Links for 2021-12-13
New Brain Maps Can Predict Behaviors: “Large-scale connectomics could give neuroscience the same kind of huge boost that fast, simple genome sequencing brought to genomics. …Recent work with C. elegans has demonstrated the power of large-scale connectomics. One experiment showed that it’s sometimes possible for scientists to predict the behavior of an animal from a knowledge of its connectome; another hinted at rules governing the linkage of neurons into working circuits.” https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-brain-maps-can-predict-behaviors-20211206/
There is essentially one best-validated theory of cognition: ACT-R theory https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NB9QrBa335GDijuyn/there-is-essentially-one-best-validated-theory-of-cognition
The Strangest Thing An AI Could Tell You https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/t2NN6JwMFaqANuLqH/the-strangest-thing-an-ai-could-tell-you [the comments]
Researchers uncover a single rule for how animals make spatial decisions while on the move https://www.mpg.de/17989792/1208-ornr-one-algorithm-to-rule-decision-making-987453-x
Late 2021 MIRI Conversations - MIRI - central post collecting and summarizing the ongoing debate between MIRI and others on the state of the field and competing alignment approaches https://intelligence.org/late-2021-miri-conversations/
Conscientiousness predicts job performance for all occupations. Other Big 5 traits do for just some: Agreeableness: Healthcare; Emotional stability: Skilled/semiskilled, law enforcement, military; Extraversion: Sales, management; Openness: Professional. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879121001275
"The Tibetans are possibly the most altitude adapted people on earth, with a set of physiologically advantageous alleles appearing to have come from the Denisovans. How and when this occurred is still poorly understood. One major example is the Endothelial Pas1 - EPAS1, which has been strongly affiliated to the Altai Denisovan fossil haplogroup." https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1469026420915646468.html
Taiwan confirms researcher infected with COVID in lab: "Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) concluded..Saturday..that a..researcher was infected with the Delta variant of COVID while experimenting on the virus in a high safety laboratory." https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4372853