Slashdot Mirror
Hitachi Develops New Visual Search
Tech.Luver writes to tell us that Hitachi has developed a new visual search engine that can supposedly find similar images from within millions of video and picture data entries in around 1 second. "The technology assesses the similarity of images based on image characteristics presented as high-dimensional numeric information. The information is acquired by automatically detecting information regarding the images, such as color distribution and shapes."
Gödel's theorems have nothing to do with representing the human mind in any form. They cannot be applied to the human mind for the purposes of answering the question of strong AI. Basically, the only thing that Gödel's theorems do is carry the Liar's Paradox ("This sentence is false.") to the level of basic arithmetic. There is no magical process that proves or disproves anything about the human mind. The confusion stems from the fact that the mathematical terms "incomplete" and "inconsistent" seem to imply so much more when quoted in a non-mathematical context.
For anyone who is interested in reading further, Gödel's Theorem: An Incomplete Guide to Its Use and Abuse contains a thorough discussion of the issue.
I would like to believe that we will achieve strong AI one day. However, referencing Gödel's incompleteness theorems just because they sound appropriate at first glance does not give any argument scientific credibility.