[FRIAM] wtf

2009-12-17 Thread Marcus Daniels

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html


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Re: [FRIAM] Rethinking artificial intelligence

2009-12-17 Thread Miles Parker

Well, since you asked, though I must ay that my only qualifications in 
traditional AI is one course in my masters program, so I'm not sure why you'd 
care.. :) I think the more you look into classic AI, the less impressive it is 
from an explanatory POV. A lot of it seems to me like a kind of OR for 
cognition AFAICT. So yeah, I'd agree that to equate the sophistication and 
beauty of the human experience encountering, playing and mastering chess with 
that of a glorified tree-search -- no matter how finally tuned or dressed up -- 
is to completely misinterpret the whole point of intelligence. Its a 
fundamental confusion between awareness and basic curiosity on the one hand and 
quickness and large memory on the other. I'm really convinced by the pattern 
over symbols arguments, and in particular I think it's really telling that soft 
logic approaches seem to fall apart under longer inference chains. All of this 
is not to say that classic AI approaches aren't insightful and cool, but that 
their relationship to intelligence is glancing and superficial. And at the same 
time, I think the AI label actually limits the appreciation of all of the cool 
things that we *can* do with symbolic logic techniques. It's as if everyone 
decided to call the Wright brother's flyer an artificial bird and the name 
stuck.

And now we see all of this coming back in the guise of exabyte science or 
whatever they're calling it. Hey we have lot's of data! We'll get answers for 
free!!


On Dec 16, 2009, at 9:47 PM, Carl Tollander wrote:

 As long as we're on AI and Math (whenever were we not) , recall that the hard 
 problems in AI are less matters of chess and more those of the first five 
 years of development.  Here are some mathematicians discussing same - 
 Interesting to see how the conversation unfolds.got some Category Theory 
 in thar too!
 http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2009/12/can_fiveyearolds_compute_copro.html
 
 Maybe we should be asking Miles and Reed about AI fundamentals.
 
 BTW, does anyone have a copy of Drew McDermott's Critique of Pure Reason, (ie 
 a crisp semantics does not a logic make) which is in part a critique of the 
 Naive Physics Manifesto?
 
 carl
 
 Robert J. Cordingley wrote:
 
 More on non-algorithmic computing from Penrose:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind
 
 but I don't see how the brain can use quantum mechanics since it's 
 biochemical and operates on a different scale.  Has anyone read Penrose's 
 book and can recommend it or not (even tho' it was awarded a prize by the 
 Royal Society)?
 Robert C
 
 Robert J. Cordingley wrote:
 
 Didn't it take an algorithm (an Inference Engine) to process the 
 heuristics?  Also show me some silicon that doesn't use an algorithm 
 somewhere.  So do you suppose the Mind Machine Project is a way to break 
 free of this computing/algorithmic model?
 
 Robert C
 
 Pamela McCorduck wrote:
 
 Most of early AI was heuristics, not algorithms. Some algorithms were 
 incorporated into expert systems, in the belief that if an algorithm could 
 solve the problem, fine; if not, heuristics might. But it was always 
 *might*. True, computers can't solve all problems, neither can humans.
 
 P.
 
 
 
 A cold coming we had of it,
 Just the worst time of the year
 For a journey, and such a long journey;
 The ways deep and the weather sharp.
 The very dead of winter.
 
 T.S. Eliot
 
  
 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
 lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
  
 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
 lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
 
 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
 lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
 lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org


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Re: [FRIAM] wtf

2009-12-17 Thread Douglas Roberts
Hadn't you heard?  Both the Taliban and Al Queda recently joined the Iraq
chapter of the Open Video Project http://www.open-video.org/.

--Doug

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Marcus Daniels mar...@snoutfarm.comwrote:

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html



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Re: [FRIAM] wtf

2009-12-17 Thread Miles Parker
 On Dec 17, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote:
 
 Hadn't you heard?  Both the Taliban and Al Queda recently joined the Iraq 
 chapter of the Open Video Project.

LOL. Seriously, WTF?! It's what comes from making the assumption that your 
adversaries are stupider that you are. But this is just stupid dumb.

There did appear to be a vulnerability, the defense official said. There's 
been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a result of it, but 
there's an issue that we can take care of and we're doing so.

Whew, that's good. We even get some stupid CYA.

Fixing the security gap would have caused delays, according to current and 
former military officials. It would have added to the Predator's price. Some 
officials worried that adding encryption would make it harder to quickly share 
time-sensitive data within the U.S. military, and with allies.

OMG, what a clown show. I guess our allies are even more stupid than we are. 

There's a balance between pragmatics and sophistication, said Mike Wynne, Air 
Force Secretary from 2005 to 2008.

Yes, and the average Best Buy consumer is already on the smarter side of that 
trade-off curve. I guess when you download encryption software from the 
internet it's free, but when General Atomics develops it for you its like what, 
12 billion dollars? Of course, they probably sold non-compatible as a security 
feature..


On Dec 17, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote:

 Hadn't you heard?  Both the Taliban and Al Queda recently joined the Iraq 
 chapter of the Open Video Project.
 
 --Doug
 
 On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Marcus Daniels mar...@snoutfarm.com wrote:
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html
 
 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
 lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org


FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org