HN user

Pseudomanifold

2,245 karma

Hi!

My name's Bastian and I'm a researcher. I used to be a mathematician (like you?), until I found my love for computers and computer science.

These days, I am primarily interested in understanding how geometrical--topological information can improve machine learning.

Other than that, I am interested in building better academic systems, and help people navigate this jungle. I also enjoy general discussions on software development, literature, and much more...

Here are some additional contact points:

- https://bastian.rieck.me

- https://twitter.com/Pseudomanifold

- https://github.com/Pseudomanifold

- https://mathstodon.xyz/@Pseudomanifold

- https://bsky.app/profile/pseudomanifold.topology.rocks

Posts60
Comments18
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bastian.rieck.me 2d ago

Bits of Advice That, in Murky Light, Might Pass as Wisdom

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 8d ago

The Unexamined Model Is Not Worth Training

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 1mo ago

Some Comments on "Magnifica Humanitas"

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 1mo ago

Scholarship in the Age of AI

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bastian.rieck.me 3mo ago

Epistemic Humility in the Age of AI

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 5mo ago

The Better Lesson? Geometry and Topology in the Era of Deep Learning

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 6mo ago

AI: From Homer to ChatGPT

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 7mo ago

Higher Education and AI: Some Musings

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bastian.rieck.me 7mo ago

Machine Learning Needs a Langlands Programme

Pseudomanifold
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aidos.group 8mo ago

Structure-Preserving Graph Coarsening for Graph Neural Networks

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 8mo ago

Reluctant Philosopher Kings? Leadership in Academia

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bastian.rieck.me 8mo ago

Skills for the Future

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bastian.rieck.me 11mo ago

Consciousness Is Overrated Anyway (For AI)

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bastian.rieck.me 11mo ago

Clopen Data

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bastian.rieck.me 11mo ago

The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 11mo ago

Overcoming Academic Impostor Syndrome

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www.ams.org 1y ago

Topology Meets Machine Learning

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arxiv.org 1y ago

Fast and Simplex: 2-Simplicial Attention in Triton

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substack.com 1y ago

Community Takes on the Future of Graph Learning

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

There Is Fun in the Fundamentals

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

Clopen Data

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

If at First You Don't Succeed – Counting Paper Rejections

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

The Time of Monsters

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

Overcoming Academic Impostor Syndrome

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arxiv.org 1y ago

Automated Conjecturing in Mathematics with TxGraffiti

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arxiv.org 1y ago

Topology Meets ML: An Introduction Using the Euler Characteristic Transform

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

De Honoris Numquam Satis: Reflections on Snobbery in Academia

Pseudomanifold
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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

Mostly Stakeless

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bastian.rieck.me 1y ago

Underestimating Users

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arxiv.org 1y ago

MANTRA: The Manifold Triangulations Assemblage

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Hi HN,

We are very excited to share a new dataset chock full of interesting triangulations with you. In machine learning, a lot of works try to handle such higher-order inputs, but we show that there is still a long way to go. Let us know what you think!

Great selection of works, but I am missing a lot of references from topology in ML, with the article only assuming a very cursory perspective in terms of 'topology captures connectivity and/or continuity.'

Some works from my colleagues and me go a little bit deeper (no pun intended), for instance:

- Neural Persistence Dynamics: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15732

- Simplicial Representation Learning with Neural $k$-Forms: https://openreview.net/forum?id=Djw0XhjHZb

- A general review on topology in machine learning: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence...

There are more things in topology and machine learning, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your article ;-)

Maybe 'assumption' would have been the better choice. Given that HN is (for me!) broadly about playfully engaging with technology and society at large, I would expect that this _should_ attract a relatively diverse audience.

Fully agree with you there! As I said, I'm merely interested in getting a rough picture of the demographics (INB4: selection bias etc.). I find the statement you mention just as problematic as if you were to switch out the ethnic identity with _any_ form (self-identified) identity. That being said, I don't see anything problematic about looking at population demographics and then asking _why_ some identities are over- or under-represented. This poll should not be used for that, though :-)

Amazing to see 'magnitude' on the front page of Hacker News! If you are interested in a direct application of this invariant beyond ecology, check out our recent pre-print in which we study the generalisation behaviour of neural networks: https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.05611

My personal approach to magnitude is not based on category theory but rather based on weightings of a metric space. If your metric satisfies certain properties, you can obtain a measure of the 'effective number of points' of a metric space. This is particularly relevant when looking at the metric space from different scales---zooming in gives you a lot of disconnected points, while zooming out gives you clusters. Magnitude then captures the changes in the number of points in a principled manner.

Here's mine:

https://bastian.rieck.me/blog/

I mostly write about academia and machine learning these days, but every once in a while, I also have the urge to write a really nerdy post on a more technical topic. Writing continues to be cathartic for me, and I hope to make a small difference when I discuss things that are not typically discussed openly (in an academic setting).

Feedback is very welcome!

Why write? 3 years ago

Author here :-) Thanks a lot---the font is Gentium Book Basic. If you are interested in the layout, send me an e-mail or a DM; I can share the theme.

X-Clacks-Overhead 4 years ago

I use this on several of my sites as well. None of them get any significant amount of traffic, so I figured it would be okay to add more names to the list, as a small token of keeping their memory alive.

Browsing the web with the Clacks Overhead extension for Chrome (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clacks-overhead-gn...), I'm always surprised by which sites enable this extension. My latest find is arXiv.org! If you go to any abstract page, such as https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0310077v2 (picked that one at random for its humour), the header will be sent.