Rabbit Hole Archives - Epsilon Theory

Rabbit Hole: Mathematical Toys, Moral Injuries, and Odes to the Hack

January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 by Neville Crawley

Neville’s favorite links from recent months, including an interview with a collector of mathematical toys and an ode to the hack.

The ET Interviews: Anti-Authoritarian Technology

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 by Neville Crawley

Fresh thoughts on the intersection of technology, freedom and decentralization.
ET’s Neville Crawley interviews Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer for the Human Rights Foundation (HRF).

Take Back Your Thinking

November 27, 2018November 26, 2018 by Neville Crawley

In the Common Knowledge World, we lose the ability to distinguish between what we think and what we think we think. It’s Fiat Thought, and here’s how you beat it.

Cards of Control and a Brave Little Toaster

November 17, 2018November 17, 2018 by Neville Crawley

All the tech links you need for a great weekend read.

What is it, really?

October 5, 2018March 6, 2018 by Rusty Guinn

The #1 question investors ought to ask of a financial services company trying to sell them something is: “What is it, really?” If you don’t know what you’re investing in, you’re liable to end up eating a lot of crunchy frogs.

Massively Fast Compute, AI Algorithms and Blockchain Development (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018October 11, 2017 by Ben Hunt

I’m limiting this week’s Rabbit Hole to three links which represent the rapid tick-tock of the trifecta of massively fast compute, AI algorithms and blockchain development as I believe that these are the top three technology mega-trends of the 2015 – 2025 period (ex-Life Sciences innovation).

Information Bottlenecks, Fake News and Boredom (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018October 4, 2017 by Ben Hunt

A new idea called the “information bottleneck” is helping to explain the puzzling success of today’s artificial-intelligence algorithms — and might also explain how human brains learn.

Youth, Immutable Content, and the Secondhand Scoop (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018September 20, 2017 by Ben Hunt

This week’s Rabbit Hole column is more thematic with recent links that I found interesting around the topic of ‘news,’ on which Ben wrote the defining commentary of recent years with Fiat Money, Fiat News.

A Taxonomy of Humans, Evolution and Aliens (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018September 13, 2017 by Ben Hunt

Leonid Moroz has spent two decades trying to wrap his head around a mind-boggling idea: even as scientists start to look for alien life in other planets, there might already be aliens, with surprisingly different biology and brains, right here on Earth. Those aliens have hidden in plain sight for millennia…

Revenge of the Humans, Emojis & Mushrooms (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018August 22, 2017 by Ben Hunt

Portfolio Manager — Of all the roles this is where I think things really need to change in terms of who sits in this seat. It can no longer be hedge fund bros, they simply won’t survive here. Nor will the pure gunslingers and tape readers, gone. And you certainly don’t want the pure quants sitting in this seat. PMs of the future are going to be far more interpersonal and process driven….

Data Access Battles, Creative Thinking & Full Script AI (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018August 15, 2017 by Ben Hunt

A couple of weeks back I shared a link to the story of ImageNet and the importance of data to developing algorithms. Ars Technica reports on two ‘at the coalface’ battles over data access with HiQ and Power Ventures fighting with LinkedIn and Facebook over data access. I’m not advocating a position on this but, to be sure, small — and currently obscure — court cases like these will, cumulatively, end up setting the precedents which will have a significant impact on the evolution and ownership of powerful algorithms that are increasingly driving behavior and economics.

AI BS Detectors & the Origins of Life (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018August 8, 2017 by Ben Hunt

Confidence levels for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Claude Berrou on turbo codes and informational neuroscience, and thermodynamics in far-from-equilibrium systems.

Programmable Money & Auto Public Offerings (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018August 1, 2017 by Ben Hunt

Programmable money, ImageNet: the data that changed AI research, Auto Public Offerings and the paradox of historical knowledge.

Algorithmic Complexes, Alpha Male Brains, and Winnie the Pooh (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018July 19, 2017 by Ben Hunt

Massively complex complexes of algorithms, AI vs. human performance, the Alpha male brain switch and explaining vs. understanding.

One Model to Learn Them All and AI Is/Isn’t Taking Over the World (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018July 14, 2017 by Ben Hunt

One model to learn them all, semantic scholars, AI is/isn’t taking over the world, and autonomous learning investment strategies.

AI & Video Games, Tricky Chatbots and More… (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018June 22, 2017 by Ben Hunt

AI and video games, tricky chatbots, the quantum age has officially arrived, and your high dimensional brain.

Long Short-Term Memory, Algorithms for Social Justice, and External Cognition (by Silly Rabbit)

October 5, 2018June 14, 2017 by Ben Hunt

DARPA funds a graph analytics processor, exploring long short-term memory networks, auditing black box predictive models, fast iteration and language from police body cameras.