Is it just me who sees the hype for humanoid robots as a fascination for slavery? Why would we need our technological aids to look like people? My dishwasher looks just fine as it is.
Romain Brette
@romainbrette.bsky.social
I think about the biology of cognition in brains and in protozoa. New book: The Brain, in Theory. http://romainbrette.fr/
We are looking forward for today's presentation of Chapter 7 by Farid Zahnoun on September 2nd, 2026 at 16h CET. The topic is anticipation in neuroscience and living beings. Join us! @r3rt0.bsky.social @k4tj4.bsky.social www.crowdcast.io/c/brain-in-t...
Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette
Register now for Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on July 22, 2026, 04:00 PM GMT+2.
crowdcast.io
Great point. There's a machine producing a fiction, and we are asking whether the character in that fiction is conscious.
Alison Gopnik@alisongopnik.bsky.social · 19h agoThanks, but actually my favorite line didn't make it to the piece. Does Odysseus feel guilty about the Trojan war? Lots of discourse on this question even though he doesn't exist! Is he conscious? AI agents are fictive characters abstracted from text - like Odysseus.
Yes - LLMs are (technically) amazing, but those algorithms don't become people just because they have been tuned to produce sequences of symbols mimicking those produced by people. Alphafold can fold proteins, but actually it's not a ribosome.
Dan Goodman@neural-reckoning.org · 5d agoSo I guess in summary what I want to say is, let's not underplay what AI can do, but let's also not overplay it based on extrapolation hype. It's not consistent with recent history to believe this hype, and plays into marketing strategies of tech companies whose values are not well aligned with ours
I am very happy that the Theoretical Neuroscience Podcast (theoreticalneuroscience.no) is now featured in TheTransmitter. My goal is that everyone in the field should at least know about the podcast, whether they would like to listen to it or not. And being featured here is a big help. Thanks!
The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 7d ago@thetransmitter.bsky.social is excited to feature the Theoretical Neuroscience Podcast! Hosted by @gauteeinevoll.bsky.social, each episode features in-depth conversations with scientists using theoretical and computational approaches to understanding the brain. #neuroskyence
Another story revealing AI used for *peer review*. Why? Why are you cheating at peer review? I don‘t understand? Peer review is a thing you can simply not do if you don‘t have the time or expertise, & that you remain anonymous & unrewarded for if you do. Show your peers some respect ffs.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last wk.Is Pangram a panacea? 'the University of Chicago in Illinois says that it has started using it to vet students’ coursework.'
The Transmitter's summer reading list highlights upcoming neuroscience books and other notable titles from this year—with books by @romainbrette.bsky.social, @susanacarmona.bsky.social, @markdhumphries.bsky.social, David Susillo and more. #neuroskyence By @franciscorr25.bsky.social bit.ly/4qz0oXj
The Transmitter’s reading list for 2026
Our summer reading list includes books on the Human Brain Project, the neuroscience of motherhood and the career of a Huntington’s disease researcher.
thetransmitter.org
what does @tonychemero.bsky.social's new book 'Intertwined Creatures' have to offer to the “AI consciousness” debate? here is my take on it www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can AI ever be conscious? The question stems from a misconception
A book outlines how the fields of artificial intelligence, psychology and philosophy have neglected a key aspect of consciousness: the body.
nature.com
The Chinese room argument, but with French scrabble
Rochelle@uberwensch.bsky.social · 3w agoWe've been over this: it's the scrabble championship as a whole which understands French.
How do we come to know the hypercomplex object that is the brain? I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Mazviita Chirimuuta about the history and philosophy of its simplification, its analogy with computers, & the case for theoretical humility in how we study it. Links: linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
My postdoc is coming to an end, so I'm looking for work! Let me know if you, or anyone you know, wants to hire a philosopher of biology/cognition with a knack for cross-disciplinary work, a focus on autonomy + agency, and experience writing for the broader public (10+ yrs in sci/tech journalism).
"Ironically, scientists have abandoned the idea that living organisms have been designed by God, only to adopt of model of the living based on artifacts made by an engineer." Ch 1 of "The Brain, in Theory" Romain Brette Princeton U. Press 2026. Ch 1 is a tour de force take down of computationalism.
“Computers can be conscious because living organisms are not special”: complete nonsense. Of course, living organisms are special: they are organized in such a way that they live; computers are not. Liquid water and ice are made of the same molecules, yet they have completely different properties.
Why large language models are not conscious. romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...
