Four new studies suggest the fertility decline is less about the cost of children than about the connections that come before them. Dive into the research in this week's free newsletter. academy.socos.org/the-teen-fer...

The Teen Fertility…Crisis?!?

Four new studies suggest the fertility decline is less about the cost of children than about the connections that come before them. For half a century, the standard explanations for falling birth rat...

academy.socos.org

Sam Altman just called cognitive atrophy an underexamined risk of the AI era. My lab has been measuring what protects against it…and it isn't “AI skill”. I talk about teens and atrophy in 2 new interviews.

Reading @socos.org Robot-Proof has got Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions and @charliejane.bsky.social All the Birds in the Sky rolling around in my head

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: Does anyone else think the Rick & Morty’s “Mortgully: The Last Rickforest” must have been a response to Adventure Time’s “Food Chain”? It begs the question, who’s worse: Magic Man or a selfish Ent?

We worry about AI that is too powerful, too wrong, or too strange. A subtler worry runs through 3 of the most discussed AI papers of the past year: the danger of AI that is too agreeable. Each paper examines a different way today's chatbots sand away friction. academy.socos.org/the-friction...

The Frictionless “Friend”

Three of the year's most talked-about AI studies on a single quiet danger: chatbots that are too easy to like. We tend to worry about AI that is too powerful, too wrong, or too strange. A subtler wor...

academy.socos.org

I was truly looking forward to speaking at San Diego ComicCon this year as part of a panel of scientist scifi fans. Unfortunately, the initial tentative invitation never turned into the real thing. I hope everyone is having fun (guessing wildly about Doomsday). Next Year!

For decades, the hippocampus has been cast as the brain's inner GPS. In the 1970s, researchers found "place cells", which fire when an animal is in a particular spot. The discovery earned a Nobel Prize and a tidy story: this is the structure that tells you where you are.

Coming Attractions: How Your Brain Previews the Future

Three new studies on the same surprising idea — that the brain's "inner map" is really a planner. For decades, the hippocampus has been cast as the brain's inner GPS. In the 1970s, researchers found ...

academy.socos.org

𝟑 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝟏 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐲. I covered 3 studies this week. Separately, they're interesting. Together, they're a mugging in slow motion.

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: This week's pick will surprise exactly no one who follows me: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s newest, Children of Strife. I enjoy nearly everything he writes—sci-fi, fantasy, short stories—and so a fourth Children of Time book was always going to end up in my hands. www.audible.com/pd/Children-...

Children of Strife

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. The acclaimed voice of the Children of Time Universe, Mel Hudson, returns for this highly-anticipated fourth instalment.They thought they’d found refuge.But...

audible.com

Signing 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒕-𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇 at MIT (and not looking puffy at all).

In this week's Research Roundup, explore the rapidly growing ecosystem of prediction markets (e.g., Polymarket, Kalshi), analyzing who actually profits, the persistent cognitive biases of retail traders, and the mechanisms driving wealth transfer. academy.socos.org/predicting-d...

Predicting Disaster: The Microstructure of Prediction Markets

This week we explore the rapidly growing ecosystem of prediction markets (e.g., Polymarket, Kalshi), analyzing who actually profits, the persistent cognitive biases of retail traders, and the mechanis...

academy.socos.org

Huge news! My working paper behind David Brooks’s Atlantic article and my WSJ & FT op-eds AND the audiobook of 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒕-𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇 dropped this week!

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: The Subtle Art of Folding Space isn't hard scifi but it is twisty ideas of comfort food and multiversal physics in superposition. I can understand why it won awards even while confounding many readers. I wouldn’t be in the mood for this every day, but it was tasty and twisty to noodle on.

My next newsletter focuses on the emerging field of interbrain hyperscanning—recording brain activity from multiple individuals simultaneously—to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of shared learning, collaborative memory, and trauma recovery. Enjoy! academy.socos.org/measuring-th...

Measuring the Neural Symphony

We’re focusing on the emerging field of hyperscanning—recording brain activity from multiple individuals simultaneously—to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of shared learning, collaborativ...

academy.socos.org

I had a fun conversation with William Gadea. Here's the video: youtu.be/2edHMD4bs-w

Human–AI Collaboration: Why "Cyborgs" Beat Everyone — with Neuroscientist Dr. Vivienne Ming

YouTube video by What Is Mind?

youtu.be

I’m truly honored to be cited in David Brooks's new 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 essay on thriving in the AI age. My research: signs of cognitive effort drop sharply when we lean on AI. His point: the future belongs to the people willing to do the hard mental work. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age

What will differentiate people is not how smart they are but their relationship to mental effort.

theatlantic.com

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: The Amazing Digital Circus came to me sideways, through an episode of the How Did This Get Made? podcast, with no idea what I was in for.

How fancy, schmancy: I'm giving a book talk at the Harvard Club in Manhattan next week (July 8). Join me if you dare!

Let’s explore how technological shifts—specifically AI automation and remote work—are restructuring task allocation, changing the demand for early-career workers, and redefining the premium on human expertise. academy.socos.org/the-career-l...

The Career Ladder → The Career Fire Escape

Let’s explore how technological shifts—specifically AI automation and remote work—are restructuring task allocation, changing the demand for early-career workers, and redefining the premium on human e...

academy.socos.org

No, AI isn’t giving you Alzheimer's, but how you are using it…for that matter how we use any technology, is a choice about your cognitive future. I chatted with Thibault Spirlet about “Why [I] worry outsourcing thinking to AI could weaken your brain's defenses against dementia”.

Why a neuroscientist worries outsourcing thinking to AI could weaken your brain's defenses against dementia

"How you use AI, not how often, will determine its impact," Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neuroscientist and AI researcher told Business Insider.

businessinsider.com

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: Two for the Price of One Good Time. This week's double feature pairs a snarky SecUnit with a squad of unhinged mages.

𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. Our evaluation systems for AI is deeply flawed—vulnerable to hacks, culturally stereotyped, and masking fundamental cognitive deficits behind an illusion of fluency. Dive in to this week’s newsletter at academy.socos.org/benchmarking...

Benchmarking Badness

We are racing toward advanced AI using a broken speedometer. As AI integrates into society, we rely on benchmarks to tell us how "smart", "safe", or "aligned" these models are. But these 3 papers reve...

academy.socos.org

Back in Stockholm for the Future of Talent Summit! 🇸🇪✨

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: I’ve worked my way through a third of my read/watch list from last week. 1. It’s an unneeded recommendation but narky, neurotic Murderbot and his favorite soap operas continue to make me happy. www.audible.com/pd/Platform-...

…𝐨𝐫, 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨-𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Famed economists Autor & Acemoglu argue that we are suffering from a pervasive "pro-automation ideology" and they propose a framework separating technologies that merely replace human labor from those that create new tasks and expand human expertise.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐭 [1] Does leaning on AI degrade human reasoning? A randomized trial of law students produced an appropriately messy result.

𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞. Imagine you could hear every cry for help on the planet and you had the power to help. This Superman story [1] revealed the price: every moment you took for yourself—every sip of coffee or casual conversation, every night's sleep—was a lost life you could have saved.

I'm thrilled to share that the Financial Times named 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒕-𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇: 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 as one of its Best Books of the Summer. If you too have enjoyed it, please share it with friends! 📚

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆: I’m still looking for some science fiction and fantasy worth recommending. So, I’ll share my reading and watching list: 1. Children of Strife, Children of Time: Book #4 by Adrian Tchaikovsky (I’m starting with a definite win!)

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐀𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 & 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Do big companies buy innovative startups to help them grow or to bury them? Try to guess what the new paper “Killer Acquisitions” might reveal…