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Liza Shulyayeva

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I don't know

I first heard of, and from, Michael Levin at the 2020 ALIFE Conference, where he delivered a keynote that I posted my notes from here .

Giving up on the Altra Vanish Carbon 2 and running updates

I had such high hopes for the Altra Vanish Carbon 2 as a race day shoe, but from the beginnig there were issues.

Summer has sprung

I’m at the end of the first week of my summer vacation and already the days are starting to blur together. I’m sitting on my balcony while writing this, the smell of rain in the air. It’ll be good to get some rain after these last days of heat. My roses are really feeling the strain of the heat - I’m seeing drying leaves on the Rosa Helenae rambler, and some dry heat-loving…

Testability of the Claim That Cognitive Science Can Be Effectively Applied to Embodied Non-Neural Systems [Essay assignment]

I got the results for the two evening courses I took last term, with VG for both (i.e., I passed!)

Midnight Sun Half Marathon in Tromsø, Norway

Jag anmälde mig till halvmaraton på Tromsø Midnight Sun Marathon i september 2025, innan jag ens hade klarat min första HM i Uppsala. Då visste jag inte att träningen skulle gå helt åt skogen under vintern och att jag knappt skulle komma igång med löpningen igen förrän det blev varmt i år.

Exploring color matching in JavaScript [2013 post brought back from the dead]

I wrote this post back in 2013 for HTML5 Hub, which later became the Intel Developer Zone. The site’s gone through many changes over the years and this post is no longer there, so I figured I’d repost it here instead. This is mostly unedited from the original posting, except for some extra headings and removing one dead link from the final section. The following should also show, for…

Climate science: Changes in the cryosphere and climate denialism [UU lecture notes]

This lecture was given by Veijo Pohjola, Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala. He’s been working with glaciers for about 40 years. These are my rough notes and paraphrased questions/answers.

Placebo effect [UU lecture notes]

This lecture was given by Tomas Furmark, Professor of Psychology at Uppsala University. My rough notes are below. Note that all of this, including the question/answer sections, is paraphrased - not exact quotes.

Kalam cosmological argument for the existence of God

For one of my cosmology course assignments I had to pick either the ontological or a version of the cosmological argument for the existence of God, discuss what I think is its weakest point, and attempt to strengthen it. I then presented a version of my answer as part of a seminar, together with a partner who answered a different but ultmimately related question related to cosmology and religion.

Perception and cognition lecture notes

This past Tuesday we had a lecture on perception and cognition as part of the Good and Bad Science course I’m taking. My rough notes are below.

Homemade pasta and snow adventures

The year is in full swing. I’m back at work after the holidays and in a couple of weeks the term starts as well.

Gott Nytt År

Happy New Year! 
 It’s been an interesting year. Mostly very happy, in some ways very sad - but then, aren’t most years like that for most people? Nothing can be all good all the time. There have been many highlights, and the ones I’m taking with me into 2026 are:

Julbord and Juliard

Last week the team went to a beautiful Julbord at Fjäderholmarnas Krog on Fjäderholmarna, an island near Stockholm. Last year we had our Julbord on the same island, but at Restaurang Rökeriet. I guess we’re creatures of habit.

AI, Structural Change, and the Future of Work (seminar notes)

Yesterday morning I went to a breakfast seminar about AI and the future of work at Segerstedthuset. It ended up being a great discussion that went off the rails of the original ‘plan’ in a way that felt interesting and productive. My hasty notes are below.

The Body Electric: Manipulating Large-Scale Anatomy Through Bioelectricity (presentation runthrough)

My final 15-minute presentation for the Frontiers in Life Sciences course I’m taking is this evening, so I’ve been finishing up my slides and doing some runthroughs. Below is a practice recording of what I intend to present.

The Power of Creative Destruction - Philippe Aghion Nobel laureate lecture notes

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for their work in the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction. Today, a friend and I went to see Philippe Aghion speak about this work at Ekonomikum in Uppsala. The lectures are organized every year by the university and are open to the public, with no pre-registration. My rough notes are below [L:…

Gothenburg and biohacking and worms and...

I’ve been in a kind of hyper-busy mode before Christmas. Mostly that has translated into work, but there are also quite a few other things happening.

Italy workation, Romania, and Portugal ✈️

The last couple of months have been quite a bit of traveling. Two pre-planned trips and one quite impromptu one to just get away somewhere warm for a bit.

Uppsala Half Marathon done!

