Machine Learning

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The Policy: Q-Learning vs Policy Learning

SIGMA uses Q-learning rather than direct policy learning. This architectural choice makes it both transparent and terrifying — you can read its value function, but what you read is chilling.

AI Fiction

Differentiation: Three Ways

Three approaches to computing derivatives—forward-mode AD, reverse-mode AD, and finite differences—each with different trade-offs. Understanding when to use each is essential for numerical computing and machine learning.

Computer Science Mathematics

The AI Course: Everything is Utility Maximization

Intelligence as utility maximization under uncertainty — a unifying framework connecting A* search, reinforcement learning, Bayesian networks, and MDPs. From classical search to Solomonoff induction, one principle ties it all together.

Discovering ChatGPT: Reconnecting with AI Research

Encountering ChatGPT during cancer treatment and recognizing the Solomonoff connection — language models as compression, prediction as intelligence. A personal inflection point reconnecting with AI research after years in survival mode.

Femtograd: Like Micrograd, But Worse