Category Archives: Knowledge
28 Mar Is Everything Black or White?
We have exercised our abstract ideas about that which is too big and chaotic for us to understand (everything), let’s take a glimpse at that which is so small and chaotic that we may never really figure it out: the workings of the mind. In the next few posts, we will examine different forms of logical […]
27 Mar Cognition and Emotion
I’m conflicted. I suspect you are too. “Since the time of the ancient Greeks, humans have found it compelling to segregate reason from passion, thinking from feeling, cognition from emotion. These contrasting aspects… have in fact often been viewed as waging an inner battle for control of the human psyche” (LeDoux, 1996, p. 24). In earlier […]
26 Mar Bayes and Search Theory
What began as a study of belief has turned into a strategy for solving very complex problems. Thomas Bayes (/ˈbeɪz/; 1701–1761) proposed a model in which adding evidence of different types, or from different sources, to a problem will change the calculated probabilities for the outcomes of the “reasoning” process. We’ve forgotten what he looked like, […]
25 Mar Generalization and Inference
What do you do when you encounter something completely new, such as a new flavor. Can you identify that it is a flavor and that it resembles some flavors you’ve encountered before? If you knew about bridges from experience, but had never seen a drawbridge, or a lift bridge or a covered bridge, would you be able […]
24 Mar School of Hard Knocks
Are you a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks, or like me, are you still trying to escape the gravity of freshman year? Lessons about how altitude affects physical objects may be learned by slipping and falling down a few stairs. These lessons become ingrained early. Burned fingers have a profound impact. Notions of hot and cold, […]
22 Mar Common Sense and Thresholds
Finding Thresholds Threshold conditions are boundaries between states, and they exist everywhere, affecting everything. From a computational perspective, thresholds are a valuable tool for limiting the problem space to within manageable limits. In other words, knowing where the edges are can help us computationally color inside the lines. How could we determine a threshold? Observing, […]
20 Mar Section 4 Intro – Perception and Cognition
Wha’cha Thinking? All the developers in the world could work forever to try to imitate brain functions, and even if they begin with a good understanding of the physiology of the brain and the microscopic mechanisms of electrical transmission between neurons, would have great difficulty passing a Turing test without some knowledge of perception, memory and cognition. Add Searle’s more demanding Chinese […]
19 Mar At the Edge of Possibility
Does the universe of probability have boundaries? Are there physical laws that control all phenomena, or is there a mystical, capricious random power out there that is not subject to the laws of physics? Is anything impossible? Physical laws are responsible for thresholds. Let us presume, for a moment, that probability is subject to one overriding […]
19 Mar Fuzzy Logic Section Intro
Why do we find Mr. Spock, Commander Data or C3P0 so lovable? We have all known people like them: they are the ones who see the world in black and white. Spock had an excuse – he was a Vulcan who knew a lot. Computers, on the other hand, can be downright exasperating when they get […]
18 Mar Monkeys with Typewriters at the Threshold
Monkeys and Machines What’s wrong with the random Hamlet? When is the last time you’ve seen monkeys with typewriters? First of all, we must ask if there is anything that is perfectly random. If there is, and it is not influenced by any physical law, then the asymptotic theory of random probability is valid, and […]