Had a long, interesting conversation with Scott today, regarding the problems inherent in duplicating the creative process. He is building an application which, he hopes, will be able to write poetry based on an understanding of the concepts behind language. I cannot imagine a more difficult task than to teach a computer to ‘think’ in metaphors. There is so much we don’t understand about our own thought processes when it comes to recognition and cognition, that modeling such behavior can easily devolve into educated guesswork. Questions come up; hard questions, like: What does it mean to ‘perceive’? To ‘conceive’? To ‘recognize’?

Isaac Asimov once stated that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic. Borrowing this idea, could it be said that any sufficiently complex pattern of behavior would be indistinguishable from intelligence? Computers do not ACT. They await input, in whatever form it may be, and then do what they are told to do with that input. They do not autonomously decide what to do with unfamiliar data. They can search for patterns which match patterns of familiar data, but they will not search for patterns which we have not told them to search for. It goes back to my comment regarding Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies : a computer will not try to creatively figure out a problem. It does not care that {1,4,9,16,25} is a series of perfect squares. It will spend eternity trying to untie the knot where Alexander would simply cut it with his sword.

The questions about intelligence which arise from this train of thought tend toward the unsettling. Is there such a thing as action, or is there only re-action? Is human behavior a reaction to a profoundly complex set of behaviors, or, in being self-aware, do we transcend re-action to the point that we behave autonomously?

Throwing in the question of free will vs. predestination complicates the process of teaching a computer to recognize poetry. But without teaching a computer to think symbolically, the best machine-written poem will, in reality, be the result of complex pattern-matching.

My project is, for the near future, much less complex than Scott’s. I am building a machine to model evolution and genetic drift. Ultimately I plan to explore the question of emergent behavior and hive-mind patterns. I say ‘less complex’ because the a-life I work with does not need to think; it only needs to re-act.

Did you know that the word athlon is from the Greek, meaning, essentially, “Athletic event”? That is where we get the words “biathlon”, triathlon”, “decathlon”, etc. I suppose, to be grammatically correct it would need to be “monathlon”. I discovered this bit of trivia at Forthright’s Phrontistery, a site chock-full of wonderful spoken-language information. In fact, I like it so much I am adding it to my permanent links list.

I am currently of the opinion that women are the best thing(s) ever to exist upon this planet, so here is my shout-out to that 51% of the planet who answer to XX. You’re the best!

Tech link works now.

Having read the first chapter of The Meme Machine, I am now adding The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci to my list.

In brief: A meme is a unit of information, the mental version of a gene. Memes may be transmitted via communication and imitation, in essence “infecting” the recipient with this information, which may then be transferred to another, and so on. The method of transfer may be any medium. For purposes of my research I am focusing on direct, person to person, as biological viruses spread. Therefore, absent a hard medium such as a book, CD, or electronic file, memory is used instead.

Since genetic drift is a given fact, mutation of the meme must occur, but this mutation can be lessened by using tools, “mnemonics”, to build associations between the meme in its original form and information already stored in the recipient. For instance: nursery rhymes. We may forget what every billboard said on the way to work, but we remember, to a large degree, every nursery rhyme we learned as small children. Adding simple rhythm and melody to information gives it immediate context, therefore it is more likely to be retained.

Question: to what extent is this tool knowingly put to use in the world around us? Jingles on the radio come to mind. “Na-bis-co!”. “By MEN-in!” Short, catchy tunes, three notes, four beats, mathematically precise, the tune inseparable from the message. Ergo, via viral transmission, a meme. Nabisco and Mennin have been introduced into the bio/data/memory sphere.

Hypothesis: Bastardization of Occam’s Razor: (1)simple answer is better, easier to understand, easier to slip in to borderline subconscious. As in childhood songs, etc.etc. Even “alphabet song” is sung to rhyme and meter.(2) Moments of decreased conscious/ increased subconscious activity (hypnotism??) Witness the song which awakens us in the morning, which remains, half-heard and half-remembered throughout the day, popping up to annoy us during moments of mental distraction.

Conclusion: Melody and rhythm have been used for thousands of years as mnemonic devices. Christian churches use song/chants to teach. (Did any of the OT rhyme in the original Greek? Does the Nag Hammadi rhyme in Aramaic?) A huge number of Chinese aphorisms/folk wisdom sayings rhyme. Also in the west: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight/Red in the morning, sailors take warning”. The power of a meme is directly related to medium. Next question: which is more powerful, context or medium?

Well, one link is up, and coincidentally, it is the link to the links. More to come. There is always more.

Dinner first, either Ethiopian or Indian, then on to the party. Three days gone of the four day weekend.

I just picked up The Meme Machine. Will post a review when I have had enough of it.

In just under 24 hours the new year will be here, and I will be celebrating with a 16-year Port Ellen (1980-Islay) single-malt scotch. Last year it was a 14-year Clynelish (19??-Highland), which made it from January 1 to the end of May, when someone stole the bottle. And it still had three shots left! It was my first cask-strength scotch, which I only discovered after the fact is usually drunk with water, rather than at the full 120+ proof. Still, it was one of the best I have ever had. My review of the Port Ellen will be up in a few days.

Less than half-way through a four-day weekend — the second in two weeks — and outside is gray and white and quiet. As of this weekend the house next door is completely vacant; the for-rent sign in the first floor window has a twin upstairs

I discovered Kurzweil AI a few days ago. It is a fascinating site, making good use of The Brain for navigating its complex store of information. Quite the site.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year. My new years resolutions have grown progressively more vague or subtle since I left college. “Get a job” changed to “Learn more about Buddhism”, then to “Reduce the amount of mediocrity in my life”. That was last year. I have (I feel) done a good job of being less mediocre; I take better care of myself. I have mad skillz in the web development department. I am much less likely to kill someone for looking at me funny.

Looking back on the personal stresses of last year, I see that I need to do something with the way I use time. I waste a lot of it on unnecessary activities, so the necessary activities get short shrift. Yeah… that’s a suitably vague New Years resolution: make better use of my time. And I bet it never even gets off the ground.

By the by, none of the links are hooked up yet.

Have come to realize that I need to dig out the old math books from high school. Have also come to realize that I need to spend less time playing Diablo and more time studying JavaScript. The sacrifices we make for our chosen professions.

If you have not been to Billy’s, Roberta Bradley on Monday night is an extraordinary thing. That voice, coming from someone of that talent, who has chosen to stay here in Grand Rapids, gives me hope for myself. It is the spirit, the intent, with which we approach work, as much as the talent. Love of what we do must be apparent in everything we do.