Aki Iskandar wrote:
I'd be interested in getting some feedback on the book "On Intelligence"
(author: Jeff Hawkins).
It is very well written - geared for the general masses of course - so
it's not written like a research paper, although it has the feel of a
thesis.
The basic premise of the book, if I can even attempt to summarize it in
two statements (I wouldn't be doing it justice though) is:
1 - Intelligence is the ability to make predictions on memory.
2 - Artificial Intelligence will not be achieved by todays computer
chips and smart software. What is needed is a new type of computer -
one that is physically wired differently.
I like the first statement. It's very concise, while capturing a great
deal of meaning, and I can relate to it ... it "jives".
However, (and although Hawkins backs up the statements fairly
convincingly) I don't like the second set of statements. As a software
architect (previously at Microsoft, and currently at Charles Schwab
where I am writing a custom business engine, and workflow system) it
scares me. It scares me because, although I have no formal training in
AI / Cognitive Science, I love the AI field, and am hoping that the AI
puzzle is "solvable" by software.
So - really, I'm looking for some of your gut feelings as to whether
there is validity in what Hawkins is saying (I'm sure there is because
there are probably many ways to solve these type of challenges), but
also as to whether the solution(s) its going to be more hardware - or
software.
Thanks,
~Aki
P.S. I remember a video I saw, where Dr. Sam Adams from IBM stated
"Hardware is not the issue. We have all the hardware we need". This
makes sense. Processing power is incredible. But after reading
Hawkins' book, is it the right kind of hardware to begin with?
For the time being, it is the software (the conceptual framework, the
high level architecture) that matters most.
If someone has naive views about the AGI problem, about the various
issues that must be relevant to the design of a thinking system (like,
if they have no comprehensive knowledge of both cognitive science and
AI, among other things), and yet that person has really strong views
about the hardware that we MUST use to build an intelligent system, what
I hear is "Hey, I don't know exactly what you guys are doing, but I know
you need THIS!". Hmmmm. Just keep banging the rocks together.
Having said that, there is an element of truth in what Hawkins says. My
personal opinion is that he has only a fragment of the truth, however,
and is mistaking it for the whole deal.
Richard Loosemore.
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