4 ms·

It was a very simplified example. The Cyc database contains more realistic examples. Yes, I'd seriously consider augmenting symbols with numeric data. You

It was a very simplified example. The Cyc database contains more realistic examples. Yes, I'd seriously consider augmenting symbols with numeric data. You could even store the vector obtained from word2vec as a property of the symbol if that's found to be useful in capturing nuance, but you can't store symbols on floating point vectors.

barrkel 10y ago
The edge between a word and a symbol is where the number belongs - and arguably it should be a time series of numbers. In the vector view of the world, the dimensions of the vector are symbols - the number in a particular slot for a word vector is the number on the edge between the word and the symbol. But the "symbol" represented by a dimension may be a compound or quite abstract concept, it may not map trivially to a single word.
barrkel 10y ago
Here's another example. The fat cat is sitting on a mat. Only someone who has spent too much time away from people could possibly think that the meaning of this sentence is that somewhere, there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. It's a direct allusion to books used to teach reading to young children. It's a reference to simple sentences and simple words. And even within the world of the sentence, it only has a vague meaning. What exactly makes the cat fat? Is it neutered or lazy or overfed? Why is it sitting on a mat - is the mat outside a door, is it waiting to be let in? What kind of a cat is it - could it be a big, dangerous cat? The sentence is laden with signifiers and unknowns. Western children are taught to consider sentences like these in the abstract, but it's not a natural way of thinking, because it's not practical in a life lived connected to the world. Abstract hypotheticals are the hallmark of more disconnected concerns, and we teach our children this early, in part using silly, deliberately vague sentences like these, and discouraging curious questions that might resolve the ambiguities. An AI system that's designed to handle abstract sentences like these is not one designed to understand human language, because humans don't reason like this unless they're thinking analytically - and even then, they do so blinkered with biases and errors.
- homarp 10y ago
  >Only someone who has spent too much time away from people could possibly think that the meaning of this sentence is that somewhere, there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. or someone who did not grow up using the English language.
  - czep 10y ago
    I grew up with English and when I read that sentence, to me it means that there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. Not sure what point was trying to be made here.

barrkel 10y ago

The edge between a word and a symbol is where the number belongs - and arguably it should be a time series of numbers. In the vector view of the world, the dimensions of the vector are symbols - the number in a particular slot for a word vector is the number on the edge between the word and the symbol. But the "symbol" represented by a dimension may be a compound or quite abstract concept, it may not map trivially to a single word.

barrkel 10y ago

Here's another example. The fat cat is sitting on a mat. Only someone who has spent too much time away from people could possibly think that the meaning of this sentence is that somewhere, there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. It's a direct allusion to books used to teach reading to young children. It's a reference to simple sentences and simple words. And even within the world of the sentence, it only has a vague meaning. What exactly makes the cat fat? Is it neutered or lazy or overfed? Why is it sitting on a mat - is the mat outside a door, is it waiting to be let in? What kind of a cat is it - could it be a big, dangerous cat? The sentence is laden with signifiers and unknowns. Western children are taught to consider sentences like these in the abstract, but it's not a natural way of thinking, because it's not practical in a life lived connected to the world. Abstract hypotheticals are the hallmark of more disconnected concerns, and we teach our children this early, in part using silly, deliberately vague sentences like these, and discouraging curious questions that might resolve the ambiguities. An AI system that's designed to handle abstract sentences like these is not one designed to understand human language, because humans don't reason like this unless they're thinking analytically - and even then, they do so blinkered with biases and errors.

homarp 10y ago
>Only someone who has spent too much time away from people could possibly think that the meaning of this sentence is that somewhere, there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. or someone who did not grow up using the English language.
- czep 10y ago
  I grew up with English and when I read that sentence, to me it means that there is a fat cat sitting on a mat. Not sure what point was trying to be made here.