>> I want to return to what seems to me the high-school-naive idea of how an >> AGI's or any body of knowledge can and/or does grow - i.e. linearly, >> mathematically and logically.
I would argue that the idea that knowledge grows linearly is far worse than naive. Knowledge is all about collapsing data and seeing interconnections. Sometimes knowledge is all about saying "AHA!" and collapsing fifty complicated and obscure rules into one shiny new simple rule. So, is that growth or shrinkage? And how do you measure it? Sometimes knowledge is all about saying "OMG! And that is related to that and related to that and related to that and . . . " and then *that* leads to collapsing another ton of redundant rules. >> Correct me, but I haven't seen any awareness in AI of the huge difficulties >> that result from the problem of : how do you test acquired knowledge? You're missing seeing it. It's generally phrased as "converting data to knowledge" or "concept formulation" and it's currently generally envisioned more as a problem of how do you do it (acquire knowledge and store it) than how do you test that you've been successful at it (since it's tough to test something that you don't even know how to do yet). The AI field is very aware of this problem but it's almost a cart before the horse problem. Once we know how to acquire and store knowledge, then we can develop metrics for testing it -- but, for now, it's too early to go after the problem. >> Such difficulties are fundamental to all current philosophical and >> sociological treatments of the growth of knowledge - and arguably they apply >> to the growth of personal as well as formal, organized knowledge. Consider >> this blurb for an example of the real complexity of knowledge's growth:: Absolutely. May I also recommend the book "The Game of Science By Garvin McCain, Erwin M. Segal". It is a *highly* worthwhile read if you can get your hands on a copy. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Tintner To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 8:13 AM Subject: [agi] How Bodies of Knowledge Grow I want to return to what seems to me the high-school-naive idea of how an AGI's or any body of knowledge can and/or does grow - i.e. linearly, mathematically and logically. Correct me, but I haven't seen any awareness in AI of the huge difficulties that result from the problem of : how do you test acquired knowledge? Such difficulties are fundamental to all current philosophical and sociological treatments of the growth of knowledge - and arguably they apply to the growth of personal as well as formal, organized knowledge. Consider this blurb for an example of the real complexity of knowledge's growth:: "Thagard analyzes the development and acceptance of scientific ideas. At the heart of the book is a case study of the recent dramatic shift in medical understanding of peptic ulcers, most of which are now believed to be caused by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. When this explanation was first proposed in 1983, it was greeted with intense skepticism by most medical experts, but it became widely accepted over the next decade. Thagard discusses the psychological processes of discovery and acceptance, the physical processes involving instruments and experiments, and the social processes of collaboration, communication, and consensus that brought about this transformation in medical knowledge. How Scientists Explain Disease challenges both traditional philosophy of science, which has viewed science as largely a matter of logic, and contemporary science studies that view science as largely a matter of power. Drawing on theories of distributed computing and artificial intelligence, Paul Thagard develops new models that make sense of scientific change as a complex system of cognitive, social, and physical interactions." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ agi | Archives | Modify Your Subscription ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=98558129-0bdb63 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
