25 AUG 2026

Day 237

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives an infusion from the will and affections.

Francis Bacon · Novum Organum

A gypsum artefact, eighty-nine centimetres high, from the Etruscan Isis Tomb group found at Vulci and now held in the British Museum.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Isis Tomb, Vulci

Etruscan · 6th century BC · Gypsum

A sixth-century BC chamber tomb at Vulci yielded a rich burial group. Only the valuables were kept; over sixty now sit in London, the rest scattered across the world.

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II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Calibration: When Confidence Matches Correctness

evaluation · confidence vs accuracy · temperature scaling, ECE

A network that is 90 per cent confident should be right nine times in ten. Modern deep networks often fail this simple test — and a single scalar can close much of the gap.

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A round painting of a severed head with snake hair, mouth open, lit hard from one side against a dark ground, the neck ending in a wound at the lower edge.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

Medusa

Caravaggio · 1597 · Oil paint

A severed head on a round support the size of a parade shield: Caravaggio's oil painting of Medusa, made with sharp chiaroscuro for the Medici in 1597.

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