web: http://maxim.ece.illinois.edu substack: https://realizable.substack.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mlwqfiofek2kdid I also drop by the Seminary Co-op Bookstore? yes16 May 2026 01:53 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlwqfiofek2khttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mlucba3w622u$33 at Powell’s15 May 2026 02:34 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlucba3w622uhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mlnxvgu2sc2hFor those interested in things at the intersection of information theory and machine learning, here is some recent work done in collaboration with Abbas El Gamal from Stanford (a true Renaissance man of engineering). One is a chapter Abbas wrote on information theory and ML. arxiv.org/abs/2605.02989 https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.0298912 May 2026 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnxvgu2sc2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mljpo3yhtk2tWhere I’ll be this week: https://www.imsi.institute/activities/theoretical-advances-in-reinforcement-learning-and-control/new-directions-in-reinforcement-learning-and-control/10 May 2026 21:35 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mljpo3yhtk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mlckcgxf7k2xTopical, all of a sudden. [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 May 2026 01:10 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlckcgxf7k2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mlbyvgpgws25That was a deep cut. Apparently no one here has heard of the Port-Royal grammarians? [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 May 2026 19:59 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlbyvgpgws25https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3ml7sdf3zus2fThe cover of “Wichita Lineman” on Flea’s “Honora,” with Nick Cave doing the vocals, is a perfect 10/10.06 May 2026 22:56 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml7sdf3zus2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3ml2xrj4snk2nhttps://youtu.be/idcaRTg4-fM?si=snsTidSVQydURuzi [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 May 2026 00:50 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml2xrj4snk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mktefpjjtk25Tonight feels like a 100 Year Old Cigar kind of night.02 May 2026 00:15 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mktefpjjtk25https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mkoewlira222Spent almost the entire day on revisions, the response to reviewers is almost as long as the paper. Time for some actual R&R:30 Apr 2026 00:41 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkoewlira222https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mko7ojz4fk2eCaviar bumps might be one of the most déclassé things at the moment. Just sayin’.29 Apr 2026 23:07 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mko7ojz4fk2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mko6rzxf222eAdvertise your account with a Simpsons image [contains quote post or other embedded content]29 Apr 2026 22:51 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mko6rzxf222ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mklvchwugs26New book by Volodine, which I somehow missed when it came out:29 Apr 2026 00:56 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mklvchwugs26https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mkku5urkf22cDeep interpretation: what if Anthropic's Claude is named not after Claude Shannon but after Claude Lancelot?28 Apr 2026 15:03 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkku5urkf22chttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mkjd4dhln226second tornado warning of the day, that’s Central Illinois for you28 Apr 2026 00:25 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkjd4dhln226https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mkfyh2nhps2q26 Apr 2026 16:36 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkfyh2nhps2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mke72okwq22gTIL that E.B. Dynkin had a paper in 1976 on the existence of general economic equilibria under stochastic uncertainty. https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-01c00001.html25 Apr 2026 23:29 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mke72okwq22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mkbu5md6ds2mmalört negroni25 Apr 2026 01:09 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkbu5md6ds2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mk4q3ql2y22fMine was about quantum mechanics of lasers. [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Apr 2026 00:13 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk4q3ql2y22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mk3w6t3gfc2v"Left to itself, the "I" of the cogito is Sisyphus condemned, from one instant to the next, to push up the rock of its certainty, fighting the slope of doubt." (Paul Ricoeur, _Oneself As Another_)22 Apr 2026 16:29 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk3w6t3gfc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mk2hmgvlhs2bAfter grumbling for years in our substacks about uses and abuses of probability in machine learning, @beenwrekt.bsky.social and I decided it's finally time to put down some concrete ideas in a manifesto with a DOI. Here it is, give us your best feedback. (1/4) https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.1956022 Apr 2026 02:36 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk2hmgvlhs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjy2iwcnxk2kNew post: history of ideas from control, decision theory, cybernetics, and psychology, with some Stalin-era academic politics in the USSR thrown in for good measure. https://realizable.substack.com/p/feeding-ever-forward21 Apr 2026 03:36 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjy2iwcnxk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjx2b5de7s26"I am free only when I feel that I am free; but I feel that I am free only when I imagine some restraint, when I begin to think of some state in contrast to my present state." (Paul Valéry, _The Outlook for Intelligence_)20 Apr 2026 17:59 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjx2b5de7s26https://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjufqyebjk2w19 Apr 2026 16:46 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjufqyebjk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjueijkyc22whttps://archive.ph/2026.04.13-111127/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/13/computer-science-major-ai/19 Apr 2026 16:24 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjueijkyc22whttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjubq3bve22wIvan Krastev is always worth reading, and this is characteristically good: https://www.equator.org/articles/the-mittel-man https://www.equator.org/articles/the-mittel-man?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email19 Apr 2026 15:34 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjubq3bve22whttps://bsky.app/profile/mraginsky.bsky.social/post/3mjs54ngad22618 Apr 2026 19:07 +0000at://did:plc:64gnfkb4vguspilo6hqeaebr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjs54ngad226