Speaker - Linux Meeting 2026

Engaged an audience exploring the intersection between solving the Rubik's Cube, search algorithms, and the philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.

Does solving a Rubik’s Cube make us smarter?

At the Linux Meeting 2026, I had the incredible opportunity to step on stage and address a theater full of tech enthusiasts.

My talk, “Does solving a Rubik’s Cube make us smarter?”, used the Rubik’s Cube as a gateway to explore the foundations of Artificial Intelligence, rational agents, and problem-solving search algorithms.

Key Topics Covered:

• Rational Agents & Search Spaces: I explained how a seemingly simple puzzle translates into a vast state space, and how “Problem-Solving Agents” explore this space systematically to find a solution.
• The Philosophy of AI: We delved into the Turing Test, the definition of “acting humanly” vs “acting rationally”, and the limitations of purely goal-driven behavior.
• The Alignment Problem & Ex Machina: The talk concluded with a critical reflection on the “Gorilla Problem” and the dangers of misaligned AI values, using the movie Ex Machina to illustrate how an AI (like Ava) might manipulate its environment to achieve a rigidly defined goal.

“It is better to design performance measures according to what one actually wants to be achieved in the environment, rather than according to how one thinks the agent should behave.”

It was an amazing experience to bridge the gap between mathematics, computer science, and philosophy in front of the Linux community!