English

Hey Pentti, We Did (More of) It!: A Vector-Symbolic Lisp With Residue Arithmetic

Machine Learning 2025-11-13 v1 Artificial Intelligence Programming Languages

Abstract

Using Frequency-domain Holographic Reduced Representations (FHRRs), we extend a Vector-Symbolic Architecture (VSA) encoding of Lisp 1.5 with primitives for arithmetic operations using Residue Hyperdimensional Computing (RHC). Encoding a Turing-complete syntax over a high-dimensional vector space increases the expressivity of neural network states, enabling network states to contain arbitrarily structured representations that are inherently interpretable. We discuss the potential applications of the VSA encoding in machine learning tasks, as well as the importance of encoding structured representations and designing neural networks whose behavior is sensitive to the structure of their representations in virtue of attaining more general intelligent agents than exist at present.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.08767,
  title  = {Hey Pentti, We Did (More of) It!: A Vector-Symbolic Lisp With Residue Arithmetic},
  author = {Connor Hanley and Eilene Tomkins-Flanaganm and Mary Alexandria Kelly},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.08767},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

11 pages, 1 figure, conference paper at IJCNN 2025 Rome