The NADJA Project: LLMs That Think More Like Humans
Cramer, Kathryn
Cramer, Kathryn
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Abstract
Named for the surrealist Andr� Breton's muse Nadja, NADJA: An Absolute Reality Engine is a scenario-based simulation engine adapted from the parameter-space exploration techniques of evolutionary robotics. It is an exploration inspired by the question What if anti-aging technologies work? Its core simulations are a human aging simulator based on a book forthcoming from Springer Verlag by the researcher's father, John G. Cramer, Jr.; a scenario-based financial simulator which addresses what the very long-lived might live on; and a multi-generational family simulator based on concepts from UVM 's curriculum in Sustainable Family Enterprise, addressing the longevity of their social embedding. This project integrates and generalizes concepts of agroecology into what they might mean for a long-term human ecology. Built on a substrate of a Mac Studio computer and primarily operated via Anthropic's LLM Claude, NADJA is a multi-module simulation engine with five layers: 1) a simulation core using Python modules to model financial portfolio dynamics, human, aging, and long-term multi-generational family well-being; 2) a simulated sensory apparatus comprising human senses plus a few non-human ones such as echolocation and the lateral line; 3) a durable memory shell implemented in FileMaker Pro; 4) cross-domain embedding spaces to allow for lateral thinking and navigation of memory; and 5) session continuity infrastructure that mitigates many LLM problems with the persistence of memory. One of the fundamental goals of the project is to explore how much AI computation can be packed into a next-generation desktop computer using highly performant LLMs as the orchestrator, and a variety of other LLMs, both local and in the cloud to fulfill subordinate functions. This project implements many of the concepts formulated in the researcher�s OCAD University Major Research Project completed in 2020 towards a Master of Design entitled A Thousand Futures: A Search for Scenario Space.
Description
Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Graduate Student
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Poster
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Program/Major
Agroecology
College/School
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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Mathematical Science