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Inspired by biology we 1) get adversarial robustness + interpretability for free, 2) turn classifiers into generators & 3) design attacks on vLLMs.

Stanislav Fort, Balaji Lakshminarayanan August 2024 https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2408.

Adversarial examples pose a significant challenge to the robustness, reliability and alignment of deep neural networks. We propose a novel, easy-to-use approach to achieving high-quality representations that lead to adversarial robustness through the use of multi-resolution input representations and dynamic self-ensembling of intermediate layer predictions. We demonstrate that intermediate layer predictions exhibit inherent robustness to adversarial attacks crafted to fool the full classifier, and propose a robust aggregation mechanism based on Vickrey auction that we call \textit{CrossMax} to dynamically ensemble them.

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At the risk of sounding a bit woo-woo, as any speculation about the “hard problem” of the unknowns of consciousness does, can’t both be true? In other words, is it possible that Schrödinger’s “total mind” is a kind of quantum reserve downloaded and differentially phased into qualia through the materialist medium of natural selection, which Edelman calls “neural Darwinism”? Is it the embodied human sensory organs interacting with their environment in feedback loops that unveils the unformed wave of fundamental consciousness through the particle of particular experience?

The correct answer is: Who knows?

“Who Knows?” would be an apt title for the best inventory to date of the myriad views on consciousness, from the metaphysical to the materialist, compiled by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and titled “A landscape of consciousness: toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications,” recently published in the journal “Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.”

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Significant change can be stressful – divorce, death and moving all make the list – but when it comes to aging, a new paper identifies two flashpoints of enormous biological change. The recent study, by researchers at Stanford Medicine, uncovered evidence that human aging does not occur at a constant, gradual pace – but rather is marked by two significant bursts of molecular change. These bursts, observed in people around the ages of 44 and 60, suggest that aging may be driven by more complex biological processes than previously thought. The findings, published in Nature Aging, are based on comprehensive multi-omics profiling of 108 participants, providing a detailed look at how the human body changes during these key periods of life [1].

Longevity. Technology: The research sheds light on the nonlinear nature of aging, challenging the traditional view that aging is a steady, continuous process. By understanding why and how these bursts of aging occur, scientists may be able to uncover more about the mechanisms of aging and leverage that knowledge to improve both lifespan and healthspan. The findings also highlight the ever-evolving nature of aging research, which continues to refine our understanding of how and why we age.

The Stanford Medicine team, led by Professor Michael Snyder, PhD, analyzed a vast array of molecular data from participants aged between 25 and 75 years. Over a period spanning several years, the researchers collected blood and other biological samples from the participants, tracking more than 135,000 different molecules and microorganisms. The data set included a total of nearly 250 billion distinct data points, making this one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind [1].

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Avshalom Elitzur, Claudia de Rham and Harry Cliff debate the relationship between mystery and scientific discovery.

Does science eradicate mystery or expand it?

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/mystery-in-the-m…

We have the impression that science unravels the mysteries of the universe. But with every mystery solved, a new mystery emerges. The Big Bang gave us an explanation for the expanding universe but left the mystery of how it came about. Quantum mechanics accounted for the strange behaviour of subatomic particles, but led to the puzzle of its conflict with relativity. Dark energy made sense of an accelerating universe but led to the mystery of why we have no evidence for it. Is there a danger that we are making a fundamental mistake in imagining science can eradicate mystery, and do we need to think of science differently as a consequence?

Continue reading “Claudia de Rham” | >

First described by Nedergaard and her colleagues in 2012, the glymphatic system is the brain’s unique waste removal process that uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to wash away excess proteins generated by energy hungry neurons and other cells in the brain during normal activity.

A drug used to induce labor in pregnant women has been shown to reactivate tiny waste-clearing pumps in the brains of old mice. The finding could hold promise as a new way to fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and overall cognitive decline.

When our brains are working properly, there is an excess of proteins that build up from the energy intensive processes that take place between our neurons. Those proteins need to be removed in order for the brain to continue to operate properly. When they aren’t, they can gunk up the works, leading to the beta amyloid and tau protein tangles that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease or the build up of alpha-synuclein that accompanies Parkinson’s.

In 2012 Danish neuroscientist, Maiken Nedergaard first described the system that uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to remove waste from the brain and termed it the glymphatic system. Now, Nedergaard and her colleagues have looked deeper into the glymphatic system, focusing on lymph vessels called lymphangions. These are a series of tiny pumps in the neck that are responsible for moving dirty CSF out of the brain and into the lymph system where it ultimately reaches the kidneys to be processed.

Continue reading “Common drug restores youthful function to clean up aging brains” | >

“Certainly,” says Christof Koch, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and prominent figure in the field of consciousness studies. “Any complex system, whether evolved on Earth or elsewhere, could be conscious.” What that consciousness might look like is another matter entirely. Could aliens exhibit empathy, self-awareness, love, hate, or fear?

To answer these questions, consider panpsychism, an ancient cosmic theory that suggests consciousness could be a ubiquitous feature of the universe, akin to gravity or charge. This idea, dating back to ancient Greek philosophers like Thales and Plato, has seen a resurgence in the 21st century as mainstream scientific approaches struggle to fully explain consciousness.

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Quantum is huge. Because quantum computing allows us to step beyond the current limitations of digital systems, it paves the way for a new era of computing machines with previously unthinkable power. Without recounting another simplified explanation of how quantum gets its power at length, we can reference the double-slit experiment and perhaps the spinning coin explanation.

A coin sat on a desk is either heads or tails, rather like the 1s and 0s that express the on or off values in binary code. Quantum theorists would prefer we think of the coin above the desk, spinning in the air. In this state, the coin is both heads and tails at the same time. This is because, at the quantum level, both values exist until we make an observation of its state at any given point in time. We could further increase the number of positions possible (literally known as quantum superposition) by altering the angle of view we take on the coin, which is somewhat similar to how we work with qubits in quantum mechanics.

So then, Schrödinger’s cat is both alive and dead at the same time and the dummies guide to quantum entanglement is out there on the web if needed. What matters most now is how we will make practical use of quantum computing and where it will be applied for best advantage.

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