Around this time last year I came to Uppsala with a friend to check out Rosendal Day - a day organized by the neighborhood I had just bought an apartment in. On the walk to Rosendal from the station I realized it was also the day of the 2024 Uppsala (full and half) Marathon, the runners and spectators gathered on the route through the middle of the city.

My first race - Kung Björn's Loppet 6km

I started running again during this past summer, after years of sporadic lifting. I ran for a year or two many years ago, but after moving to Sweden got more into strength training.

Summer road trips - Jönköping, Tiveden, Dalarna, and more

I’m back in Uppsala after two back-to-back road trips - one to Jönköping, and another to Tiveden followed by some Dalarna exploration. I doodled on my reMarkable tablet through the trip, and figured I’d break this post up with my unfinished sketches.

Finished my course on nuclear weapons and disarmament

And just as I post about waiting for my grade, the grade comes. I was pretty nervous to submit my first ever university written assignment, but the results just came in and I passed - nice news to get on the first day of my vacation.

First day of summer vacation: summer, sun, and e. coli

Today is the first official day of my summer vacation. I’m sitting in Leijon, drinking a morning coffee can I write this. It’s been a pretty crazy 7 months. I haven’t written much lately - first out of diverted focus, later out of stubbornness.

AI for Peace - Notes from inaugural Peter Wallensteen Lecture

I recently got to attend the inaugural Peter Wallensteen Lecture at Humanistiska Teatern. When I originally signed up it already had a waiting list, but I luckily got an email about a spot opening up just a few days before. The series is intended to honor department founder Peter Wallensteen and this first lecture was deliverd by Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell.

Valborg, Axis & Allies, and cross stitching

I’ve been a bit off the map with local activities. Partly because of the Mallorca trip , but partly because I was spending the last few weeks cross stitching furiously in all of my spare time. I had the idea to cross stitch a custom design as a Birthday present in April.

Easter break in Mallorca

I visited Mallorca over Easter break, taking a couple of extra days off. It was my first trip abroad after moving to Uppsala and my first time leaving the cats with a sitter here. All went well on that front, which is very promising for future longer trips.

Robot novellfika, pajbakning, Rock Orchestra och mer! För mycket att göra, för lite tid

Förra helgen ordnade jag vår senaste novellfika, och temat var “Robotar”. 
 En av novellerna var faktiskt min gamla favorit: Robot Dreams av Isaac Asimov. Den andra novellen var EPICAC av Kurt Vonnegut. Det var första gången jag läste EPICAC . Den handlar om en AI som blir kär i en mänsklig kvinna.

Nuclear Weapons and Academic Responsibility (UU lecture notes)

I went to the most fascinating lecture about the history of the nuclear bomb last week. I’m not even going to try to shorten my notes. I want to remember it in as much detail as I possibly can. As before, my own post-lecture note interjections are [L: Highlighted like this] (I also highlighted a couple of questions I’d asked during the lecture in the same format).

Balkongprep inför sommaren

Nu är det äntligen balkongdags! 
 I helgen fick jag lite (ok, mycket) hjälp med att fixa golvet på min balkong. En jättetrevlig kille kom med sina handyman-skills och sågade till några träplattor så att de passade längs kanterna där en hel platta inte fick plats.

Nuclear disarmament: The institutional landscape (UU lecture notes)

I attended a lecture on the institutional landscape of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament this week. My rough notes are below.

Sounds and signs of spring in Uppsala

I heard Isabelle Demers play the Åkerman organ at Uppsala Domkyrka last week. As far as first organ recitals go, this was a beautiful one to have gotten the opportunity to start with - even though the instrument did not seem to particularly resonate with me. Or maybe I just need to hear more of it to properly appreciate it.

Individual climate action: Contributor's Dilemma (practical philosophy seminar notes)

The latest seminar in practical philosophy was a presentation about problems of overdetermination and preemption in climate action. My rough notes are below. I’m trying a new styling format for these. The notes from the talk itself will be in a normal white or black font (depending on if the post is being viewed in light or dark mode). My interjecting comments will be [L: in square brackets…

Urban Sketching at Gustavianum and a behind the scenes tour at Evolutionsmuseet

Yesterday I saw two museums for the first time: Gustavianum and Evolutionsmuseet Paleontologi. 
 Urban sketching at Gusativanum 
 The Urban Sketchers meetup took place at Gustavianum Sunday morning. The museum is huge . We didn’t have time to go through it at the pace it deserved, because the idea was to find something we wanted to draw and get started. But I loved the glimpses I got…

Co-reading fika

We had a co-reading fika at Kvarteret this morning, where we just sat and read together for 45 minutes (with a bit of discussion about what we’re reading before and after). I started reading AI och samtalet om de stora frågorna av Amanda Lagerkvist. I went to a lecture by her a few weeks ago , at which time she also kindly gave me a copy of her book.

