Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population • Hacker News Board

Re: Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population

#41

Post by idm » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 2:47 PM UTC

basch wrote: post #39

divbit wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think virtual can either mean: stored /accessed on a computer, or simulated on a computer, which is what confused me.

where do you hear virtual used to mean digital data and not simulated or emulated. a virtual machine is a synthetic digital representation of physical hardware. virtual reality is a fake representation of reality. virtual memory is a simulacron of ram. a virtual assistant is not a dedicated helper. i just googled the word virtual not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. in effect or es…

Thanks for providing a definition for the word "virtual."

I think part of the problem here is that I've invented something we don't have precise language for, yet. I call the agent population synthetic and I call the database virtual, and that's just the nomenclature I'm using.

I'm absolutely shocked at the number of people who feel deceived that this isn't an actual database of the entire human population.

This is a serious problem, though. My work exists at the intersection of social psychology and artificial intelligence, and these fields do not share enough vocabulary. There are major barriers to communication between "intellectual silos," and I think all of the confusion in this comment thread about the word "virtual" illustrates this point very nicely.

Re: Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population

#42

Post by xbryanx » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 3:36 PM UTC

philtar wrote: post #31

ideonexus wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until I looked at the actual data, I didn't realize this was synthetic either. The developer might want to make that clear in the header text. "Virtual Database" doesn't make this clear. I think "virtual database synthesizing the entire human population" might make it clearer. That said. This is very impressive and has my imagination tingling with ways to apply it.

It was very clear to me from the title. And secondly, I don't believe the author should pander to people who won't even visit the site and instead judge from titles.

It was not at all clear to me. I spent some time navigating the site and believed at first that it was just anonymized real data. Using the word "synthetic" and something like "these are not real people" on the front page would go a long way towards explaining the purpose and intent of this project.

Re: Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population

#43

Post by basch » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 5:51 PM UTC

idm wrote: post #41

basch wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where do you hear virtual used to mean digital data and not simulated or emulated. a virtual machine is a synthetic digital representation of physical hardware. virtual reality is a fake representation of reality. virtual memory is a simulacron of ram. a virtual assistant is not a dedicated helper. i just googled the word virtual not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. in effect or es…

Thanks for providing a definition for the word "virtual." I think part of the problem here is that I've invented something we don't have precise language for, yet. I call the agent population synthetic and I call the database virtual , and that's just the nomenclature I'm using. I'm absolutely shocked at the number of people who feel deceived that this isn't an actual database of the entire human population. This is…

like I said, I think it is word order. your word order makes it sound like the database itself is virtual not the contents of the database.

Re: Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population

#44

Post by basch » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 5:52 PM UTC

ideonexus wrote: post #40

basch wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where do you hear virtual used to mean digital data and not simulated or emulated. a virtual machine is a synthetic digital representation of physical hardware. virtual reality is a fake representation of reality. virtual memory is a simulacron of ram. a virtual assistant is not a dedicated helper. i just googled the word virtual not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. in effect or es…

How to make it clear what this data represents is a semantic conundrum. If I take a "virtual" tour of New York City, I expect to see an actual geographically-accurate approximation of New York City, not buildings randomly generated based on the probabilities of buildings having various dimensions of those found in New York City strewn across a google map. What do we call such a thing? After reading the author's paper…

if virtual means simulated, I dont find it misleading. simulated demographic population statistics implies an approximation.

Re: Pplapi: A virtual database of the entire human population

#45

Post by idm » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 6:39 PM UTC

evolve2k wrote: post #38

Wow facinating. It was fun to just keep clicking random and read the stats of the virtual populace. What does it mean by age 0 (unborn), how are those entries in there. E.g. http://pplapi.com/3187300229.html Do you plan to simulate deaths as times go by and their stated birthdate puts their age above expected mortality and add more new "babies" as well, is that what I'm seeing? If not would be cool.

Thanks! Yes, I plan for agents to support death. In fact, I plan to backfill the entire human species into the database, most of whom are dead. I estimate this will grow the database by 80-110 billion agents.