Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI • Hacker News Board

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#11

Post by psbp » Tue, May 07, 2013, 3:56 PM UTC

rzendacott wrote: post #8

hvs wrote: post #5

OT: His online Machine Learning class last year was great. He is the best professor I've ever had, and explains things so clearly that you understand them the first time. You are lucky if you ever get to work or study under him.

That's awesome to hear! I'm taking the Coursera class now, and it's been great so far. It just started a couple weeks ago, so it definitely isn't too late to join! https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

I wish Coursera followed the Udacity model. I always find out about these classes after they're already weeks in progress or over.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#12

Post by snikolic » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:02 PM UTC

konstruktor wrote: post #10

drcross wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kurzweil is a hack. (Source: I've an Msc in Robotics and read all his books)

Please think about what a source is. This isn't reddit.

Seconded. I'm curious to hear your reasoning, and your actual arguments will sway me much more than your credentials anyway.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#13

Post by gavanwoolery » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:06 PM UTC

Hmm...I don't mean to be a skeptic, but I do not see any new theories here. Neural networking has been around for a long time, as have an abundance of theories and implementations around it...some people have gone so far as to build an actual brain replica (a digital version of the bio/analog thing). Neural networking is extremely powerful, but to be of any use, you need a lot of computing power. As it turns out, our brains are really good at massively parallel tasks like image and motion processing; these things can be done explicitly on a computer with some ease, but having a computer learn on its own from scratch how to do them is not easy.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#14

Post by etherealG » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:09 PM UTC

rzendacott wrote: post #8

hvs wrote: post #5

OT: His online Machine Learning class last year was great. He is the best professor I've ever had, and explains things so clearly that you understand them the first time. You are lucky if you ever get to work or study under him.

That's awesome to hear! I'm taking the Coursera class now, and it's been great so far. It just started a couple weeks ago, so it definitely isn't too late to join! https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

thanks very much for pointing this out, joined the class now, hope i can catch up

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#15

Post by berberous » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:11 PM UTC

psbp wrote: post #11

rzendacott wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's awesome to hear! I'm taking the Coursera class now, and it's been great so far. It just started a couple weeks ago, so it definitely isn't too late to join! https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

I wish Coursera followed the Udacity model. I always find out about these classes after they're already weeks in progress or over.

Check out class-central.com for a list of all current and upcoming classes. Coursera also lets you star a specific class and get notified if they are repeated in a new cycle.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#16

Post by blhack » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:12 PM UTC

kinofcain wrote: post #2

There is a very quick reference to the person who inspired him, Jeff Hawkins, whose book is worth a read: http://www.amazon.com/On-Intelligence-Jeff-Hawkins/dp/080507... Edit: update link

That book will change the way that you look at yourself.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#17

Post by Cushman » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:13 PM UTC

konstruktor wrote: post #10

drcross wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kurzweil is a hack. (Source: I've an Msc in Robotics and read all his books)

Please think about what a source is. This isn't reddit.

Bullshit. There is nothing wrong with using personal experience for reference so long as it is properly cited.

It beats "This guy is wrong (source: random blog post that I didn't really read)", anyway.

Edit: To be clear, I don't love the Reddit snowclones, but there's nothing wrong with the sentiment behind "I'm a scholar in this field, and I think this guy is a hack."

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#18

Post by raverbashing » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:18 PM UTC

gavanwoolery wrote: post #13

Hmm...I don't mean to be a skeptic, but I do not see any new theories here. Neural networking has been around for a long time, as have an abundance of theories and implementations around it...some people have gone so far as to build an actual brain replica (a digital version of the bio/analog thing). Neural networking is extremely powerful, but to be of any use, you need a lot of computing power. As it turns out, our…

Exactly

Neural networks of course "mimic" the way the brain works, but it stops there.

Not to mention several modern AI techniques have nothing to do with mimicking biology (like SVMs)

This looks a reporter pushing his own agenda to make for a colorful story.

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#19

Post by xtacy » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:29 PM UTC

gavanwoolery wrote: post #13

Hmm...I don't mean to be a skeptic, but I do not see any new theories here. Neural networking has been around for a long time, as have an abundance of theories and implementations around it...some people have gone so far as to build an actual brain replica (a digital version of the bio/analog thing). Neural networking is extremely powerful, but to be of any use, you need a lot of computing power. As it turns out, our…

I think the requirement on enormous computing power is exactly the point. Since not many have access to such computing power, Andrew Ng and folks at Google (incl. Jeff Dean!) built a large scale neural network system called DistBelief (nice name!). This system allows programmers to think of really large scale neural networks without worrying about how to scale them, handling fault tolerance, etc. You can think of it as the MapReduce for neural networks. They demonstrated how a large scale neural network can do interesting stuff on its own (e.g. recognising cats and human faces from unlabeled youtube videos).

Re: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI

#20

Post by nkraft » Tue, May 07, 2013, 4:35 PM UTC

psbp wrote: post #11

rzendacott wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's awesome to hear! I'm taking the Coursera class now, and it's been great so far. It just started a couple weeks ago, so it definitely isn't too late to join! https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

I wish Coursera followed the Udacity model. I always find out about these classes after they're already weeks in progress or over.

Unless you're attached to getting a certificate of completion, you can pretty much follow the Udacity model. As long as the course hasn't finished, sign up and get around to the videos and assignments when you get to them. There isn't the same discussion forum interchange, and your homework isn't graded, but they don't drop the class from your list even if you do nothing during the run.