Sepehr Razavi
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srazavi.bsky.social
Sepehr Razavi
@srazavi.bsky.social
200 followers 430 following 79 posts
Doctoral student @ox.ac.uk and Member of Social Computation and Representation Lab - https://www.socrlab.net/people
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srazavi.bsky.social
Reminder that this is happening tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing some of you there :)
srazavi.bsky.social Sepehr Razavi @srazavi.bsky.social · 21d
I am pleased to announce that @davidschultner.bsky.social will be our next guest as part of the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr. Schultner will present recent work that offers evidence for a parsimonious and mechanistic explanation of human social learning strategies via reward learning!
November 12, 2025 at 9:12 AM
srazavi.bsky.social
I am pleased to announce that @davidschultner.bsky.social will be our next guest as part of the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr. Schultner will present recent work that offers evidence for a parsimonious and mechanistic explanation of human social learning strategies via reward learning!
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
vaughanbell.bsky.social
New from us, led by the fantastic @elisavetpappa.bsky.social:

Who Are People with Psychosis Delusional about? A Study of Social Agents in the Phenomenology of Delusions karger.com/psp/article/...
Who Are People with Psychosis Delusional about? A Study of Social Agents in the Phenomenology of Delusions
Abstract. Introduction: Delusions frequently involve strong beliefs about, or interactions with, illusory social agents. Although such agents have been systematically described in hallucinations, few ...
karger.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
olivia.science
Proudly published with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social:

A metatheory of classical and modern connectionism. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...

We touch on what has been up with connectionism as a framework for computational modelling — & for everything it seems these days with AI and LLMs — pre-2010 vs post.

1/n
article cover page
October 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
olivia.science
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues. Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe. Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
srazavi.bsky.social
Confederate flag in plain sight in affluent Britain…. 2025!
October 7, 2025 at 8:42 AM
srazavi.bsky.social
What a fantastic opportunity, consider applying!
shawnrhoadsphd.com Shawn Rhoads @shawnrhoadsphd.com · Sep 22
📢 My lab at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine is considering graduate student applications this fall

We welcome applicants interested in using computational modeling & fMRI to study social connection

🗓️ Deadline: December 1, 2025
🔗 Learn more: sinclaboratory.com/apply

#comppsychiatry #socialneuro
September 30, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
nicholaraihani.bsky.social
This is a complete dereliction of responsibility from all involved. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show
Documents tabled in NSW parliament show state agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier
www.theguardian.com
September 22, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
tomerullman.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 9:30 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
This is happening right now!
srazavi.bsky.social Sepehr Razavi @srazavi.bsky.social · Sep 11
Next week, we have the distinct pleasure of (e-)hosting the fantastic @hayleydorfman.bsky.social at the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr Dorfman will presenting some of her recent work on agency-modulated reinforcement learning 🧵👇
September 18, 2025 at 12:01 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
This is happening in two days! Cannot wait for this talk, please consider joining us
srazavi.bsky.social Sepehr Razavi @srazavi.bsky.social · Sep 11
Next week, we have the distinct pleasure of (e-)hosting the fantastic @hayleydorfman.bsky.social at the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr Dorfman will presenting some of her recent work on agency-modulated reinforcement learning 🧵👇
September 16, 2025 at 3:49 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
Successful British acculturation is seeing an Adrian Chiles headline and thinking « I see where he’s coming from »
September 11, 2025 at 4:49 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
Next week, we have the distinct pleasure of (e-)hosting the fantastic @hayleydorfman.bsky.social at the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr Dorfman will presenting some of her recent work on agency-modulated reinforcement learning 🧵👇
September 11, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
robsica.bsky.social
"Assuming that functional specialisation necessarily implies an ‘encapsulated module’ is a widely recognised error even in evolutionary accounts."
Sepehr Razavi, Michael Moutoussis, Peter Dayan, Nichola Raihani, Vaughan Bell & Joseph Barnby, Pseudo-approaches lead to pseudo-explanations: reply to Corlett et al. - PhilPapers
philpapers.org
September 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
What a brilliant group of people to work with! Looking forward to expanding some of the crucial ideas only touched upon here. Feel free to share your thoughts, insights, etc.
joebarnby.com Joe Barnby @joebarnby.com · Sep 5
📖 Our letter of reply to 'pseudosocial' cognition is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Led by the talented @srazavi.bsky.social + written with @vaughanbell.bsky.social, Peter Dayan, @nicholaraihani.bsky.social, Michael Moutoussis

