http://www.technologyreview.com/view/511421/the-brain-is-not-computable/ I disagree with him on computability of human minds, but fascinating research otherwise. He’s showing that new senses can be integrated into mammal brains to produce mice that can see infrared and monkeys that can feel themselves in a fully immersed d computer avatar. I don’t see how people who know how brains, computers and say, complex systems like the internet work can say that it’s impossible, even in theory, to replicate the complexity of the brain in silica. Saying something is not Computable is a very strong claim, and a very precise claim. It may be infeasible, but impossible? Proclaiming that the randomness or interconnectivity of the brain can’t be reproduced on a computer severely misunderstands what it going on in computing and AI research these days.
All posts in category Computer Science
Computer Science is less about the hardware devices we call computers than about the nature of using computation to solve problems. As someone once put it “Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” So there.
Miguel Nicolelis Says the Brain is Not Computable, Bashes Kurzweil’s Singularity
Posted by Mark Crowley on February 26, 2013
http://computationallythinking.com/2013/02/26/miguel-nicolelis-says-the-brain-is-not-computable-bashes-kurzweils-singularity/
Machines Want Your Job : Interrogators
Fascinating.
It shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that human’s are very susceptible to suggestion by authority figures when being asked to remember events such as police questioning. But apparently, this new study found that if the identical words are used for questioning but delivered by a robot (I don’t know if it was a disembodied robotic voice or some physical robot) then this influence disappears. I assume there would still be lots of ways to bias the witness by the text of questions you ask but a huge amount of the influence comes from reading cues and listening to the human voice. So, chalk that up for another future career under threat from robots: Interrogator.
New Scientist: Robot inquisition keeps witnesses on the right track.
Posted by Mark Crowley on February 10, 2013
http://computationallythinking.com/2013/02/10/machines-want-your-job-interrogators/
Robot Lifeguards?
Here’s some interesting research on a Neural Network approach to teaching a machine to detect when someone is drowning. This could lead to better detection of people in need of help or dispatch and guidance for robotic lifeguards.
Posted by Mark Crowley on January 8, 2013
http://computationallythinking.com/2013/01/08/robot-lifeguards/
NIPS Conference 2012
A month ago I attended the 2012 Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Lake Tahoe Nevada. I’ve already posted some of my thoughts on some of it up at the Computational Sustainability Blog for your interest.
Posted by Mark Crowley on January 7, 2013
http://computationallythinking.com/2013/01/07/nips-conference-2012/
Could Machines Make Art?
Fascinating study out of the University of Trento on using Machine Vision algorithms to learn how people respond emotionally to abstract art.
Link : Computers identify what makes abstract art move us
Abstract art might be easier to replicate automatically since you don’t need to worry about as much symbolism and meaning as much. Is this going to put artists out of a job? Well no, people create art because they want to, or need to. If computers can generate abstract patterns and images that are emotionally evocative on demand then that would surely hurt artists who rely on selling their images or the rights to reproduce them in other media.
So, something for artists to be aware of.
Posted by Mark Crowley on November 17, 2012
http://computationallythinking.com/2012/11/17/could-machines-make-art/
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About Me
Mark Crowley
Researcher. Educator. Blogger. Optimist.
The best way to summarize me is to link to the places where you can read my writing.
I am a currently a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University on the search for a great faculty job in Computer Science. My research is generally in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Specifically, I look at the computational challenges to making good decisions about how to act in the face of uncertainty when actions need to be taken at many locations in space at each moment in time.
Currently, I am very excited and involved in a new field of research called Computational Sustainability which attempts to combine advances in AI, Machine Learning and Operations Research and other fields with the ridiculously challenging problems that exist in Ecology, Sustainable Resource Management, Forest and Wildlife Management and Climate Change.
If you want me to talk your ear off bring up politics or voting systems and democratic reform in general.
Everything else I have to say tends to show up on Google+, so feel free to look me up there and say hi.
