Bastiaan Cnossen

About

I am a post doc at the University of Regensburg, in the working group of Marc Hoyois. My mathematical interests lie in algebraic topology, homotopy theory and higher category theory. More specifically, I'm thinking about (global) equivariant homotopy theory, homotopy theory of differentiable stacks, parameterized category theory, twisted ambidexterity/Costenoble-Waner duality, and norm/transfer maps.

I am an associated member of the SFB 1085 "Higher Invariants".

I finished my PhD in September 2023 at the University of Bonn under the supervision of Stefan Schwede.

Contact

Email: bastiaan.cnossen (add @ur.de)

Teaching

Research

A list of preprints may be found here.

An in-progress book project, joint with Denis-Charles Cisinski, Kim Nguyen and Tashi Walde, may be found here: Formalization of Higher Categories

AI Alignment

One of the most fascinating challenges in computer science today is AI alignment: how to ensure that increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems will act in ways that benefit humanity rather than harm it. This question brings together ideas from computer science, philosophy and mathematics in new ways. While there's certainly hype around AI, the challenge of alignment is recognized by top researchers as both crucial and in need of more attention.

If you're new to this topic, I'd encourage you to read about it here. Alternatively I can recommend this award-winning short film that introduces the key concepts in a more entertaining way: Writing Doom – Award-Winning Short Film on Superintelligence (2024) 

For those already familiar with AI alignment, particularly those with backgrounds in mathematics or computer science: there are many valuable ways to help address this challenge. I encourage you to explore ways to get involved here: AI Safety: How Can I Help?