On 3/4/07, Matt Mahoney wrote:
What does the definition of intelligence have to do with AIXI? AIXI is an optimization problem. The problem is to maximize an accumulated signal in an unknown environment. AIXI says the solution is to guess the simplest explanation for past observation (Occam's razor), and that this solution is not computable in general. I believe these principles have broad applicability to the design of machine learning algorithms, regardless of whether you consider such algorithms intelligent.
Matt, you might want to consider that while Occam's Razor is indeed a very beautiful and powerful principle, it is a heuristic directly applicable only to those situations of "all else being equal" (or made effectively so by means of infinite computing power.) [Observant readers may notice than I'm being slightly tongue in cheek here, drawing a parallel with a recent mismatch of expressed views on the AGI and Extropy lists regarding the elegance of the Principle of Indifference. The analogy is sublime.] My point is that nature never directly applies the perfect principle. Every problem posed to nature carries an implicit bias, and this is enough to start nature down the path toward a satisficing heuristic. While the Principle of Parsimony and the Principle of Indifference play unattainably objective roles in our epistemology, you may want to consider their subjective cousin, Max Entropy, as one of your star players in any practical AI. - Jef ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?list_id=11983
