Links for 2022-11-03
“When trained to solve numerical problems from examples, transformers learn some of the underlying maths, and can generalize way out of distribution, invalidating the idea that transformers ``merely interpolate'' from memorized examples.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.00170
“…we separated “nature” and “nurture” for the first six days of an animal’s life, and find that the emergence of the neuronal circuitry for seeing, swimming, and sensory-motor integration is remarkably independent of developmental neuronal activity.” https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.24.513526v1
"[A]s the brain cycles through slow-wave and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, which happens about five times a night, the hippocampus teaches the neocortex what it learned, transforming novel, fleeting information into enduring memory." https://neurosciencenews.com/memory-sleep-hippocampus-neocortex-21719/
Imagination as a fundamental function of the hippocampus https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2021.0336
“we are releasing EnCodec, a state-of-the-art neural audio codec supporting both 24 kHz mono audio and 48 kHz stereo, with bandwidth ranging from 1.5 kbps to 24 kbps” https://arxiv.org/pdf/2210.13438.pdf
Wait, why are there so few dead bugs on my windshield these days? [Washington Post] https://archive.ph/pIgFD
IQ matters more than all other family background variables combined when predicting who might become an inventor. The direct effect of IQ was almost five times as large as that of having a high-income father. https://www.nber.org/papers/w24110
Humans have been using bows and arrows, including poisoned arrowheads, for at least 72,000 years. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X20302686?via%3Dihub
Using Anki with Babies / Toddlers https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/comments/8iydl7/using_anki_with_babies_toddlers/