Miscellaneous 🎲

The rest: what I read, what I listen to, and other random things I like to share.

The physics behind the site’s animations

The faint animations in the background of every page are live simulations of three classic models of statistical physics.

• The Gray-Scott model

  Two chemicals that react and diffuse, and the spots, stripes and holes they draw.

• The 2D Ising model

  The simplest model of a magnet, and its phase transition between order and disorder.

• The 2D spin glass

  Random couplings, frustration, and the strings that pair frustrated plaquettes.

Worth reading

• A highly relevant viewpoint on science in the age of AI

  By Marc Mézard.

• The future of research in the age of AI

  By Pierre Marion.

• The slow science movement

  It challenges the “publish or perish” culture: science needs time to read, think and check results, and should be judged on quality rather than on publication counts.

• A manifesto for the creation of a European center for AI

  It grew out of a round table in Bologna chaired by Pierluigi Contucci and Giorgio Parisi in October 2025, and calls for an independent, non-profit research center built on the theoretical foundations of AI, its risks and its safety; anyone can sign it.

Outside science

I like rock climbing, skiing and freediving. With friends we make electronic music (I am RSB, my wife is Ficus Tabasco): Entropie Collectif.

Here is some music I’ve been listening to.

• Nov 2026atöm.04 by CVNSUMED
• Oct 2026Nightrun by Disguised
• Sep 2026In Tune and On Time by DJ Shadow
• Aug 2026Badlands by FANK
• Jul 2026Samādhi by Stef de Haan
• Jun 2026Berlin Calling by Paul Kalkbrenner
• May 2026Echoes from Syrius by KTK
• Apr 2026Tiny Desk, Chapter 7 and Beto’s Horns by Ezra Collective
• Mar 2026CHROMA by Bicep
• Feb 2026Break Out by SUDO

Submit your phase transition

Seen a phase transition in the wild or dreamed one up? Describe it to add it to the site :)