Baby Data Mining?

Researchers performing cognitive experiments on toddlers claim that children acquire language through a process similar to data mining. The toddlers were shown a series of object pairs while recordings of two words were played. During each iteration, one of the words corresponded to one of the objects. Over time, the children were able to disambiguate the references and determine which words corresponded to which objects.

While the scientists claim this language learning method to be akin to data mining, to me it seems less like a statistical searching process and more like rule-based pattern recognition and association building.

via Slashdot

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

Apparently unable to replicate insect flight using ultra-small micro uavs, DARPA is now funding research that seeks to control moths using implanted computer chips. The chips will be implanted in the larva while still in the cocoon, and once the moth has matured, should allow a pilot to control the flight of the creature, beaming back photos and video. These cyber moths will be designed to infiltrate terrorist training camps and other enemy strongholds to gather intelligence without detection.

I suppose they’re building on the success of the remote-controlled pigeon and are seeking to miniaturize the technology.

Building a Better Mouse...Brain

IBM researchers have simulated 'half' a mouse brain on a Blue Gene L supercomputer. For comparison, a real mouse brain has 8 million neurons with 8,000 synapses each. The simulation had 8 million artificial neurons with 6,300 virtual synapses each. It was only run for 10 seconds at one-tenth the speed of real-life...which equates to one full mouse second.

Quite a virtualization overhead if you ask me.

Dumbo has become self-aware

As scientists ascribe more & more conscious traits to animals, when will machines receive similar considerations?

Bronx Zoo researchers recently announced they observed that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror. Thanks to this evidence, we can now attribute a level of self-awareness formerly reserved for dolphins and primates (including humans). Other behaviors, including the use of tools, communication, social interaction and even apparently emotional responses lead experts to credit these animals with a relatively high order of consciousness.

But if machines were to exhibit the same behaviors, would people be willing to assign the same characteristics to? The likely answer is no. Consciousness and self-awareness are highly emotive topics that play a central role in the identity of the human race. The resistance to extend such labels to artificial intelligence is akin to the resistance to accept the implications of macroevolution with respect to the origin of our species. People often resort to a sort-of “mystery of the gaps” argument, claiming that since we can fully understand the internal processes of a “white box” artificial intelligence, it cannot possibly contain the same “stuff” as human minds. But as we increase our understanding of human consciousness, eliminating the gaps and turning the “black box” gray, the mystery disappears. This entire line of reasoning strikes me as being analogous to the argument which contends that we cannot possibly be descended from apes, because human beings possess a soul while chimpanzees do not.

Perhaps one day our society will accept that our own consciousness is merely the product of highly complex systems and processes of the physical mind, and therefore grant the same definitions and descriptions to artificial entities that mimic the same processes and behaviors.

The Mechanism of Human Consciousness

KurzweilAI.net picked up an article from The Economist about a possible breakthrough in the search for the neural correlate of consciousness.

In his latest (and final) published paper, Francis Crick (the late co-discoverer of DNA) speculates that the neurological basis of human consciousness is the claustrum, a thin layer of gray matter with two-way connections to every region of the cortex. It is possible that the claustrum is responsible for processing all of the various inputs from different parts of the brain to create a "cohesive, conscious experience." If research demonstrates this conclusion to be true, it will unequivocally prove the Materialist view that consciousness is merely a product of a physical system, and therefore can be artificially reproduced by mechanical means.