7 ms·
This is unwarranted AI optimism, not really any more grounded in reality than the early AI researchers who in the 1950s thought that AI would be imminently solv
by marcoperaza 9y ago
This is unwarranted AI optimism, not really any more grounded in reality than the early AI researchers who in the 1950s thought that AI would be imminently solved through symbolic manipulation.
One of the key features of human intelligence is being able to very quickly understand and solve problems on first impression, with no directly relevant experience or knowledge to pull from. Insight.
There's also the data representation problem. People can store, categorize, and process any kind of information.[1] The problem with both symbolic systems and "neural network"-type models is that they don't really allow for this. The problem with symbolic manipulation is more obvious: the categories of things and ideas are flexible, indeterminate, and innumerable, and a system that captures some subset of the complexity falls apart when you add a new, confounding, fact. Neural networks too are fragile, made-for-purpose, and fail to solve the above-mentioned first impression problem. You can look at a chair that looks nothing like any chair you've ever seen, yet realize that it is a chair.
[1]My own little theory is that consciousness is a crucial aspect of this. In the absence of a more specialized system in the brain (such as for language), any kind of information can be stored and remembered as a conscious experience. I don't pretend to be well-versed enough in the relevant neuroscience and philosophy to evaluate how plausible this is.
- marcoperaza 9y agoI can't edit my post anymore: Another amazing aspect of our ability to categorize is that we only need ONE example of a category before we can identify other members extremely well. Compare this with a machine learning solution, which needs a massive training set to be half decent.
- kayoone 9y agoHumans need a training set as well, infants or small childs won't be able to categorize based on one example, they lack experience just as a neural network. Adults can because they can connect their intuition to a lot of experience from similar objects, but I don't see why an AI could not do the same.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoHumans aren't made from magic. We can't use information that's not there. That categorization-by-one-example only works thanks to all our accumulated experience of categorizing things and expectations of how the world works. I.e. don't compare a 10+ y.o. human with 0 y.o. AI instance.
- Klockan 9y agoHumans aren't magic but we don't start out from zero, we have a billion years of evolution behind us.
- kobeya 9y ago> One of the key features of human intelligence is being able to very quickly understand and solve problems on first impression, Try that with an infant and see how far you get.
- smileysteve 9y agoMy thought when I read that was a 2 year old that grabbed onto an incandescent lightbulb, starting crying, but a parent had to come remove his hand.
- MrQuincle 9y agoThere are a lot of neural networks, each with their own represential capabilities. + Reservoir computing, ESN, LSM, only combines quenched dynamics. + Adaptive resonance theory. Addresses catastrophic forgetting and allows someone to learn from one example. + Bottleneck networks. Forcing networks to represent things in a compressed sense. Almost like making up their own symbols. + Global workspace theory. Winner take all mechanisms that allow modules to compete. + Polychronization. Izhikevich shows how dynamic representations are possible thanks to delays. + Attractor networks. Use of dynamical system theory to have population of neurons perform computational tasks. That neural networks are too fragile is a statement that's a bit too general.
- empath75 9y agoAs someone with a toddler at home, it’s been interesting to watch what he’s capable of doing when being presented with a novel problem for the first time and what he can’t. He’s decided to try and learn to roll a set of rings along the ground after watching me do it, and it’s a lot closer to watching those ais learn to walk than what your describing. I think adults and even young kids can solve a lot of problems at first impression, but there is a lot of trial and error before they build up enough life experience and intuition to do that.
- marcoperaza 9y agoYou make a compelling point. I will need to think more about this.