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Graphs (networks, webs) are a data structure we have not exploited enough. Tons of research is going into using graphs for artificial intelligence, and for unde
by Jeff_Brown 9y ago
Graphs (networks, webs) are a data structure we have not exploited enough. Tons of research is going into using graphs for artificial intelligence, and for understanding human intelligence (as in this article). But what about using knowledge graphs to augment human intelligence, like a prosthetic?
This is the power of Google search. It uses a knowledge graph that models the world (with an emphasis on the internet). The graph is big, but the view of it offered to users is minuscule -- in part to keep the interface as simple as possible, and in part for economic reasons.
There is open source software that lets people keep their own knowledge graphs. In Semantic Synchrony [1] you can keep a knowledge graph and merge it with others' knowledge graph. Joshua Shinavier (who wrote Semantic Synchrony) and I share a graph with over 400,000 nodes, and most views load in the blink of an eye.
A sister project, Digraphs with Text[2], offers a more flexible system of expression: It generalizes the graph, allowing relationships to involve more than two members, and allowing relationships to be members of other relationships. It also offers a search facility very much like natural language: To search, for instance, for reasons neurons need vitamin B, you would use a query like "(neurons #need vitamin B) #because /it". (The # mark indicates a joint between members of a relationship.)
[1] https://github.com/synchrony/smsn/wiki/ https://github.com/synchrony/smsn/wiki/
[2] https://github.com/JeffreyBenjaminBrown/digraphs-with-text https://github.com/JeffreyBenjaminBrown/digraphs-with-text
- marchenko 9y agoThe "-omics" fields and neuroscience have started exploiting graph structures to describe metabolic interactions, gene regulatory networks, and organic neural networks, among other things. fMRI imaging, for example, can be described as representing a temporal network of oxygen levels in the brain. The idea of creating novel purpose-built graphs and embedding ourselves in them, in addition to modeling existing networks using graph structures, is interesting. I think social media and other networking technologies are the most current examples, and the first decade of the internet was probably the best example of an intentionally-constructed dynamic knowledge graph.
- openfuture 9y agowow thanks for this, making something like this is what I consider my life's work but I had never heard of these projects.
- ismail 9y agoThanks for the links. Will experiment with these. I have been building a personal knowledge graph based on concept maps[0] using cmap tools[1]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map [1] https://cmap.ihmc.us https://cmap.ihmc.us
- joshsh 9y agoIt would be interesting to visualize a SmSn knowledge graph as a Concept Map. I feel that text buffers are best for viewing and editing a graph when you are seated at a keyboard, but graphical views have their place, as well.
- amelius 9y agoAre you sure that Google uses an explicit knowledge graph, and not an implicit one (derived from all web pages combined)?
- Jeff_Brown 9y agoGoogle has an explicit knowledge graph. I saw it at a meetup in LA once, for a minute; then the guy showing us felt guilty and put it away. It looked like RDF, with a tree of predicates. Each predicate was written in the form "wordOrPhrase/wordOrPhrase/wordOrPhrase/...".