23 JUL 2026

Day 204

I think, therefore I am.

René Descartes · Discourse on the Method

A silver bowl attributed to the Hephthalite period, linked to fifth-century Gandhara and associated with imagery of two Huna tribes.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Hephthalite silver bowl

Hephthalite / Huna · 460–479 CE · Silver

A silver bowl from fifth-century Gandhara carries images of two Huna tribes side by side — evidence, some argue, of brief peaceful coexistence between Kidarites and Alchons.

Enter lesson 5 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Adversarial Evaluation of Multimodal Reasoning

evaluation · integration versus shortcuts · SAMU-XLSR; Toolformer

When a model can answer from one channel alone, success looks like reasoning. Tests that force speech and text, or tool and context, to be read together tell a different story.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

A dim workshop where women spin and wind wool; behind them a raised, brighter platform holds figures before a large tapestry of a bull carrying a woman over the sea.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

Las Hilanderas

Diego Velázquez · 17th century · Oil on canvas

Five women spin and wind wool in a dim workshop. Behind them, on a raised stage, a tapestry retells a contest the painting itself may be staging.

Enter lesson 7 MIN