In praise of the particular, and other lessons from 2023
Publicly available URL: https://andymatuschak.org/2023
See also previous annual reflections:...
2024-01-22 19:50:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Andy Matuschak posts
Demo: an early look at BookBridge
There's a funny trouble in my work: I've been doing all these experiments around augmenting the reading experience with dynamic media. But, as it happens, I hate doing serious reading on screens! M...
2023-12-22 20:28:23 +0000 UTC View PostInitial results from highlight-driven prototype
I’ve been working on a new augmented reading environment centered around highlighting as t...
2023-11-30 18:54:18 +0000 UTC View Post(Recording) Discussion: AI-generated ad-hoc UIs and malleable software; Saturday, November 25th @ 9AM PST
Thank you all for a very interesting discussion! See original post for premise.
Please don't sh...
2023-11-26 19:33:45 +0000 UTC View PostDiscussion: AI-generated ad-hoc UIs and malleable software; Saturday, November 25th @ 9AM PST
tl;dr: Join me (via Google Meet) this Saturday, November 25, at 9 AM PST [2023-11-21 18:13:46 +0000 UTC View Post
From my notes: first impressions of Humane's Ai Pin
I spent some time this weekend writing notes around the Ai Pin and recent related announcements in AI-centric personal computing. This isn't a proper essay—just some rough notes—but I thought e...
2023-11-14 18:14:20 +0000 UTC View PostOn breadth vs. depth in learning
There’s a funny downside to doing all this research on memory and comprehension—a sort of loss of innocence. I’ve viscerally internalized just how poorly I’ll understand and retain complex ...
2023-10-26 18:41:40 +0000 UTC View PostHighlight-driven practice and comprehension support
I’ve been wrestling with a new insight this summer: when people struggle to recall and use what they’ve read after a few months, it’s often because they didn’t really understand in the firs...
2023-09-30 21:08:56 +0000 UTC View PostStudying myself studying linear algebra
After the past few months digging into research on problem-solving practice and 2023-09-01 04:36:19 +0000 UTC View Post
(Recording) Seminar: the 2006/2007 constructivist academic flame war; Sunday, August 27 @ 1PM PDT
Thank you all for a very interesting discussion about Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark's attack on discovery...
2023-08-29 04:30:15 +0000 UTC View PostSeminar: the 2006/2007 constructivist academic flame war; Sunday, August 27 @ 1PM PDT
With the LLM genie out of the bottle, I've found myself often drawn into conversations about The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and similar dreams of futuristic learning environments which emphasi...
2023-08-25 05:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostInitial experiments in self-explanation support
In 2019, I argued that “books don’t work” because people seem to forget a surprising fraction of what they read. No won...
2023-08-02 04:51:31 +0000 UTC View Post(Recording) Design discussion: Squidgies (language learning tool); Wednesday 07/19, 3PM PDT
Here's the recording of our design discussion today with the creators of Squidgies, a language learning system. I want to congratulate ...
2023-07-21 05:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostLive quantum mechanics study session with Dwarkesh Patel
I mentioned in my latest essay that my recent thinking about reading comprehension was inspired in part by...
2023-07-13 19:37:06 +0000 UTC View PostDesign discussion: Squidgies (language learning tool); Wednesday 07/19, 3PM PDT
Experimenting with a new type of event!
In April's office hours, Bill Roberts presented an unusual and interesting new lan...
2023-07-13 19:21:15 +0000 UTC View PostReading comprehension and memory systems
One surprising difficulty in “making it easy for people to remember what they read” is that often, for large swaths of the text, people never really knew what was said in the first place.
(Recording) Seminar: Mark Weiser's "The computer for the 21st century" and ubiquitous computing (1991)
We were fortunate to have some very thoughtful participants with some very relevant knowledge. Thanks to them for an interesting discussion on 2023-06-28 01:13:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Seminar: Mark Weiser's "The computer for the 21st century" and ubiquitous computing (1991); June 27 @4PM PDT
The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. …
There ... 2023-06-23 00:39:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Some initial rough notes on the Vision Pro
I don't normally send new working notes out here, but I figure this might be of interest to a number of you. The situation is still very much evolving, of course! This isn't a proper "Letter", ...
2023-06-06 20:20:24 +0000 UTC View PostFluid practice for fluid understanding
Early, rough thinking, but perhaps useful for others interested in the design of learning environments. Assumes detailed familiarity with memory systems.
When everything goes right, ...
2023-06-01 06:17:58 +0000 UTC View PostAI ethics letter now publicly available
A number of you mentioned to me that you wanted to be able to refer to my AI ethics essay in public conversation. I've revised it and made it publicly available here: 2023-05-12 21:15:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Ethics of AI-based invention: a personal inquiry
Hofstadter’s Law wryly captures my experience of difficult work: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.” He suggested that law in 1979, a...
2023-04-30 00:59:50 +0000 UTC View PostRecording of office hours from 2023-04-23
We discussed: conceptual understanding through connections; conjecture about metrics for feedback on memory system expertise; feedback on a novel language learning interface; feedback on a novel qu...
2023-04-24 19:26:45 +0000 UTC View PostOffice hours / Q&A tomorrow, Sunday 04/23, 9AM PDT
Hi, all. It's been a while since I've hosted an office hours / Q&A, so I thought I'd offer one tomorrow [2023-04-22 23:47:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Memory systems and problem-solving practice
One problem with most discussion around memory systems is: the real goal isn’t to remember answers on flashcards; it’s to expand your capacity to think and act in the world. Sure, your app says...
2023-04-01 05:08:53 +0000 UTC View PostRecording of today's seminar on GPT-4
Some topics of discussion:
- things we noticed in the paper which seem under-discussed
- attempted tea-leaf reading regarding model size, compute, scaling laws
- implication... 2023-03-25 20:26:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Seminar: GPT-4; Mar 25 @ 9AM PDT
Join me (via Google Hangout) on Saturday, Mar 25th at 9AM PDT [2023-03-20 18:27:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Becoming a Wizard-of-Oz learning assistant
As I described in December, I’m experimenting with some unusual (for me) new research m...
2023-02-28 22:15:34 +0000 UTC View PostSeminar on Dempster (1988): "The Spacing Effect: A Case Study in the Failure to Apply the Results of Psychological Research"; Feb 26 @ 9AM PST
tl;dr: join me (via Google Hangout) on Sunday, Feb 26th at 9AM PST to discuss 2023-02-23 01:06:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Three years of crowdfunded research
A public version of this letter is available here: https://andymatuschak.org/2022<...
2023-01-30 21:17:44 +0000 UTC View Post