinese food Wells ordered at Golden Harbor and Dim Sum House.
What I ate with The New York Times' Pete Wells at Golden Harbor and Dim Sum House - Food & Drink
Last month, The New York Times writer Pete Wells came to town to explore Champaign-Urbana’s Chinese food scene. Wells might be best known as NYT’s longtime, well-respected (and sometimes feared) food ...
www.smilepolitely.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Here's the delicious Chinese food Wells ordered at Golden Harbor and Dim Sum House.
My grandma would take leftover latkes and braise them with beef the next day.
December 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
My grandma would take leftover latkes and braise them with beef the next day.
Reposted by Maxim Raginsky
The inevitable has happened. I've started a substack. The first post is now live, and its a longform review of Leif Weatherby's Language Machines that uses the opportunity to say some things about inferentialism, computation, and LLMs: deontologistics.substack.com/p/computatio...
Computation and its Connotations
A Review of Language Machines by Leif Weatherby
deontologistics.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:21 AM
The inevitable has happened. I've started a substack. The first post is now live, and its a longform review of Leif Weatherby's Language Machines that uses the opportunity to say some things about inferentialism, computation, and LLMs: deontologistics.substack.com/p/computatio...