#NeuroPsychSky
September 5, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
joebarnby.com
📖 Our letter of reply to 'pseudosocial' cognition is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Led by the talented @srazavi.bsky.social + written with @vaughanbell.bsky.social, Peter Dayan, @nicholaraihani.bsky.social, Michael Moutoussis

#NeuroPsychSky
September 5, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
joebarnby.com
🧠 We're hiring a computational postdoc!

3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.

Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.

DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5
Computational postdoc ad for KCL funded by the Wellcome Trust on the NEPTUNE project
September 3, 2025 at 7:13 AM
srazavi.bsky.social
Just a reminder that this is happening tomorrow :) Feel free to reach out to me or better yet @joebarnby.com for a link!
srazavi.bsky.social Sepehr Razavi @srazavi.bsky.social · Aug 8
It is such a pleasure to kick off the SoCR Lab 2025-2026 talk series with Dr. Ismail Guennouni. His work with
@maartenspeek.bsky.social
was an early and significant inspiration.

Reach out to
@joebarnby.com
or comment here for a link. Stay tuned as we will be organising monthly talks :) 🧵
August 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
dansperber.bsky.social
My father, Manès Sperber, told me a story that terribly resonnates today:

In 1420, at a time of persecution known as the "Vienna Gesera", Jews were banned from the city. Many were killed. Others were placed on rudderless boats on the Danube River and left starving.
August 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
It is such a pleasure to kick off the SoCR Lab 2025-2026 talk series with Dr. Ismail Guennouni. His work with
@maartenspeek.bsky.social
was an early and significant inspiration.

Reach out to
@joebarnby.com
or comment here for a link. Stay tuned as we will be organising monthly talks :) 🧵
August 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
Spelling error aside what is ‘beyond ignites curiosity’ supposed to mean?
eve.gd Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · Aug 8
The University of Warwick has paid a lot of money, I'm guessing, for their internet banner ads on the Guardian and elsewhere.

But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
A banner advert for the University of Warwick, which says "Beyond ignores curiousity". This is a spelling error.
August 8, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
srdfrench.bsky.social
Lilit, a trans human rights defender, was detained in Dubai, denied her rights, and humiliated – all during a layover. Emirates won’t investigate. Demand justice and accountability now. Sign and share! ✈️🏳️‍⚧️✊ a.allout.org/s/PyeDM/
Trans activist detained in Dubai – demand justice now
Lilit Martirosyan was humiliated and denied rights while in transit through Dubai – just for being trans. Emirates refuses to investigate. Sign now for justice.
a.allout.org
August 4, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
olivia.science
Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX...

Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
title and abstract from https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.19960 table 1 from https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.19960
July 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Sepehr Razavi
cjhodgetts.bsky.social
In the context of the Sycamore Gap tree sentencing today, I've written a short opinion piece for @lbc.co.uk on the role of landmarks in shaping place identity and connectedness. Find it here: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view... 🧠🌎

@rhulpsychology.bsky.social
Why the loss of the Sycamore Gap Tree saw an outpouring of emotion
The sentencing of the two men who felled the Sycamore Gap Tree has brought back the incredibly strong emotions of the loss of such a world-famous, iconic national piece of history.
www.lbc.co.uk
July 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
srazavi.bsky.social
If you’re at CPC come hang out with the star of the show @gjcooper.bsky.social
July 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM