Brave new world // Machine Learning

[gmirey]

I don’t know why it came to mind, but there…

“The principle of sleep-teaching, or hypnopædia, had been discovered.” The D.H.C. made an impressive pause.
The principle had been discovered; but many, many years were to elapse before that principle was usefully applied.
“The case of Little Reuben occurred only twenty-three years after Our Ford’s first T-Model was put on the market.” (Here the Director made a sign of the T on his stomach and all the students reverently followed suit.) “And yet …”
Furiously the students scribbled. “Hypnopædia, first used officially in A.F. 214. Why not before? Two reasons. (a) …”
“These early experimenters,” the D.H.C. was saying, “were on the wrong track. They thought that hypnopædia could be made an instrument of intellectual education …”

A small boy asleep on his right side, the right arm stuck out, the right hand hanging limp over the edge of the bed. Through a round grating in the side of a box a voice speaks softly.
“The Nile is the longest river in Africa and the second in length of all the rivers of the globe. Although falling short of the length of the Mississippi-Missouri, the Nile is at the head of all rivers as regards the length of its basin, which extends through 35 degrees of latitude …”
At breakfast the next morning, “Tommy,” some one says, “do you know which is the longest river in Africa?” A shaking of the head. “But don’t you remember something that begins: The Nile is the …”
“The - Nile - is - the - longest - river - in - Africa - and - the - second - in - length - of - all - the - rivers - of - the - globe …” The words come rushing out. “Although - falling - short - of …”
“Well now, which is the longest river in Africa?”
The eyes are blank. “I don’t know.”
“But the Nile, Tommy.”
“The - Nile - is - the - longest - river - in - Africa - and - second …”
“Then which river is the longest, Tommy?”
Tommy burst into tears. “I don’t know,” he howls.

That howl, the Director made it plain, discouraged the earliest investigators. The experiments were abandoned. No further attempt was made to teach children the length of the Nile in their sleep. Quite rightly. You can’t learn a science unless you know what it’s all about.

Brave new world, Aldous Huxley, 1932

1932 !

Okay, I brought this quote because it just occured to me, it shows an astonishing insight into some limitations of current ML training strategies, or even our vision of brain as a pure pattern-matcher, vs. a goal of reaching AGI.

Any insight here to be found, on how to avoid this ?

[Paul_Lamb]

This reminds me of this thread and others like it, which touch on the question of the neocortex’s purpose. Is understanding the neocortex alone enough to achieve AGI?

In my mind, I imagine the neocortex as an engine for modelling the world to extreme levels of abstraction and using that model to make predictions. While this makes it more than just a “pattern recognizer”, I think that alone still isn’t enough for AGI. You must match this engine with other systems which feed it with motivations/needs and leverage it to achieve goals. I often ask the question “what makes the system chose one action over another, or to take any action at all for that matter?”

[Bitking]

@Paul_Lamb

I often ask the question “what makes the system chose one action over another, or to take any action at all for that matter?”

The inner lizard!

[gmirey]

@Bitking

The inner lizard!

[gmirey]

Although, in light of recent developments in comparative studies, this inner lizard thing ought to be called the inner gnathostome or something

[Bitking]

@gmirey

gnathostome

Too much too soon: I am still trying to get my head around “Éminence grise” for the cortex.

[Deric_Pinto1]

you can actually experience the inner lizard by doing a simple experiment , try holding your breath , this is will be done by your conscious brain (Neocortex) until a point comes where the reptilian brain takes over and gets your breathing again. even though you consciously didn’t do it , (P.S : don’t kill yourself)

[jimmyw]

@Deric_Pinto1

the reptilian brain takes over and gets your breathing again

reminds me a bit of x86 privilege levels, where the reptile is ring 0 (kernel) and the neocortex is ring 3 (user space)