Arthur Juliani
@awjuliani.bsky.social
New preprint: "The Manifold of the Absolute: Religious Perennialism as Generative Inference"
If religious traditions seem to contradict each other, can they still point to the same truth? And if so, how? To better reason about it, I modeled the question using the math of VAEs...
If religious traditions seem to contradict each other, can they still point to the same truth? And if so, how? To better reason about it, I modeled the question using the math of VAEs...
February 18, 2026 at 2:57 PM
New preprint: "The Manifold of the Absolute: Religious Perennialism as Generative Inference"
If religious traditions seem to contradict each other, can they still point to the same truth? And if so, how? To better reason about it, I modeled the question using the math of VAEs...
If religious traditions seem to contradict each other, can they still point to the same truth? And if so, how? To better reason about it, I modeled the question using the math of VAEs...
Happy to finally share a new recorded version of the talk I gave at MAPS Psychedelic Science 2025!
It’s a fun, non-technical intro that uses machine learning concepts to explain both how entrenched pathological beliefs form and how psychedelic therapy may help to dismantle them. youtu.be/bRX80ByWT1A
It’s a fun, non-technical intro that uses machine learning concepts to explain both how entrenched pathological beliefs form and how psychedelic therapy may help to dismantle them. youtu.be/bRX80ByWT1A
A Simple Machine Learning Perspective on Psychedelics and Neuroplasticity
YouTube video by Arthur Juliani
youtu.be
February 2, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Happy to finally share a new recorded version of the talk I gave at MAPS Psychedelic Science 2025!
It’s a fun, non-technical intro that uses machine learning concepts to explain both how entrenched pathological beliefs form and how psychedelic therapy may help to dismantle them. youtu.be/bRX80ByWT1A
It’s a fun, non-technical intro that uses machine learning concepts to explain both how entrenched pathological beliefs form and how psychedelic therapy may help to dismantle them. youtu.be/bRX80ByWT1A
I'm trying to figure out where to live next, and one big consideration is the climate. So naturally I made a tool that represents monthly average temperatures for cities as 3D rings so they can be compared more easily. Check it out: awjuliani.github.io/weather-expl...
January 21, 2026 at 6:57 PM
I'm trying to figure out where to live next, and one big consideration is the climate. So naturally I made a tool that represents monthly average temperatures for cities as 3D rings so they can be compared more easily. Check it out: awjuliani.github.io/weather-expl...
Like many others, Claude Code has completely transfixed me. I can just think of an idea (such as "interactive guide to Meditations on the Tarot"), picture it clearly in my mind, put it into language, and then minutes later have it materialize fully formed. It truly feels like magic.
January 18, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Like many others, Claude Code has completely transfixed me. I can just think of an idea (such as "interactive guide to Meditations on the Tarot"), picture it clearly in my mind, put it into language, and then minutes later have it materialize fully formed. It truly feels like magic.
While reading Meditations on the Tarot, I was struck by this passage.
It applies just as much (if not more) to many modern day "psychonauts" as it did to the mystics of the author's time.
Chasing the state without the integration or application, and going nowhere as a result.
It applies just as much (if not more) to many modern day "psychonauts" as it did to the mystics of the author's time.
Chasing the state without the integration or application, and going nowhere as a result.
January 14, 2026 at 6:00 PM
While reading Meditations on the Tarot, I was struck by this passage.
It applies just as much (if not more) to many modern day "psychonauts" as it did to the mystics of the author's time.
Chasing the state without the integration or application, and going nowhere as a result.
It applies just as much (if not more) to many modern day "psychonauts" as it did to the mystics of the author's time.
Chasing the state without the integration or application, and going nowhere as a result.
What is the fundamental nature of reality? We all have metaphysical beliefs, but they are often implicit or unexamined. I built a taxonomy and short quiz to help you (and your favorite LLMs) discover what existing systems you are most aligned with! Read on to learn more... 1/7
December 22, 2025 at 2:48 PM
What is the fundamental nature of reality? We all have metaphysical beliefs, but they are often implicit or unexamined. I built a taxonomy and short quiz to help you (and your favorite LLMs) discover what existing systems you are most aligned with! Read on to learn more... 1/7
We often blame "sycophancy" for AI-induced delusions, but the problem is more fundamental.
In my latest essay, I explore those deeper roots through the concept of a narcissistic enclosure, drawing on neuroscience and psychoanalysis.
Read the full piece here: awjuliani.medium.com/beyond-sycop...
In my latest essay, I explore those deeper roots through the concept of a narcissistic enclosure, drawing on neuroscience and psychoanalysis.
Read the full piece here: awjuliani.medium.com/beyond-sycop...
