2008/7/1 Vladimir Nesov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Linas Vepstas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> What are you trying to accomplish here? I don't see where >> you are trying to go with this. >> >> I don't think a human can consciously train one or two neurons >> to do something, we train millions at a time. -- I'm guessing >> savants only employ a few tens of million neurons (give or take a >> few orders of magnitude) -- to do their stuff. >> >> Still, an array of 1K by 1K electrodes is well within current >> technology, we just don't know where to hook this up to, >> with the exception of simple motor areas, retina, and bit >> of the auditory circuits. >> > > Certainly nothing to do with individual neurons. Basically, it's > possible to train a finite state automaton in the mind through > association. You see a certain combination of properties, you think > the symbol that describes this combination. If such automaton is > trained not just to handle natural data (such as language), but to a > specifically designed circuit plan, it'll probably be possible to use > it as a directly accessible 'add-on' to the brain that implements > specific simple function efficiently, such as some operation with > numbers using a clever algorithm in a way alien to normal deliberative > learning. You don't learn to perform a task, but to execute individual > steps of an algorithm that performs a task.
Yes, but isn't the interesting case in the other direction? We have ordinary computers that can already do quite well computationally. What we *don't* have a a good man-machine interface. For example, modern disk drives hold more bytes than the human mind can. I don't want to train myself for feats of memorization, I want automatic and instant access to a disk drive. So, perhaps by studying savants who are capable of memorization feats, perhaps we can find the sort of neural circuitry needed to interface to a disk drive. It is, perhaps because savants have these unusual abilities, that it sheds light on the kind of wiring that would be needed for electrodes. --linas ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=106510220-47b225 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
