Neural Networks
Brain architecture, synaptic transmission, consciousness, and the parallel between biological and artificial intelligence.
The Weight of One Hundred Trillion Connections: Tan Mu's Emergence and the Brain That Contains the Cosmos
The human brain weighs approximately 1.4 kilograms. It occupies roughly 1,200 cubic centimeters of volume. It consumes about twenty watts of power, which is less than the power consumed by a single lightbulb.
The Gap Between Thoughts: Tan Mu's Synapse and the Geometry of Neural Transmission
The sparse autoencoder feature structure described in the 2024 research paper "The Geometry of Concepts" produces something that looks, when visualized, like a point cloud in multidimensional space.
The Archive in the Dark: Tan Mu's MRI and the Three-Pound Universe
In 2019, during a deep freediving session, Tan Mu experienced an episode of cerebral hypoxia at ten meters below the surface. Her vision faded into blankness, a fleeting blackout that ended as she neared the surface and inhaled oxygen.
The Mirror and the Machine: Tan Mu's Checkmate and the Archaeology of Artificial Thought
On May 11, 1997, in the Equipment Room of the Equitable Center in New York City, a computer named Deep Blue made the final move of a six-game match against the world chess champion Garry Kasparov. The move was bishop to c4.
The Fabric of Memory: Tan Mu's Emergence 03 and the Neural Architecture of the Cosmos
The human brain contains approximately one hundred billion neurons, each connecting to thousands of others through synapses, producing roughly one hundred trillion synaptic junctions.
The Twenty-Nanometer Gap: Tan Mu's Synapse and the Architecture of Connection
The space between two neurons is approximately twenty nanometers wide. That is twenty billionths of a meter, a distance so small that a human hair, at roughly 80,000 nanometers in diameter, would be four thousand times too large to fit inside it.
Three Panels Before Breathing: Tan Mu's Memory and the Material Architecture of Forgetting
A triptych is a decision about separation. Unlike a single canvas, which holds its image in continuous unity, or a diptych, which proposes a binary, a triptych insists on the gap.
One Hundred Billion Neurons: Tan Mu's Emergence and the Architecture of Consciousness
The blackout happened at the surface. Tan Mu was freediving, ascending from depth, and as she neared the light, her vision collapsed inward, a whiteout that consumed the ocean, the sky, and her own body.
The Machine at the Fair: Tan Mu's Checkmate at Paris+ and the Duchamp Inheritance
In May 1997, in a conference room on the thirty-fifth floor of the Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan, a computer sat across a chess table from Garry Kasparov. The computer was named Deep Blue.
The Three-Pound Universe: Tan Mu's MRI and the Architecture of Memory
In 2019, during a deep freediving session, Tan Mu experienced an episode of cerebral hypoxia. The temporary lack of oxygen to the brain likely affected her hippocampus, disrupting the formation and recall of memory.