Miscellaneous (Random and Unorganised) Ramblings on Intelligence #1

I have decided to put up three documents (MRI 1, 2 and 3)
These are thoughts over the past two months, eventually culminating in MRI 3, which sets the foundation for my pursuit in the field of artificial intelligence.

MRI stands for Miscellaneous Ramblings on Intelligence, and the first two MRIs appear disorganised and messy, which was the way they were first conceived...messy and illegible scratches on rough paper.

The language will not always make sense, because the meaning sometimes is too difficult for my linguistic skills to express in words. Sometimes this makes some sentences sound stupid. I understand some ideas are really stupid...haha hopefully they get refined in subsequent editions of MRI 3, where the ideas of MRIs 1 and 2 are consolidated, and more...



MRI 1.1 Some thoughts on the network
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Note: Network here refers to a body of numerous interconnected elements


A network can exhibit a large variety of possible states, far greater than that of a digital computer.

(hmm okay, what exactly makes up the state is debatable. maybe this statement is not valid now on hindsight)



A network can possibly be a good model for a UNIVERSAL REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD. This may provide much flexibility when having to deal with the complex dynamical system the world is.



We have a:
1. Representation problem (i.e. how to represent the inputs to the system within the system...the inputs being 'the WORLD')

2. Interaction of Representations (...to produce complex and interesting behaviour...Is thought solely or partially a product of the interaction of representations flowing around in the network?)



Perhaps by mathematical reasoning (or not), we could design an architecture that provides maximum flexibility and potential ('potential' as in huge possibilities in behaviour...or not?)




The network would come up with the THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO MAKE A REPRESENTATION so it can work on those REPRESENTATIONS in the simplest and most efficient way.
(hind-note: i.e. just like logarithms make multiplication simpler and fourier analysis reduce difficult integration to simple algebra...this is a way of self-optimisation of the network's own problem solving process, a sort of learning too. )


MRI 1.2 A little bit on Learning and Creativity
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Could a good and precise definition of learning make it easier for us to understand how STRENGTHENING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN NEURONES constitutes all there is to learning on the neurophysical level?
(OR is there more to strengthening connections in the brain's learning mechanism? perhaps on a higher level, probably built on from this lower level connection strengthening mechanism?)



What is learning? We attempt to define (not exhaustively):

A Set of Qualities (based on macro, behaviour-level layman interpretations of learning) which includes:

"Refinement" - adaptation, to do things better

"Inference" - taking in new knowledge and generating futher insights, making us wiser and "REFINING" the thought process for future demands

"Generalisation" - (definition feels incomplete) identifying underlying patterns which apply across a set of representations/things/mental objects.

Clearly, they all lead to refinement. Which means things get done faster, more efficiently, and less effort in the end. The end product of all learning.

Which leads mentally to emotional satisfaction and physically, survival in the material world.
Emotion is an internally generated purpose, drive.
Survival is an external purpose, drive.
Both drive learning.


(How about "UNDERSTANDING"? Where does it lie? between "INFERENCE" and "GENERALISATION"? What does it mean when we understand something?)




Creativity
Probably a process generated by a parallel mechanism...
- perhaps many approaches are all considered at once, and one of them wins? (sounds like 'neural darwinism')

- indirect/by-products of the mainstream cognitive process (i.e. conscious reasoning??)

- Or perhaps by-products of the interconnection of representations...More connections, more products, which are stored, and sometimes surfaced when needed. Hence more interaction, more creativity.




MRI 1.3 The Conscious Thought Process
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Man's conscious thought process is a SERIAL one. We can only pay attentiona to one thing,
Perhaps this confers some ADVANTAGES, so the brain needs it. After all, we can do only so much at one time.

Perhaps this serial thought process is somewhat like the Turing machine.

But while the Turing machine is highly capable in executing algorithms, it isn't creative enough to come up with the algorithm itself...or is it? (Anyway the 'programming intelligence approach' hasn't worked well so we assume it doesn't work well)

This is how the human subconscious comes into the picture. It probably plays an important role in the creative process, in a way that was described above.

Perhaps the brain does things that way (i.e. running certain processes in parallel and others in serial) to optimise its ability to think.





MRI 1.4 The Problem
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Much of the world is probably about:
1. discovering the intersection of sets of objects
2. creating or destroying (in whole or in part) interactions between sets

This echoes the CONNECTIONIST model of human cognition.


We could like to create an extremely flexible and adaptable architecture for fast and efficient computation. Clearly a problem can be solved with a host of methods, some of which are simpler and faster and more efficient than others.

So can the architecture be designed to be flexible enough to learn to configure itself for the best possible problem-solving "SUB-ARCHITECTURE"?

[This coincides with the point on choosing the best mode of representation that would aid in finding the best way to solve a problem. That point was stated in MRI 1.1