complex-2
Original: complex-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (a woman with glasses speaking at a lectern):
Scholars going back to Freud have referred to the presence of a "Madonna-whore complex" in men, in which they desire women to be simultaneously virginal and pure, yet sexually uninhibited.
Panel 2:
Recent work has formalized this as a superposition of (freak) + (lady) subject to whether one is on streets or in sheets.
Panel 3:
Evolutionary psychology has been unable to explain this phenomenon, but modern cognitive science and artificial intelligence can give a complete resolution.
Panel 4 (the speaker beside a slide showing a sphere with circular markings):
Machine learning requires training data. The strongest way to compare two artificial intelligences is to see who can achieve a specified competence benchmark based on the smallest amount of training data.
Panel 5:
The program that can infer the most correct understanding from the least input is said to possess the highest sample efficiency.
Panel 6:
Thus, the Madonna-whore superposition is not a "complex" - it is a rational strategy to detect honest signals of intelligence.
Panel 7:
If someone can execute the "flying inverted Chatouiller les boules" based on a mere handful of sexual encounters, we are talking about an Einstein-level genius.
Panel 8 (the speaker raises an arm triumphantly toward an applauding audience):
[THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE]
Panel 9:
Thank you for your time. Anyone looking for training data can meet me in the storage closet of the chemistry building after 9PM Wednesdays.
Votey:
One day, when we do the filthy version of BAHFest I will elaborate all the details.
Scholars going back to Freud have referred to the presence of a "Madonna-whore complex" in men, in which they desire women to be simultaneously virginal and pure, yet sexually uninhibited.
Panel 2:
Recent work has formalized this as a superposition of (freak) + (lady) subject to whether one is on streets or in sheets.
Panel 3:
Evolutionary psychology has been unable to explain this phenomenon, but modern cognitive science and artificial intelligence can give a complete resolution.
Panel 4 (the speaker beside a slide showing a sphere with circular markings):
Machine learning requires training data. The strongest way to compare two artificial intelligences is to see who can achieve a specified competence benchmark based on the smallest amount of training data.
Panel 5:
The program that can infer the most correct understanding from the least input is said to possess the highest sample efficiency.
Panel 6:
Thus, the Madonna-whore superposition is not a "complex" - it is a rational strategy to detect honest signals of intelligence.
Panel 7:
If someone can execute the "flying inverted Chatouiller les boules" based on a mere handful of sexual encounters, we are talking about an Einstein-level genius.
Panel 8 (the speaker raises an arm triumphantly toward an applauding audience):
[THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE]
Panel 9:
Thank you for your time. Anyone looking for training data can meet me in the storage closet of the chemistry building after 9PM Wednesdays.
Votey:
One day, when we do the filthy version of BAHFest I will elaborate all the details.
Alt text
A nine-panel SMBC comic. A woman with glasses delivers an academic lecture at a lectern. She explains that scholars going back to Freud described a "Madonna-whore complex" in men, who desire women to be simultaneously virginal/pure yet sexually uninhibited. She formalizes it as a superposition of "freak" plus "lady" depending on whether one is "on streets or in sheets," and says evolutionary psychology can't explain it but cognitive science and AI can. Standing beside a slide of a sphere, she argues that machine learning is about sample efficiency: the AI that reaches a competence benchmark from the least training data is best. Therefore, she concludes, the Madonna-whore superposition is not a "complex" but a rational strategy to detect honest signals of intelligence - someone who can execute an elaborate sexual maneuver from only a handful of encounters is an Einstein-level genius. She raises her arm triumphantly as a crowd applauds [THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE]. She closes by inviting anyone seeking "training data" to meet her in the chemistry building storage closet after 9PM Wednesdays. Votey caption (handwritten on a sheet of paper): "One day, when we do the filthy version of BAHFest I will elaborate all the details."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.