Flowers and fairy tales

I’ve been slowly building up the apartment since I moved. When it comes to anything interior-related, I’m a pretty slow shopper. Mostly because I’m completely incompetent at it, but also because I kind of want to find furniture that I’ll want to keep for a good amount of time and not just stock up on random things as quickly as possible.

Vandring och utforskning – årets första vårhelg

Förra helgen kändes som den första riktiga smaken av vår – perfekt för skogsvandringar och upptäcktsfärder. 
 Jag blev inspirerad att ta med Rigel ut på hans första promenad i Stadsskogen.

You hear colours

There are two main ways to get from my apartment to the city center: one along a main road and one slightly longer way walking next to Stadsskogen. When I have time I opt for the longer way. Walking with the looming trees on my left and the different houses of Kåbo on my right makes me happy.

The Edge You Carry With You

After the poetry fika last week I was inspired to buy Still Possible , a collection of poems by David Whyte.

Poetry fika, a morning of sketching, and another run to the mounds

Poetry fika - David Whyte and others 
 I organized a small poetry fika this past weekend, featuring a few poems by David Whyte as well as poems the other participants brought. Here were the three I chose:

AI, the future, and norms around the human (UU lecture notes)

Over lunch yesterday I attended a lecture by Amanda Lagerkvist, Professor at the Department for Informatics and Media , on how AI is set to shape and challenges our understanding of “the human.” The talk was organized by Uppsala University’s Centrum för forskning om funktionshinder - The Center for Disability Research.

Running to the edge of the world (Gamla Uppsala)

I took a run to the grave mounds at Gamla Uppsala today. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision, distance-wise - I hadn’t run properly in years, and this was a 7km run there, a walk around the grave mounds followed by a nice recharge fika at Odinsborg, and then a 7km run back.

Tyra Kleen - Constant Searcher exhibition. And a philosophy seminar on the declaration of art.

Last week I went to the Uppsala Konstumseum to view their Tyra Kleen exhibition and listen to a conversation about her art. My favorites of her pieces combined the exploration of humanity, myth, and spirit. I loved her pencil, graphite, and ink most of all.

Gods of Data. Religion, risk, and love - notes from AI seminar at UU

The other day I went to a really interesting talk by Carl Öhman (Uppsala University) about applying religious critique to AI.

Two months in my new home

It’s been just over two months since I moved to Uppsala, and it continues to be my favorite place to have lived in Sweden so far. The last month has been quieter than the first, with not as many university events to drop in on over the holidays. But now things are starting back up, and I’m having to pick between attending two lectures that are on at the same time next week:

Short story fika: Duty

We had our fourth short story fika yesterday. This time, the theme was ‘duty’ and the stories featured were: 
 
 The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty 
 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson 
 The Veldt by Ray Bradbury 
 
 It was just three of us this time, and we had a great chat about the duties and sacrifices of war, the questioning (or lack thereof) of outdated…

Vandring i Hågadalen

Idag visade en vän mig Hågadalen. Det är så härligt att ha så vacker natur på promenadavstånd från mitt hem. Vi vandrade dit från hans lägenhet efter att ha druckit lite alkoholfri glögg. Jag tog med fika, och han hade med sig utsökta lunchsmörgåsar.

First month in my new home

It’s been exactly one month since I moved to Uppsala. I’m still adjusting and discovering my routines here, but here’s what I’ve been up to so far.

B-CRATOS: Föredrag om hjärnstyrda handproteser med fingertoppskänsla, på UU Centrum för forskning om funktionshinder - Antekningar

Idag deltog jag i en föreläsning vid Uppsala universitets Centrum för forskning om funktionshinder (CFF), om en revolutionerande typ av hjärnimplantat och protes som möjliggör tvåvägskommunikation mellan hjärnan och protesen.

Novellfika på Konditori Fågelsången - Fox 8 av George Saunders

Idag höll jag min tredje novellfika i Uppsala, och det var en särskild fika eftersom några vänner från Stockholm var med. Så vi hade både nya och gamla kompisar i diskussionen. Efter fikan gick några av oss hem till mig för lunch och lite mer prat.

Luciatåget på Uppsala slott

Tidigare i kväll gick jag till Uppsala slott och träffade några kompisar för att se Luciatåget på slottets tak. Det var en kort föreställning, men så vackert! Den sista sången som de sjöng var helt magi.