----- Original Message ----- From: Derek Zahn To: agi@v2.listbox.com Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 1:49 PM Subject: RE: [agi] Determinism
Matt Mahoney writes: > (sigh) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scruffies I don't think my disagreement with Matt is about "Neats vs Scruffies"! Some people take Mathematics and their so called "proofs" as the gospel when it comes to programming and AGI. Even though I have a Math minor from University, I have used next to no Mathematics in my 30 year programming/design career. I have never been impressed by complicated formulas and I have been many slick (Math) talking people who couldn't produce anything that worked in the real world. I'm not saying that some Math isn't useful for AGI in limited instances, but I have yet to see any great program that relied very heavily on Math. Most of the examples I have seen of explaining simple concepts using Math on this list has resulted in less accurate communication rather than better. Turing machines and Chinese room experiments are fine for the philosophers that create nothing but hot air but I respect real designs that work in the real world. There are many algorithmic systems that are not solid state, one for one, real time simulations or models. Humans use what we call models all the time, and we have a tiny short term memory to work with. Saying that you don't trade time for memory in models or any computer program just shows a lack of real world experience on the part of Matt IMHO. David Clark ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=231415&user_secret=fabd7936
