Yes, faithful readers, yesterday’s post was the first one in quite some time. This was largely due to a major life change — I’m going back to college! Now that I’m settled it looks like posting to the blog will not only once again be a regular event, it’s going to help my sociology grade! I’m going to finish a bachelor of science in economics that I started back before the dot-bomb days. Then, hopefully, it’s on to a Ph.D. in cognitive science or artificial intelligence. The real benefit of being out of college and in the rat race for so many years is that college is very fun by comparison.

David Byrne, in his blog (journal), points out that the most complex narratives, the kind found in novels and movies, can’t yet be found in movies. Some would say that this is the simply shortcoming of a new medium, but without programs that grow and mature on their own, will this ever be possible? Read more…

So this last weekend, I had just finished reading Jeff Hawkins’ great little tome, “On Intelligence” in which he lays out a hypothesis for how the human neocortex works and then goes on to discuss how we could build intelligent machines based on the model he presents. Then, of course, the rat-brain flying the plane shows up. And NOW, I just found a trailer for a movie called Stealth, starring Jamie Foxx that features — you guessed it — an intelligent stealth bomber that gets shocked by lightning (number-5 alive!) and turns EVIL and must be stopped. I feel like I’m on some kind of bizarre carousel this week.

[ Incidentally, anyone remember my little article about artists being prescient? Well, there ya go. ]

[Amazon link: "On Intelligence"] I have to say first that I bought this book with a great deal of skepticism. I found it highly unlikely that a product designer would have anything other than hyperbole and over-generalizations (i.e. Malcolm Gladwell, the “Tipping Point” or “Blink”) regarding something as complex as machine intelligence or the human brain. Boy was I wrong. After reading Hawkin’s introduction and discovering that he was and is far more than a product designer I began to relax my initial resistance to the book. Read more…

I found this on Slashdot regarding an article about Jeff Hawkins founding a new AI company called Numenta. It was posted by Shadow Wrought and was too funny, so I thought I’d post it here:

HAL: Dave, do I need a penis enlargement? Dave: For the millionth time HAL, no. You don’t have one, remember? HAL: But if I did, do you think I would get better functionality if I used Viatroxx? Dave: No. Now Hal… HAL: Dave, it looks like there’s another poor Nigerian who needs my help. Dave: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggg! HAL: Dave? What are you doing Dave?