Hi all, I am very much on the sidelines of this mailing list but just a quick note say I think the commitment to being so open is fantastic. As well all things we are hoping the technology may address, I think we are going to see many unexpected and novel applications too - and that will be because you have created such an open and inclusive intellectual climate here. Anyway, thanks!
On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 11:48 AM, Matthew Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > David, I passed your message to the Numenta exec staff, and there were > all interested in the topic. Here is a message from Jeff Hawkins (who > is not a subscriber of this mailing list, so I'm sending in proxy): > > ============= > > Wow, this is an interesting post. Thank you for your questions, and > thank you for your kind thoughts about Numenta. We think about these > issues often and do our best to mitigate risks and to increase the > likelihood of reaching a positive outcome from our “experiment”. Here > are some thoughts about the issues you mention. > > Regarding the focus and purity of HTM > > Our mission is to reverse engineer the neocortex and help start the > machine intelligence revolution. We are committed to that agenda. It > is possible that other people will take our ideas, have great success, > and go in different directions. It is possible the machine learning > world will borrow HTM concepts, not realize where they came from, and > not understand the importance of brain theory. To some extent, we > expect these things to happen. I don’t worry about it too much because > I don’t see how it will prevent us from continuing on our mission. And > I have faith there are enough people (like you) who understand the > importance of brain theory and that machine intelligence is more than > deep learning. If we want to keep it “pure” then that is up to us. For > our part, Numenta is staying with a biological research agenda and we > will continue to spread the word in any way we can. BTW, we have a > new marketing director, Christy Maver, who’s primary objective is to > increase the public awareness of Numenta, HTM, and our approach to > machine intelligence. > > Regarding attribution > > I am sure there will be times in the future when we are frustrated by > other people using our ideas without attribution, but can we be > certain we are not doing the same? We can’t worry about this. We > have so many difficult problems yet to solve. Most of the innovation > is in front of us. I have learned that if you stay true to your > mission the rest of the stuff will take care of itself. > > On the business/sustainability of Numenta > > We have a difficult balancing act. On the one hand we are a business > and we want to make sure our employees, shareholders, and business > partners are all successful. On the other hand we want to be as open > as possible to reduce any barriers to advancing HTM theory and machine > intelligence. We have chosen to be more open than some businesses but > we still have a business model that can meet our business objectives. > For example, we have a paid software licensing option for those > companies who do not want to use the AGPL version of our software. On > the IP side, Donna is in the process of creating a commercial IP > license with a philosophy of breadth, i.e. a low cost license to > enable many people to exploit the ideas and build products and > businesses around them. These strategies are designed to achieve our > dual goals of enabling broad research and applications while still > creating commercial opportunities. > > > I hope it doesn’t appear that I am dismissing your concerns. We worry > about all these issues. But we feel we are doing a reasonable job at > managing competing objectives. > > Thank you again for your questions and for your support of the HTM > community. > > Jeff > > ============= > > Regards, > --------- > Matt Taylor > OS Community Flag-Bearer > Numenta > > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 1:35 AM, cogmission (David Ray) > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > Am I just a small person for being concerned and worried that someone may > > grab portions of the technology and integrate it with classic ML > techniques > > and take credit for HTM theory under some renamed hybrid without > > acknowledging origins in Numenta? > > > > Or the possibility that people will just take it over and possibly steer > it > > in an "impure" (by "impure" I mean take it in a direction that is not > > aligned with Numenta's projected trajectory for enhancement) - leading to > > "impure" development (development not a product of heavily considered > > correspondence with the biology), and therefore misguiding its future? > > > > I get concerned that the technology will somehow be "compromised" or > > "tainted" or have its momentum siphoned off somehow by people taking bits > > and pieces and those "pieces" somehow becoming very popular? > > > > I wonder how Jeff and all of Numenta remains so open - and I'm searching > for > > a "context" to hold this process in, so that I have a totally inclusive > way > > of looking at this choice to be open sourced and transparent. Please > help me > > understand this choice and how Numenta views this? > > > > Additionally, I feel that this is an important human social experiment > and > > an avenue for human social growth too. I have never (to my knowledge) > seen a > > company be this transparent with its process and products. For that > reason, > > I feel this project is important on so many levels, and there is so much > to > > learn above and beyond the obvious pursuit of creating man made > intelligence > > through reverse engineering the neocortex. > > > > In short: > > I wonder how Numenta sees this process and this wonderful experiment > > unfolding? Secondly, I wonder how I should "think" about this process so > I > > hold it in the right context so that my actions represent this community > in > > the "right" way (the way that will nurture its progress to its fullest > > extent)? > > > > Cheers, > > David > > > > -- > > With kind regards, > > > > David Ray > > Java Solutions Architect > > > > Cortical.io > > Sponsor of: HTM.java > > > > [email protected] > > http://cortical.io > > -- Jamie Gabriel http://biodigitaljazz.org/