Beyond Sycophancy: Chatbots, Delusions, and the Narcissistic Enclosure
It happened to someone I knew. We met at a cafe a couple of years ago and hit it off. She was a senior manager at one of the big tech…
awjuliani.medium.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
We often blame "sycophancy" for AI-induced delusions, but the problem is more fundamental.
In my latest essay, I explore those deeper roots through the concept of a narcissistic enclosure, drawing on neuroscience and psychoanalysis.
Read the full piece here: awjuliani.medium.com/beyond-sycop...
In my latest essay, I explore those deeper roots through the concept of a narcissistic enclosure, drawing on neuroscience and psychoanalysis.
Read the full piece here: awjuliani.medium.com/beyond-sycop...
Linked is a fun short story I wrote recently that grew from my interest in the strange coincidence that both Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism were born within a few decades of one another. The question the story explores is: what if it wasn’t a coincidence?
awjuliani.substack.com/p/the-dragon...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/the-dragon...
The Dragon King’s Decision
A short story exploring the twin births of Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism
awjuliani.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Linked is a fun short story I wrote recently that grew from my interest in the strange coincidence that both Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism were born within a few decades of one another. The question the story explores is: what if it wasn’t a coincidence?
awjuliani.substack.com/p/the-dragon...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/the-dragon...
I spent some time last week vibe-coding "The Beginner's RL Playground" a simple web tool for exploring many basic concepts in reinforcement learning. Users can adjust all sorts of parameters of the algorithm and environment and see the effects of those changes in realtime.
April 28, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I spent some time last week vibe-coding "The Beginner's RL Playground" a simple web tool for exploring many basic concepts in reinforcement learning. Users can adjust all sorts of parameters of the algorithm and environment and see the effects of those changes in realtime.
Anna Lembke's Dopamine Nation is everywhere, but focusing solely on dopamine doesn't tell the full story... I wrote a short article exploring why: medium.com/@awjuliani/b...
Beyond Dopamine Nation: Towards a Fuller Picture of Addiction and Recovery
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke has become an almost inescapable text in the past few years, even to those who have not read it. Thanks in…
medium.com
April 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Anna Lembke's Dopamine Nation is everywhere, but focusing solely on dopamine doesn't tell the full story... I wrote a short article exploring why: medium.com/@awjuliani/b...
In a new essay I explore how the "Nobodies" in KH2 can serve as a useful thought experiment for considering the future of human-like non-sentient AI in our own world
awjuliani.substack.com/p/what-kingd...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/what-kingd...
What Kingdom Hearts II Can Teach Us About AI Sentience and Moral Patienthood
I have spent the past few weeks replaying the classic PlayStation 2 game Kingdom Hearts II. The last time that I played through the game was over a decade ago, and I had forgotten most of the game’s p...
awjuliani.substack.com
March 2, 2025 at 6:19 PM
In a new essay I explore how the "Nobodies" in KH2 can serve as a useful thought experiment for considering the future of human-like non-sentient AI in our own world
awjuliani.substack.com/p/what-kingd...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/what-kingd...
Congrats to Adam Safron (&co) for finally getting 'ALBUS' published! The phenomenological effects of psychedelics are extremely multi-faceted, and they deserve appropriately complex treatments, even if those have to sometimes be partially speculative. academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
On the varieties of conscious experiences: Altered Beliefs Under Psychedelics (ALBUS)
Abstract. How is it that psychedelics so profoundly impact brain and mind? According to the model of “Relaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics” (REBUS), 5-HT2a a
academic.oup.com
February 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Congrats to Adam Safron (&co) for finally getting 'ALBUS' published! The phenomenological effects of psychedelics are extremely multi-faceted, and they deserve appropriately complex treatments, even if those have to sometimes be partially speculative. academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
"The possibility of constructing ever more complex and ever more efficient perceptrons thus sounds very promising" - Stanislaw Lem (1964)
Reading Summa Technologiae for the first time and it often feels like a book of prophecy...
Reading Summa Technologiae for the first time and it often feels like a book of prophecy...
February 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"The possibility of constructing ever more complex and ever more efficient perceptrons thus sounds very promising" - Stanislaw Lem (1964)
Reading Summa Technologiae for the first time and it often feels like a book of prophecy...
Reading Summa Technologiae for the first time and it often feels like a book of prophecy...
I wrote a commentary on the "gradual disempowerment" paper making the rounds. The two big points I try to make are 1) individual agency has already been on the decline since the industrial revolution; and 2) there is a case for AI actually reversing that trend!
awjuliani.substack.com/p/gradual-di...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/gradual-di...
