I feel the same way I felt after Watson won Jeopardy. I happened to be in my graduate AI class at the time and Watson was all the rage, subject to many class discussions. Every single one of us, teacher included, were really excited for what the future might hold.
Does anyone remember that commercial with all the kids saying "I am Tiger Woods"?
Today, just like at the time Watson triumphed, I like all others in my class at that time, feel like chanting with pride "I am an AI researcher!".
Agreed. Even better is when the computer learns to master a gameon its own without being imparted with any human knowledge of the game (except for the rules).
See "Evolving neural networks to play checkers without expert knowledge", K. Chellapilla and D. Fogel, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 1382 – 1391, 1999.
See Figure 3 in the linked paper below "Reinforcement Learning in Board Games". According to the author's estimate Go is practically off-the-scale in terms of game tree size and possible states when compared to Chess.
https://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Publ...
Some games were designed to deny the computer's advantage over humans, these would be Arimaa and Octi. I understand the former has indeed been defeated by the machines by now. The latter, Octi, probably survives because it is such an obscure game.
I know of a rent-a-storage place where the gate access security is run buy an Apple II! (Not the government, I know, but I was really shocked to find that out).
The competition rules are beyond ambiguous, arbitrary, and subjective. According to the TFA, "...in past competitions, the X Prize Foundation typically laid out specific goals or requirements that had to be met. That's not the case this time around, because X Prize is allowing teams to define their own challenges."
AI has plenty of competitions, some more or less formal (Turing test) and some informal (bragging rights for winning Jeopardy or a Go grand master), but this competition is meaningless.
The cynicism expressed in the title of my post not withstanding, if AI can replace all the HR drones out there, fantastic!
On the other hand, I'll never get a job again.
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are your Christian or Buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, Me too! Are your Episcopalian or Baptist? He said, "Baptist!" I said, "Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord? He said, Baptist Church of God!" I said, "Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
Mr. Kurzweil: You come from a musical family and dabbled in automated music composition yourself. What kind of music do you think future AIs will compose, and will that music appeal to humans?
I did a little search about Churchill. Seems the anecdotal story about Churchill and Mecanno is out there but I surmise it all began with this story included in one of his biographies, "The Last Lion:: Winston Churchill" by Martin Gilbert. The story is about how he helped his young nephews to assemble a Mecanno bridge, which ended up being 15 feet long once he was finished.
There is an apocryphal story that Winston Churchill enjoyed playing with Erector set as a boy. While he did not become an engineer, he was technically astute enough to push for the development of the tank during World War I, and later the development of code breaking and radar during World War II.
Decades ago, I worked in the TACAMO aircraft, the older KC-130 version. TACAMO was a US Navy aircraft charged with maintaining communications with nuclear submarines in the event of nuclear war. The aircraft had a small "sunroof" and it's sole purpose was to allow the navigator to see the sun and stars so he could use the sextant that was part of the issued equipment. The idea was that there would be no radio navigation aids left when their mission was over and they had to return to... well anywhere they could land since the survival of any airbase was not guaranteed.
... if you are interested in made up or artificial languages:
"In the Land of Invented Languages: Adventures in Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius" by Akira Okrent.
According to this article neural networks do make mistakes, sometimes very big mistakes, like the ANN that confused a school bus with a football jersey. The root cause is not easy to determine, and hence the fix is not easy. 'Twould appear that the reasons neural networks fail is a hot topic in neural network research.
Not ashes, not even DNA. If my whole body is on the moon, there is a small chance future alien civilization will be able to save my brain, put it in a robot body, and I will live forever just like the Zoromes!
This is only one of many efforts on going to recruit girls into tech, but these efforts fail to address the retention problem. How do you keep women in the field once they start working? Perhaps Google and other major companies should provide better salary or benefits so the women don't leave. Or is it easier to make tax deductible contributions to programs such as the one in TFA?
It's interesting that retention is one of the key problems the NCWIT calls out in their study, where they claim a 56% departure rate of women from the field, and yet they have no solutions to offer.
FAA Licensed Parachute Rigger here ("License to kill", lol).
Parachutes don't just unfold, they actually deploy in a very controlled fashion. All it takes is something to initiate the sequence. In human parachutes, a pilot chute is released, which pulls out a deployment bag. The bag in turn does not open until suspension lines are stretched, and once the canopy is released from the bag, it inflates due to the difference in static air pressure within. vs dynamic air pressure outside (Bernoulli's principle). There are further mechanisms to slow down deployment in order to control the deceleration and opening shock (important for human well being). Problems occur if things happen out of sequence, or if the parachute is structurally unsound.
I can't speak for the system NASA is using, but I expect there already is a unit to "unfold" the parachute, and it is all part of the parachute system already.
