Bare Minds, Curved Math: How a Beach Petition Could Rewire AI 📜

Send us Fan Mail Memory-starved GPUs, the awe effect, and Canada’s Section 174: one researcher’s liquid manifold theory of intelligence Can a Canadian beach petition help fix the energy-hungry, hallucination-prone future of artificial intelligence? In this evidence-based science podcast deep dive, we follow researcher Scott Bleackley from GPU memory bottlenecks and quantization to the neuroscience of the awe effect and Canada’s Criminal Code Section 174. More than 1000 signatures in the first week. You’ll learn why your chatbot isn’t really “thinking” during that pause, how a 1980s geometry idea (Babai’s nearest plane algorithm) changed the way giant AI models are compressed, and what the liquid manifold framework proposes for smaller, curved, edge-friendly AI. We also unpack the fusiform body area hypothesis, the “small self” Yosemite study, the Doukhobor roots of Canada’s nudity law, and Petition e-7895, which asks Parliament to add a clear conduct test to Section 174. Whether you care about neuroscience, AI ethics, Canadian law reform, or critical thinking, this episode invites you to question the invisible filing cabinets in our technology and our lives. Canadian citizens and residents can find Petition e-7895 at ourcommons.ca or through FreeTheClothing on Substack. Remember to click the confirmation email so your signature counts. References Sign CDN e-Petition 7895 FreeTheClothing.substack.com HelioxPodcast.substack.com and 15 other references. This is Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Support the show Disclosure: This podcast uses AI-generated synthetic voices for a material portion of the audio content, in line with Apple Podcasts guidelines.  We make rigorous science accessible, accurate, and unforgettable. Produced by Michelle Bruecker and Scott Bleackley, it features reviews of emerging research and ideas from leading thinkers, curated under our creative direction with AI assistance for voice, imagery, and composition. Systemic voices and illustrative images of people are representative tools, not depictions of specific individuals. We dive deep into peer-reviewed research, pre-prints, and major scientific works—then bring them to life through the stories of the researchers themselves. Complex ideas become clear. Obscure discoveries become conversation starters. And you walk away understanding not just what scientists discovered, but why it matters and how they got there. Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter.  Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Spoken word, short and sweet, with rhythm and a catchy beat. http://tinyurl.com/stonefolksongs