The history of science — and of progress — is a series of benefits that are direct results of new tools.
What stories should we tell about scientific progress now?
In search of the mysterious fruits of basic science
Artificial intelligence and illusions of understanding in scientific research
Scientists are enthusiastically imagining ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) tools might improve research. Why are AI tools so attractive and what are the risks of implementing them across the research pipeline? Here we develop a taxonomy of scientists’ visions for AI, observing that their appeal comes from promises to improve productivity and objectivity by overcoming human shortcomings. But proposed AI solutions can also exploit our cognitive limitations, making us vulnerable to illusions of understanding in which we believe we understand more about the world than we actually do. Such illusions obscure the scientific community’s ability to see the formation of scientific monocultures, in which some types of methods, questions and viewpoints come to dominate alternative approaches, making science less innovative and more vulnerable to errors. The proliferation of AI tools in science risks introducing a phase of scientific enquiry in which we produce more but understand less. By analysing the appeal of these tools, we provide a framework for advancing discussions of responsible knowledge production in the age of AI.
From Genius Science to Scenius Science - Cosmik Labs
Why personal AI tools might not be all we need to revolutionize science
What Is Intelligence? Lessons from AI About Evolution, Computing, and Minds | Blaise Agüera y Arcas
Artificial intelligence tools expand scientists’ impact but contract science’s focus
Nature - Artificial intelligence boosts individual scientists’ output, citations and career progression, but collectively narrows research diversity and reduces collaboration, concentrating...
The Fork in the Road: AI Horseless Carriages or Collective Intelligence for Science - Cosmik Labs
The Engine of Scientific Discovery: How New Methods and Tools Spark Major Breakthroughs
Abstract. How do we spark new scientific discoveries? Why do some breakthroughs seem even accidental? And most importantly, how can we accelerate them and
Guest post: If you’re going to critique science, be scientific about it
Loren K. Mell Editor’s note: This post responds to a Feb. 13 article in The Atlantic, “The Scientific Literature Can’t Save Us Now,” written by Retraction Watch cofounders Adam Marcus and Ivan Oran…
Jon Barron on Twitter / X
This idea that intelligence is solely a function of what you've observed since birth and not also a function of the 500 million years of evolution that preceded your birth is surprisingly sticky despite being demonstrably untrue. https://t.co/m2z5cN8Byb— Jon Barron (@jon_barron) January 28, 2026
A more interesting upside of AI
Does AI provide anything to look forward to, if “super-intelligence” sounds boring?
AGIHound on Twitter / X
"Demis Hassabis says our brains are likely to be approximate Turing machines."Dear Lord. This Alan Turing worship never ends. It's a cult. 🤦♂️I research the visual system of the brain. I've come to understand that the most important principle of intelligence is the precise… https://t.co/isLnLqjFkw— AGIHound (@TrueAIHound) May 5, 2026
Intelligence Rising
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to be one of the most transformative technologies in human history.
Speculations on the Future of the Scientific Method
The following essay was published 20 years ago (January, 2006) on my blog The Technium. I edited the intro here, but the speculations are basically unchanged.
If AI is normal technology, history is not reassuring. — LessWrong
There’s a truism that technology is good - even if it creates winners and losers, it improves the world. Toby Ord argues that the conclusions about t…