Notes on consciousness. (XI) Why large language models are not conscious
The current discussions about AI are plagued with anthropomorphism. Of course, the name “artificial intelligence” has probably something to do with the matter. A conscious artificial intelligence m…
romainbrette.fr
#ESR Le programme du Colloque de lancement des Assises pour l'Université et pour la Recherche, conçu par un Conseil Scientifique issu des sociétés savantes, a été mis en ligne, ainsi que le livret des abstracts. agorasur.fr/assises-pour...
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon discussion now online. Lively debate on @romainbrette.bsky.social 's position. #neuroskyence youtu.be/XV6kCsiq0g0?...
Romain Brette discusses brains and computations
YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon
youtu.be
Anticipating a signal without a model of the signal. It's in the physics literature (Voss): arxiv.org/pdf/1508.01088 It's a simple (linear!) dynamical system dy/dt entrained by an input x(t). Surprisingly, it relaxes to y(t) = a*x(t+d) for some delay d.
One issue with computespeak is the constant confusion between capacity and mechanism, explanans and explanandum. Sometimes computing just means solving a problem, sometimes it's a particular way of solving a problem. Sometimes to represent is just to know, sometimes it's to encode.
My take on global workspaces and J-spaces, and the possibility of consciousness in Claude www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts | Anil Seth
Despite Anthropic’s claims, Claude is no more likely to achieve sentience than a simulation of a weather system is likely to generate a real hurricane, says Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and compu...
theguardian.com
In this episode of @braininspired.bsky.social, @kathrynnave.eurosky.social argues that the free energy principle falls short as a unifying framework for living systems and cognition. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
Is our intelligence rooted in how living organisms are organized?
Kathryn Nave explains how a concept called constraint closure may be fundamental to understanding brains, minds and cognition.
thetransmitter.org
One of us, @kathrynnave.eurosky.social, has a gift for communicating thorny ideas, like active inference and the free energy principle. The question is, how do we tell the story from single cell metabolism to multicellular organism extraordinaire Kate Nave? braininspired.co/podcast/242/
Presentation of some topics of "The Brain, In Theory" and discussion on the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV6k...
Romain Brette discusses brains and computations
YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon
youtube.com
Hi all We are starting to post the videos of the "Beyond Computationalism" event on Youtube. You can find them here www.youtube.com/@faridzahnoun1 #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
Marco Facchin@marcofacchin.bsky.social · 5mo agoStill two weeks to submit your abstract for our Beyond Neurocomputationalism workshop (Antwerp 4-5 June). Keynote Speakers include Kate Nave, Romain Brette, Vicente Raja, Matteo Mossio, Mazviita Chirimuuta & Alicia Juarrero! Info below! #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
You also don't have to do an editor's job of deciding if a paper "fits" or is "impactful enough" for their journal, because you're a scientist and not a marketing agent for the publisher.
Timothy O'Leary@timothyoleary.bsky.social · 2mo agoDear peer reviewers everywhere: sometimes we feel pressure to find issues with a submission as a demonstration of diligence. But we have to recognise this is a mistake: picking random and sometimes incoherent holes in research add confusion, generates unnecessary work and encourages defensive
Collègues: à voir pour comprendre la logique des réformes de l'ESR des 20 dernières années, et ce qui nous attend.
Aliènor Bertrand@alienorbertrand.bsky.social · 3mo agoSi, comme moi, vous l'aviez raté le zoom , la vidéo est maintenant en ligne. Elle aurait pu s'appeler "chronique de 20 ans de destruction de l'ESR". Par dogmatisme idéologique ? Par autoritarisme bureaucratique ? Il est en tout cas l'heure de tout reconstruire. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIZ6...
In @thetls.bsky.social's Summer Books Round-up, Tim Crane recommends The Brain, In Theory by @romainbrette.bsky.social, calling it "[a] beautifully lucid, accessible account of the various theoretical approaches to the human brain" (£):
Summer books 2026
Mary Beard I am a Booker prize judge this year. So most of my summer will be consumed by reading fiction (which obviously has its pleasures). But I shall be varying the diet with a drop or two of nonfiction....
the-tls.com
Two excellent books, one by Mazviita Chirimuuta, the other by @romainbrette.bsky.social, that should be read side by side.
Here is the invitation in case anyone is interested in participating in the discussion of the book on computationalism, the brain, and life: www.crowdcast.io/c/brain-in-t...
Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette
Register now for Reading club: The Brain in Theory by Romain Brette on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on September 23, 2026, 10:30 AM GMT+2.
crowdcast.io