Scott investigates the correlation between intelligence and neuron count, exploring various theories before suggesting that more neurons allow for less polysemantic (overlapping) representations of concepts. Longer summary

Scott explores why intelligence correlates with neuron count across species, humans, and AI models, despite this correlation not being immediately intuitive. He examines various hypotheses about how having more neurons could help with complex pattern-matching tasks like IQ tests. After discussing several possibilities including pattern storage and matching, he settles on polysemanticity as a potential explanation: fewer neurons means each neuron must encode multiple concepts, reducing precision. The post concludes with insights from an expert suggesting that larger neural networks (biological or artificial) can better approximate complex functions and maintain multiple hypotheses simultaneously. Shorter summary

A Links post presenting various news items and articles, ranging from cultural curiosities like the multiocular O to scientific findings about brain sex differences and genetic research, along with commentary on current events and politics. Longer summary

Scott Alexander presents a collection of interesting links and articles covering a wide range of topics. The post includes scientific findings (like research on sex differences in the brain and studies on antidepressants), cultural curiosities (like rare Cyrillic letters), political developments (like the White House's decision on Exxon drilling rights), and various technological advances (like an AI that writes poetry). The post provides brief commentary on each link, often with Scott's characteristically analytical and sometimes humorous perspective on the implications of each item. Shorter summary