Dan Goodman

I'm a computational neuroscientist and science reformer. I'm based at Imperial College London. I like to build things and organisations, including the Brian spiking neural network simulator, Neuromatch and the SNUFA spiking neural network community.

Public Key

npub1pmxyaxv6dm8xnd99c80fqyvtjmsmp68gv026tdyfsyz4000ttk0s48q5qg

NIP-05 Address

neuralreckoning_at_neuromatch.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqanzwnxdxannfkjjurh5szx9edcdsar5x84d9kjyczp2hhh44m8cds6hnn

Author Public Key

npub1pmxyaxv6dm8xnd99c80fqyvtjmsmp68gv026tdyfsyz4000ttk0s48q5qg

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-09-06 10:53:02

- reply

@npub1fe9…dfzt 😞

2024-09-06 05:50:57

Hopefully that's it for Macron and his party. It was always obvious that it was a Thatcherite attempt to destroy the left and the idea of solidarity in France. The fact that they're willing to ally with the fascists to keep out a democratically elected left should be an action they can never recover from.

2024-09-04 22:19:43

- reply

@npub1cj9…yftt I dutifully reply each time with this link:
http://neural-reckoning.org/reviewing.html
Quite a few editors have replied and said they agree with me but feel they have to do it for their career.

2024-09-03 08:55:37

- reply

@npub1w9e…0cvv ah interesting, so you think it's not sensor noise, just the natural bounce up and down as I run? I'll try that!

2024-09-03 08:50:34

- reply

@npub106k…aq7w but how is it calculating that? Presumably they don't release their source code.

2024-09-02 23:02:20

Data analysis question. How can I compute my total ascent from Google fit location data of my run? It's quite noisy so sum(relu(diff(height))) massively overestimates. I can smooth but what's the right width? I don't know the distribution of sensor noise and it might depend on all sorts of uncontrollable factors. This feels like someone must have definitively solved this? Another option would be to project my lat/long (which seems much less noisy) onto a global height map and use that to replace Google elevation sensor, although maybe that smooths too much?

2024-09-01 12:12:16

I was just thinking about ordering a burrito and saw that there's a restaurant selling roast beef and yorkshire pudding wraps as "yorkshire burrito"... #BritishFusion?

2024-08-30 13:21:08

The EU just emailed to let me know they've updated the "Country Correction Coefficients" for Sweden from 125.4% to 125%.

2024-08-23 22:31:56

- reply

@npub1sy9…hnku this was such a weird and obviously wrong decision even at the time. However did they all vote in favour of that?

2024-08-17 20:44:37

- reply

@npub17nd…77sr the required collective action is to stop submitting papers to journals and do open preprint review only.

2024-07-24 10:46:09

- reply

@npub1ssl…7yz4 let's do a poll! 🤣

2024-07-24 00:17:03

- reply

@npub1sky…2hts so you don't think the media campaign against him was an incredibly successful interference operation?

2024-07-24 00:12:56

- reply

@npub1sky…2hts weren't you arguing with me about how terrible Corbyn was just a year or so ago? 😉

2024-07-22 23:12:42

- reply

@npub1sky…2hts I occasionally misuse them in my python code for various things because they're so easy to generate in python. I could imagine it somehow happening with a typo in a variable.

2024-07-22 22:24:36

- reply

@npub1sky…2hts what a delicious mystery. Bug in a bit of code that randomly replaces words and phrases to avoid plagiarism detectors?

2024-07-22 12:35:41

- reply

@npub1ssl…7yz4 and I'm sorry that Australia always ends up getting a raw deal. It's hard to say no to the time slot that works for Europe and the US. 😞

2024-07-22 12:34:26

- reply

@npub1ssl…7yz4 absolutely! Check out our YouTube channel for our back catalogue.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL09WqqDbQWHFoXyLxIxoblfO7SSQcCAZ-&si=-9I_JYai5MeFaHHK

2024-07-22 09:33:02

Could we decide if a simulated spiking neural network uses spike timing or not? Given that we have full access to the state of the network and can simulate perturbations. Ideas for how we could decide? Would everyone agree? #neuroscience #SpikingNeuralNetworks #computationalneuroscience #compneuro

2024-07-20 10:07:28

- reply

@npub1p69…fac6 some will, some won't. Good idea to get some intros out of the way before.

2024-07-19 22:39:04

- reply

@npub1xna…eyvs and then when you are trying to find something you know you saw in that newsletter 6 months ago and find that the link tracking service expired those links. 😡

2024-07-19 20:35:21

Thoughts on good ways to structure small group in person scientific workshops to maximise the value? Thinking that it would be useful to have a back and forth agenda setting process by email starting over a month or two in advance, and then a small number of focussed discussions based on that. #science #academicchatter #academia

2024-07-18 21:37:49

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s finally! 🎉

2024-07-16 18:19:29

- reply

@npub16c6…s5g8 oh that game looks like hell. I love watching speedruns. Such an incredible amount of skill in such an eclectic niche. Do we need to invent science speedruns?

2024-07-15 17:37:54

Two year old's lies are the best. Found my daughter putting on roller skates after I said no, and she looked at me sweetly and said "It's not roller skates! It's.... something. It's.... watermelon I think."

2024-07-15 17:11:17

- reply

@npub1a7m…j0p9 Good luck! Some are trying out a few experimental things, very slowly and cautiously.

2024-07-15 16:14:59

Maybe it was inevitable that I would end up interested in spike trains with Siméon Poisson as my PhD great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent.
https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=124909
And just a few steps up the tree, Lagrange, Laplace, Euler, Bernoulli, d'Alembert. Fun website.