It seems NASA did fund this concept... for a while, see citation here. Why did they stop this effort? Because of budget priorities? Politics? Or maybe it was a bad idea?
Slashdot Mirror
So, will there be a big hiring spree in South Korea? What does it take to work there?
Does anyone remember that commercial with all the kids saying "I am Tiger Woods"? Today, just like at the time Watson triumphed, I like all others in my class at that time, feel like chanting with pride "I am an AI researcher!".
See "Evolving neural networks to play checkers without expert knowledge", K. Chellapilla and D. Fogel, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 1382 – 1391, 1999.
See Figure 3 in the linked paper below "Reinforcement Learning in Board Games". According to the author's estimate Go is practically off-the-scale in terms of game tree size and possible states when compared to Chess. https://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Publ...
Some games were designed to deny the computer's advantage over humans, these would be Arimaa and Octi. I understand the former has indeed been defeated by the machines by now. The latter, Octi, probably survives because it is such an obscure game.
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/...
I know of a rent-a-storage place where the gate access security is run buy an Apple II! (Not the government, I know, but I was really shocked to find that out).
The competition rules are beyond ambiguous, arbitrary, and subjective. According to the TFA, "...in past competitions, the X Prize Foundation typically laid out specific goals or requirements that had to be met. That's not the case this time around, because X Prize is allowing teams to define their own challenges." AI has plenty of competitions, some more or less formal (Turing test) and some informal (bragging rights for winning Jeopardy or a Go grand master), but this competition is meaningless.
The last time someone was serious about defending the Earth, nobody cared enough to pay for it.
The AI isn't going to settle for second fiddle! See: http://watson2016.com/
The cynicism expressed in the title of my post not withstanding, if AI can replace all the HR drones out there, fantastic! On the other hand, I'll never get a job again.
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are your Christian or Buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, Me too! Are your Episcopalian or Baptist? He said, "Baptist!" I said, "Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord? He said, Baptist Church of God!" I said, "Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
...theme (to include the unintended consequences) was done in an excellent film: Robot and Frank. Recommended!
Mr. Kurzweil: You come from a musical family and dabbled in automated music composition yourself. What kind of music do you think future AIs will compose, and will that music appeal to humans?
I did a little search about Churchill. Seems the anecdotal story about Churchill and Mecanno is out there but I surmise it all began with this story included in one of his biographies, "The Last Lion:: Winston Churchill" by Martin Gilbert. The story is about how he helped his young nephews to assemble a Mecanno bridge, which ended up being 15 feet long once he was finished.
OP speaks the truth. Electrical Engineering is dead
There is an apocryphal story that Winston Churchill enjoyed playing with Erector set as a boy. While he did not become an engineer, he was technically astute enough to push for the development of the tank during World War I, and later the development of code breaking and radar during World War II.
Decades ago, I worked in the TACAMO aircraft, the older KC-130 version. TACAMO was a US Navy aircraft charged with maintaining communications with nuclear submarines in the event of nuclear war. The aircraft had a small "sunroof" and it's sole purpose was to allow the navigator to see the sun and stars so he could use the sextant that was part of the issued equipment. The idea was that there would be no radio navigation aids left when their mission was over and they had to return to ... well anywhere they could land since the survival of any airbase was not guaranteed.
Author's Website
According to this article neural networks do make mistakes, sometimes very big mistakes, like the ANN that confused a school bus with a football jersey. The root cause is not easy to determine, and hence the fix is not easy. 'Twould appear that the reasons neural networks fail is a hot topic in neural network research.
Not ashes, not even DNA. If my whole body is on the moon, there is a small chance future alien civilization will be able to save my brain, put it in a robot body, and I will live forever just like the Zoromes!
Good point. See the SoloWheel, a similar device using a much larger, single wheel.
It's interesting that retention is one of the key problems the NCWIT calls out in their study, where they claim a 56% departure rate of women from the field, and yet they have no solutions to offer.
Parachutes don't just unfold, they actually deploy in a very controlled fashion. All it takes is something to initiate the sequence. In human parachutes, a pilot chute is released, which pulls out a deployment bag. The bag in turn does not open until suspension lines are stretched, and once the canopy is released from the bag, it inflates due to the difference in static air pressure within. vs dynamic air pressure outside (Bernoulli's principle). There are further mechanisms to slow down deployment in order to control the deceleration and opening shock (important for human well being). Problems occur if things happen out of sequence, or if the parachute is structurally unsound.
I can't speak for the system NASA is using, but I expect there already is a unit to "unfold" the parachute, and it is all part of the parachute system already.
It seems NASA did fund this concept... for a while, see citation here. Why did they stop this effort? Because of budget priorities? Politics? Or maybe it was a bad idea?