Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence • Hacker News Board

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#61

Post by lurker14 » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 2:40 AM UTC

6ren wrote: post #25

Keep your options open I don't think it models intelligence; but maybe it models wisdom. The prediction part requires intelligence. I can understand physicists getting excited over a simple mathematical model that explain a lot. Like Einstein thinking relativity was so beautiful, it must be true. But a difference there was unexplained empirical data (speed of light constant in all directions) - which we don't have fo…

"Keep your options open" is also called "analysis paralysis" when it is unwise.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#62

Post by lurker14 » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 2:42 AM UTC

alexvr wrote: post #16

This could be big .

It would be interesting if someone other than the author submitter had that opinion. Nice astroturf attempt, though, alexwg/alexvr.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#63

Post by lambdaphage » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 2:49 AM UTC

brg wrote: post #45

coldtea wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I haven't read the original paper, but (speaking as a physicist) I'm always skeptical when physicists leap into extremely different disciplines and claim to have a grand insight that its specialists have never considered before. That's bad, because the most interesting breakthroughs came from cross-disciplinary work.

I'm curious as to the basis of your statement. I believe the opposite to be true. Gene theory, the general theory, anti-biotics, the structure of DNA, the function of neurons, and the transistor all came from specialists. Is it not the rare breakthrough that comes from cross-disciplinary work? The cross-disciplinary breakthrough is often characterized as unifying, and hence rightfully celebrated. But they are neither…

the structure of DNA, the function of neurons

Crick, Hodgkin and Huxley were all physicists poaching in other fields. In fact, relatively few of the people who laid the foundations in molecular biology were trained as biologists.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#64

Post by espeed » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:19 AM UTC

"Trying to capture as many future histories as possible" (keeping your options open) harmonizes well with Paul Graham's view on procrastination (http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html) and the tenet of "put off decisions as long as possible".

UPDATE: Evidently several smart people have had this intuition. I just remembered who said, "Never make a decision until you have to" -- it was Randy Pausch in the "The Last Lecture" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo).

And "delay commitment until the last responsible moment" is also an agile principle (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/10/the-last-responsibl...).

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#65

Post by javert » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:43 AM UTC

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #34

Steuard wrote: post #27

I haven't read the original paper, but (speaking as a physicist) I'm always skeptical when physicists leap into extremely different disciplines and claim to have a grand insight that its specialists have never considered before. It could always be true: physics really does have a lot to contribute in many areas! But the burden of proof is very, very much on the physicists to justify the relevance of their approach. I…

Welcome to modern physics, where physicists do unfalsifiable and imprecise things based on bad philosophy. Anything goes as long as it gets you attention anywhere. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5562156 HNers need to more critical of Science articles. This is where we need good criticism not on some poor hacker's pet project. Edit 1 "Additionally, a company he founded is exploring commercial applications of the…

> Welcome to modern physics, where physicists do unfalsifiable and imprecise things based on bad philosophy. Anything goes as long as it gets you attention anywhere.

Thank you! I've been saying that for a long time, but much less eloquently.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#66

Post by pdog » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:44 AM UTC

This seems remarkably similar to Jeff Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain in his seminal work, On Intelligence[1].

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000GQLCVE/

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#67

Post by pdog » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:44 AM UTC

This seems remarkably similar to Jeff Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain in his seminal work, On Intelligence.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#68

Post by pdog » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:44 AM UTC

This seems remarkably similar to Jeff Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain in his seminal work, On Intelligence.

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#69

Post by pdog » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:44 AM UTC

This seems remarkably similar to Jeff Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain in his seminal work, On Intelligence[1].

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000GQLCVE/

Re: Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence

#70

Post by Steko » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 3:53 AM UTC

Just think, these guys could do for human behavior what Newton did for chemistry, Kelvin for geology, Seitz for oncology, Fomenko for history and what a number of other physicists have attempted to do for climate science.