Gradual Disempowerment or Golden Age? Rethinking Human Freedom in the Shadow of AGI
A preprint on arXiv has been making the rounds this past week called Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risks from Incremental AI Development. As the title suggests, the article explores the...
awjuliani.substack.com
February 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I wrote a commentary on the "gradual disempowerment" paper making the rounds. The two big points I try to make are 1) individual agency has already been on the decline since the industrial revolution; and 2) there is a case for AI actually reversing that trend!
awjuliani.substack.com/p/gradual-di...
awjuliani.substack.com/p/gradual-di...
my recent headspace
February 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
my recent headspace
After finishing my post-doc at MSR last summer, I wanted to get more hands on with LLMs, Flux, etc. So I spent some free time building a simple procedurally-generated JRPG. You tell it what kind of world, hero, and story that you want, and it makes it!
awjuliani.medium.com/one-trillion...
awjuliani.medium.com/one-trillion...
One Trillion and One Nights
An experiment using LLMs to procedurally generate browser-based JRPGs
awjuliani.medium.com
January 22, 2025 at 6:54 PM
After finishing my post-doc at MSR last summer, I wanted to get more hands on with LLMs, Flux, etc. So I spent some free time building a simple procedurally-generated JRPG. You tell it what kind of world, hero, and story that you want, and it makes it!
awjuliani.medium.com/one-trillion...
awjuliani.medium.com/one-trillion...
My academic degrees are in Psych, but I actually started undergrad as a CS student. I decided to transfer out my first year because I had a vague intuition that programming ability was a commodity. I couldn't justify it at the time (back in 2010), but it is now very clear that I made the right call.
January 11, 2025 at 12:57 AM
My academic degrees are in Psych, but I actually started undergrad as a CS student. I decided to transfer out my first year because I had a vague intuition that programming ability was a commodity. I couldn't justify it at the time (back in 2010), but it is now very clear that I made the right call.
A little late, but here is my list of books read in 2024. I am going to *try* to get back into more fiction this year, but it could just as easily tip the other direction and end up being all obscure psychoanalytic texts instead...
January 9, 2025 at 10:09 PM
A little late, but here is my list of books read in 2024. I am going to *try* to get back into more fiction this year, but it could just as easily tip the other direction and end up being all obscure psychoanalytic texts instead...
Wow, I was not expecting this rate of progress for LLMs on ARC-AGI. From effectively 0% to greater than human level in less than a year...
December 20, 2024 at 6:47 PM
Wow, I was not expecting this rate of progress for LLMs on ARC-AGI. From effectively 0% to greater than human level in less than a year...
A new essay:
Sorry e/acc, Accelerationism is Anti-Capitalist to its Core
open.substack.com/pub/awjulian...
Sorry e/acc, Accelerationism is Anti-Capitalist to its Core
open.substack.com/pub/awjulian...
Sorry e/acc, Accelerationism is Anti-Capitalist to its Core
An Essay on Reclaiming Deleuze and Guattari's Philosophical Project
open.substack.com
September 28, 2024 at 5:05 PM
A new essay:
Sorry e/acc, Accelerationism is Anti-Capitalist to its Core
open.substack.com/pub/awjulian...
Sorry e/acc, Accelerationism is Anti-Capitalist to its Core
open.substack.com/pub/awjulian...
The FDA advisory committee met last month to evaluate MDMA as a legal treatment of PTSD. They voted to not recommend, citing safety as one concern.
To help explain that concern, I put wrote a primer on the ways that MDMA can exhibit neurotoxicity and what can be done to mitigate those effects.
To help explain that concern, I put wrote a primer on the ways that MDMA can exhibit neurotoxicity and what can be done to mitigate those effects.
A Primer on MDMA and “Neurotoxicity”
Yesterday (June 4th) the FDA advisory committee voted almost unanimously to recommend against the adoption of MDMA…
awjuliani.medium.com
July 5, 2024 at 11:07 PM
The FDA advisory committee met last month to evaluate MDMA as a legal treatment of PTSD. They voted to not recommend, citing safety as one concern.
To help explain that concern, I put wrote a primer on the ways that MDMA can exhibit neurotoxicity and what can be done to mitigate those effects.
To help explain that concern, I put wrote a primer on the ways that MDMA can exhibit neurotoxicity and what can be done to mitigate those effects.
I was thinking this morning about how amazed I was a couple years ago to realize that the classical 'elements' (earth, water, wind, fire) map directly onto the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma). The ancients had grasped a fundamental truth, they were just wrong about what it meant.
July 2, 2024 at 4:49 PM
I was thinking this morning about how amazed I was a couple years ago to realize that the classical 'elements' (earth, water, wind, fire) map directly onto the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma). The ancients had grasped a fundamental truth, they were just wrong about what it meant.