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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 7d

Feet! #inktober

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 7d

Applications for the 2026 cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator are now open!

If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious research idea that's beyond the scope of a startup or academic lab, you should apply!

spec.tech/brains

Speculative Technologies

Speculative Technologies is a nonprofit resarch organization unlocking new materials and manufacturing technologies

spec.tech

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 14d

We realized that (to our knowledge) nobody had unpacked where the money for “misfit research” — work that is a poor fit for academia, startups, or large companies — was coming from.

So I wrote a short but hopefully comprehensive overview.

blog.spec.tech/p/who-funds-...

Who Funds Misfit Research?

A practical guide

blog.spec.tech

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Aug 22

It's funny how at meetings in DC I'm the whippersnapper and in SF I'm basically a walking corpse.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Aug 12

I am frustrated with lumping a huge number of things under the terms "AI" and "science" :-/

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Aug 12

Part of @ifp.bsky.social's ifp.org/the-launch-s...

There are a lot of scientists over here on Bluesky -- would like your takes!

The Launch Sequence | Institute for Progress

A collection of essays describing concrete but ambitious AI projects to accelerate progress in science and security

ifp.org

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Aug 12

I do think AI could increase scientific productivity.

But so much of science isn't easily mechanized tasks like pipetting -- it's adjusting optics, troubleshooting custom equipment, and keeping critters from dying.

Here's a plan to capture and use this "tacit knowledge."

ifp.org/teaching-ai-...

Teaching AI How Science Actually Works | IFP

How block-grant labs can generate the real-world data AI needs to do science

ifp.org

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Aug 9

We finished building the Millennium Falcon! #caturday

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 27

Sometimes I wonder if the thing that makes startups possibly the most dynamic modern institution is just because it's the one place in today's world where it's normalized for young/undercredentialed people to be in charge of organizations and significant resources.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 24

(Re)published a piece on the Spectech Blog about how efficiency warps the types of ideas that get support, which ones get killed too early, and which ideas people choose to pursue in the first place.

blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 21

Every once and a while, we're allowed to have nice things ...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 15

For the historians out there --

There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling:

blog.spec.tech/p/some-open-...

Some open questions on the financial history of technology

A quest for those with the skill and daring...

blog.spec.tech

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 7

Checks out: arguably, venture capital has its roots in funding whaling expeditions ...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jul 7

For some reason I get a lot of joy out of the flight path from Helsinki to Tokyo

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 17

A lot of new thoughts about:
- State capacity
- Scale dependence for governments
- The difference between governments and people of a state
- American LARPing

That are probably too politically-charged and out of my lane for the internet.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 12

Ok! Time to stop procrastinating.

You’ve done harder things than applying to AI Brains. Knock it out this weekend.

Applications close Monday June 16th!

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 13

Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!

spec.tech/ai-brains

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 10

😭

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 9

Don't forget!

AI Brains Q&A session today at 1p ET.

You bring questions, we'll bring answers.

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 27

If you have questions, we have answers!

We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:

1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 13

Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!

spec.tech/ai-brains

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 5

I’m noticing that there’s a funny motte-and-bailey attribute of most disciplines that I think are BS:

If done really really well, they’re super insightful and valuable; it’s just that the vast majority of ideas are garbage and practitioners are charlatans.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 3

This is today at 8p ET!

Q+A session about the impending AI cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator.

We'll talk about anything: how it works, who should apply, our theory of change, etc.

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 27

If you have questions, we have answers!

We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:

1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 13

Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!

spec.tech/ai-brains

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 3

This is the kind of not-incremental metascientific experiment I want to see more of!

Seemay Chou @seemaychou.bsky.social · Jun 3

We did something radical that shouldn’t feel radical: we stopped funding science built for journals so that we can reimagine scientific publishing. First @arcadiascience.com. Now at @asterainstitute.bsky.social.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 3

Oo oo I can ruin it here too 😜

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · Jun 1

Testing gentle ways of reminding people in group chats to clean tracking information off of links

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · May 28

I've always been a bit annoyed by the advice that goes "What would you do if you had a year to live? Why aren't you doing that now?"

Obv there are some things you shouldn't delay, but there are some things that take more than a year no matter how much effort you slam into them.

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