2024-07-15 09:44:06

- reply

@npub17nd…77sr but just think how much value they're going to add!

2024-07-14 11:32:24

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s it really pains me but Mozilla leadership the last few years really seem dedicated to cementing its irrelevance. 😞 If and when they manage to kill it off, I will mourn it.

2024-07-13 16:02:29

- reply

@npub1m7h…sn57 I feel like that one's true at every election. Right wing candidates not held to account for anything.

2024-07-13 13:09:25

- reply

@npub1m7h…sn57 same in that it was a valid concern that wasn't acted on, for a candidate that then ended up losing the election? 😉

2024-07-13 08:40:26

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s fwiw if it were me deciding, this reasoning would count for a lot. Your efforts are really recognised by some of us.

2024-07-12 16:20:26

- reply

@npub1twh…5j6z Goodman, Dan reacted to your post. ⭐
Also, I appreciate the hashtag.

2024-07-07 20:17:03

Ah the photos of disappointed fascists holding empty wine glasses ready for the champagne are just 👌.

2024-07-07 19:41:05

- reply

@npub1jzg…hc3a evergreen post. 😉

2024-07-07 18:30:28

What a relief. Well done France.

2024-07-05 07:36:10

- reply

@npub1jzg…hc3a and by a large majority. Very happy.

2024-07-04 21:09:24

- reply

@npub1twh…5j6z can confirm fireworks in London right now. 😂

2024-07-04 21:08:44

- reply

There are fireworks right now in London! Happy 4th of July.

2024-07-04 14:56:41

- reply

@npub1twh…5j6z now that is an excellent hashtag to be following today, thanks for making me aware of it!

2024-07-04 14:06:19

- reply

I wonder if there'll be fireworks when the exit poll is announced at 10pm?

2024-07-04 13:23:54

Hey I just realised that both the UK and the US are today celebrating the end of being oppressed by a British government.

2024-07-04 08:45:18

- reply

@npub1qv5…zjg3 terrible idea! This gives publishers and their commercial interests even more power over science.

2024-07-04 07:57:39

Get out there and vote my UK friends! Make it tactical. If you're somewhere the Tories have a chance, vote whoever has the best chance to displace them. In a seat that has no chance of the Tories getting in, maybe vote Green to try to exert some leftward pressure on Lab/LibDem.

2024-07-03 23:20:08

- reply

@npub1jzg…hc3a it's very challenging, and I wouldn't recommend for an early career researcher, unfortunately. Would put you at a big disadvantage. 😞

2024-07-03 22:35:33

Every time I turn down an opportunity for an event in the USA, I feel a sense of regret. Then I go and look up the carbon emissions, and you know what, it wasn't worth 1,800kg of CO2 released into the upper atmosphere after all.

2024-07-03 12:07:57

- reply

@npub15m4…kq97 yeah I'm worried about that too. If Labour fails to achieve anything good in the next 5 years - a distinct possibility - the next election could be a really bad one

2024-07-03 09:03:25

Despite feeling very unenthused by the incoming Labour government, there's something light and special about the anticipation of today. Tomorrow we rid ourselves of the Tories after 14 awful years. If we're lucky, permanently.

2024-07-02 15:05:01

Brilliant article from Quanta Magazine about a successful bottom-up collaborative effort organised online to solve a long standing mathematical challenge. I think this sort of thing will be an increasingly important part of research in the future.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/amateur-mathematicians-find-fifth-busy-beaver-turing-machine-20240702/

2024-06-30 18:42:24

- reply

@npub1jzg…hc3a You've achieved more than I ever did with them! 😂

2024-06-30 16:38:56

- reply

@npub1jzg…hc3a BBC's France reporting is awful.

2024-06-06 01:18:16

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s is that a graph query language or something?

2024-06-06 01:17:42

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s oh that's awesome!

2024-06-06 01:05:40

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s what would the workflow look like for something like selecting all people with one tag and listing their other tags into a table, or other visualisation, for example?

2024-06-06 00:18:22

Possibly a weird question. Do any academics use software to keep track of their network of colleagues, to make it easy to answer questions like "if I want to ask someone I know about X, then who should it be?" I'm terrible at keeping track of this stuff in my head. #AcademicChatter

2024-05-08 09:10:19

- reply

@npub14d7…dm4s I don't think it's just the publishing system but it's surely an unhealthy combination!

2023-10-06 12:59:36

What neuroscience / comp neuro papers would you put on a recommended reading list if you wanted to emphasise the creativity, inspiration and joy of the field? I think some suggestions would overlap with the most famous or epochal papers, but some might be quite different.
#neuroscience #compneuro

2023-09-01 11:43:31

I'm currently developing a new course "Neuroscience for machine learners" that I hope to be able to make publicly available, and I'd love to hear what you think should be in it.
It's aimed at people with a machine learning background to learn a bit about neuroscience. My thinking is that neuroscience and ML have had fruitful links in the past, and may again in the future (although right now they're drifting apart). This course is designed to give students the background they'd need to be able to discover, understand and make use of new opportunities arising from neuroscience (if they do). I'm not trying to tell them only about the bits of neuroscience that we already think are applicable to ML, but to give them enough background to read and understand enough neuroscience to allow them to make new discoveries about what might be applicable to ML. The constraint is that it can't just be an intro to neuro course I think, because I'm not sure how compelling that would be to students with an ML focus. The course is 10 weeks and will have quite a practical focus, with most of the attention on weekly coding based exploratory group work rather than lectures. (Similar to @npub1e6k…ct64 Academy.)
I have thoughts about what should be on this course, but I'd love to know what you all think would be most relevant.
#neuroscience #compneuro #machinelearning #ai