It's officially published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology! An RNA-Based Theory of Natural Universal Computation.

free-access link for next 50 days: authors.elsevier.com/a/1eSX457im8GWD

In it, I raise a theoretical challenge that I believe is overlooked in neuroscience and biology...👇 ...and I argue that the common belief that it has already been solved by our models of biological computation is incorrect.

I then propose a class of models that solve this challenge with RNA and that may guide us in finding life's universal computer, if it exists.

👇

This past weekend, I re-read “No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes” by @Anand_Gopal_ for the 2nd time.

What an amazing and insightful book. Here is one of the most eye-opening things I learned from it: 🧵 Within months after the US-led invasion in 2001, the Taliban effectively vanished. Al-Qaeda leaders fled to Pakistan, but the Taliban - realizing they had no chance of victory - accepted the new order. They acknowledged Karzai as interim president, surrendered arms, and ...

It never ceases to amaze me how uncoordinated, yet coordinated, US media can be. The Biden administration vetoed Israel-Gaza cease-fires *three times* in a week. Which major media outlets have covered any of these vetoes?
🧵 have reported it:
Reuters
AP
AlJazeera
Haaretz
DW
France 24
Jerusalem Post
Guardian
the Independent

completely avoided reporting it:
New York Times
MSNBC
CBC
CNN
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
Vice News
Bloomberg
NPR

Notice a pattern?

I have been following the discourse surrounding MMT among academic economists and it’s astonishing how dismissive the field is toward any paradigm-shifting ideas.

#MMT is producing insightful & valuable work. They’re starting to get some recognition among the public. But...

1/n But the response from mainstream economists has been ridicule (eg tweet below) and distortion.

For some reason, they don’t even think it’s worth their time to engage with it at a serious level.

2/n

https://twitter.com/ben_golub/status/1364749567862988802

Excited to finally share this preprint:

"A Theory of Natural Universal Computation Through RNA"
arxiv.org/abs/2008.08814

summary thread below: 1/n Every computation system has a scope: a set of problems it can solve. Some computation systems are capable of solving all computable problems. These are called "universal computers". Turing Machines are a popularized example but others exist that don't look anything like TMs
2/