Can AI spread like a virus and erode cognitive autonomy? Our new paper models how LLM adoption can cross tipping points, triggering runaway dependence and tech lock-in, suggesting routes to "cognitive immunization". arxiv.org/abs/2609.03344 @ruffini.bsky.social @francesca-castaldo.bsky.social

Some computers are easy to spot — smartphones, laptops, the machines we build. But many natural systems — cells, brains, even turbulent fluids — carry out computations too. A new paper by SFI’s David Wolpert and Jan Korbel explores these computations encoded in natural dynamic systems.

What does it mean to compute?

Some computers are easy to spot. Artificial, human-built computers like those found in smartphones and laptops are abstract dynamic systems with observable computational elements like input, output, e...

santafe.edu

Resisting the urge to say “they are pseudorandom” when dices are missing from a board game at the pub and someone says “let’s use a dices app on my phone”