excogitate

Intelligence. Intelligence is an evolved characteristic which has arisen as a result of natural selection. A formalization of intelligence should be cast in these terms, to capture the essence of why brains came about. I consider that, intelligence is observed as the rate at which a device increases its efficiency in an environment. more...

Symbols. We humans use a large number of symbols in our written languages. Often these same symbols are also used to write mathematical ideas and we each have learned how to manipulate these mathematical symbols to undertake arithmetic, trigonometry, calculus and the like. More recently computers have been developed which can store and process vast quantities of these written symbols far more rapidly than humans. However, while human brains can learn to store and manipulate symbols, the operation of a brain remains very distinctly different to that of a computer. more...

Impossible. Arguments have been presented to the effect that the creation of a thinking machine is not just very difficult, but inherently impossible. It seems prudent to consider at least one of these arguments lest we embark on an impossible quest. more...

Evolution of brains. A. Butler and W. Hodos identified a variety of mechanisms involved in the evolution of vertebrate central nervous systems. Induction is one of the most basic mechanisms where an altered chemical signal induces part of an existing embryonic structure to develop in a different manner. A second mechanism, of critical importance to vertebrate brain evolution, involves the homeobox genes. more...

Self-organizing systems. Herbert Simon noted that a large proportion of complex systems that we observe in nature (systems with a large number of parts and non-simple interaction) exhibit hierarchical structure. more...

Uncertainty. Shannon was concerned with the uncertainty introduced by a noisy communication channel. When a message is sent over a perfect communication channel, the recipient can be confident that they have received a reliable copy of the transmitted message. However, when the channel is noisy, the recipient will be uncertain, and must do their best to guess what message was actually transmitted. more...

Like a duck. Turing's challenge was provocative in pitting the capabilities of an inanimate machine against the only readily agreed example of intelligence (a human). On the other hand, Turing also avoided considerable controversy by merely asking that the machine imitate human intelligence rather than display genuine intelligence. more...

Why brains? Allman identified three key themes in the evolution of the human brain: “that the essential role of brains is to serve as a buffer against environmental variation; that every evolutionary advance in the nervous system has a cost; and that the development of the brain to the level of complexity that we enjoy ... depended on the establishment of the human family as a social and reproductive unit”. more...

Natural Selection. Brains, and the greater central nervous system, are the end-result of a long evolutionary process of natural selection. Natural selection offers a perspective on how brains came about. Appreciating why brains came about, is another matter again. more...

Homo Sapiens. Turing's test drags together two apparently opposite extremes; animate homo-sapiens who unquestionably think; and inanimate machines. This leaves rather a large expanse of middle ground inviting questions such as, more...

Paths, stones & hermits - part II. The saga continues...

Paths, stones & hermits - part I. Imagine that you live in a feudal town where the priests run a well patronised betting ring. Each day bets are taken on the color of the moon that evening. There are 8 recognised moon colors and any number of forecasting techniques involving everything from tea leaves to goat entrails. more...

Intelligence Engineering. I use the term "Intelligence Engineering" to describe what I would like to do, instead of the widely used term Artificial Intelligence. I am interested in building genuine intelligence rather than the artificial kind. more...

Engineering. I think that the traditional Engineering approach is ill suited to constructing an intelligent device. The structure of engineered artifacts are starkly different to the structure of organisms which have grown. more...

Turing Machines. Modern computers are a naive popular analogy of what brains do. Artificial Intelligence research employs computers in a far more enlightened manner. However, there are some aspects of the underlying Turing machine model that cause me disquiet. more...

Self-reference. more...

Turing test. The Turing test has highlighted the often homocentric prejudices surrounding intelligence and the slippery nature of the very notion of intelligence. It is no surprise that attempts to pin down the notion of intelligence with natural language have not arrived at a satisfying result. more...

Time. The survival advantage gained by organisms with brains is the ability to exploit time. The ability to predict the future in terms of resources and dangers, and to act pre-emptively. more...