[mixing threads] Mermin’s “Shut up and calculate” view which to me seems like agreeing to be blind because there is Braile. This to me has the same feel as agreeing that `real’ being whatever “a community of inquiry” says. How can one generate hypothesis in a productive way without any intuition or metaphysical foundation? Why would anyone want to? It seems to me doing theory this way is something a computer might as well do. I _believe_ something because I can manipulate it, visualize it, and anticipate a certain kind of result, not because it is written in a textbook or because a prediction pops out of a supercomputer. That formality is added value to the intuition, not a substitute for it.
Suppose (and it is not just hypothetical) that a machine learning algorithm could suggest how to design a battery with maximum capacity, develop recipes that extended life, or find computationally efficient solutions to the evolution of quantum systems, or answer any number of hard scientific questions or solve any number of relevant engineering problems. Suppose it was completely mysterious to humans (at first) how it worked, but it worked perfectly. The systems never failed and the predictions were always spot-on. Has something `real’ been found? The “Shut-up and calculate” approach seems to say yes. Why should I prefer to read papers or textbooks describing human experiences? Instead, perhaps find ways to unpack and rationalize the machine representations (e.g. neural nets, rule-based systems, whatever). Marcus ________________________________ From: Friam <[email protected]> on behalf of Alfredo Covaleda Vélez <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 8:09:01 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM] Maybe a new hardware approach to deal with AI developments Probably It is the most interesting tech article that I have read in weeks. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/16/technology/chips-off-the-old-block-computers-are-taking-design-cues-from-human-brains.html?emc=edit_th_20170917&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58593627&referer=
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