tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33006793253208396732024-03-27T06:30:36.804-07:00Cognitive FocusSome are good at details, others search for broad patterns. Being at the far end of the latter, I wonder what makes me so abnormal.Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-12858601840142717032021-11-20T14:52:00.001-08:002021-11-20T14:56:26.790-08:00Cortical trade-offs in generalist vs. specialist bias <div class="MsoNormal">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span>
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Neocortex is loosely
organized as a hierarchy of generalization, in which stimuli selectively
propagate from</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">primary to association areas (</span><span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=8cJ6l1XVXxYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cortex+and+mind&source=bl&ots=s3HwfWBBlJ&sig=XHgTDWfqvA888WjrwBZEz1hi_PY&hl=en&ei=EA80TMncAYWClAfrtqzCCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg%20%5C%20v=onepage&q&f=false"><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">"Cortex
& Mind"</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">,</span><span><a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cortical_memory"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Cortical Memory</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> by Joaquin Fuster). Higher
areas represent increasingly general patterns or concepts: spatial and temporal
receptive field per neuron and cortical column expands with their elevation in cortical hierarchy.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Generalization is basically a pattern discovery process. In neural implementation, pattern is a coincidence of
multiple inputs, or presynaptic spikes. Sufficient number of coincident spikes
triggers Hebbian learning: “fire together, wire together“ between
simultaneously spiking neurons. More precisely, a synapse is strengthened if
pre-synaptic neuron fires just before the post-synaptic one.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Most of neocortex is
connections between neurons (dendrites and axons), plus their life support.
Given limited resources within a skull, there must be a tradeoff between total
number of connections and their average length. In other words, a network can
be relatively dense, with more connections of shorter average length, or
sparse, with fewer total connections of greater average length.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The choice of
coincident inputs becomes exponentially greater with the length of connections.
Hence, stronger patterns (greater number and closer timing of coincident input
spikes) can be discovered. But that range must come at the cost of having fewer
total connections, thus less detailed memory. Which requires greater
selectivity in learning: longer reinforcement to form and strengthen synapses.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So, other things being
equal, there must be a tradeoff between </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">speed and detail </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">of learning,</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">and </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">scope and stability</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> of learned patterns. Relatively
dense hierarchy prioritizes speed and detail, I call it a “specialist bias”, while sparse
hierarchy selects for scope and persistence: my “generalist bias”.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Cellular factors
in density vs. range tradeoff.</span></i></b><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Initial determinant of
cortical density is the rate of division and survival for neuronal progenitor
cells during cortical development. Slower division or faster die-off leaves
fewer progenitor cells, which will form fewer cortical neurons. That should
leave more space and resources to grow longer connections among them. This is
likely determined by</span><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotrophin"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">nerve growth factors</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> and receptors: higher activity
should form denser network. One such factor maybe CATNAP2 gene, expressed
mostly in prefrontal and parietal cortices, and probably correlated with
autism:</span><span><a href="http://crackingtheenigma.blogspot.com/2010/11/genes-for-autism-or-genes-for.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Genes for
autism or genes for connectivity.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The most recognizable
feature of neocortex is its six layers. Deeper and older layers VI and V mostly
mediate cortico-subcortical integration, layer IV propagates data flow upward
the cortical hierarchy via thalamus, and newer layers II and III provide
intra-cortical connectivity, mostly via layer I axons.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Henry Markram reported
innate</span><span><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/03/03/1016051108.full.pdf+html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">”peak
connectivity”</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> of layer V pyramidal cells at 300-500 mu. There are ~50 cell
clusters (representation units) interlaced within that distance. It seems to me
that these clusters provide minimal representation redundancy and mutual
support via reverberating firing. Each cluster probably responds to some
specific intensity of stimulus. These clusters inhibit each other within a</span><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_column"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">column</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">:</span><span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2889687/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“Sparse distributed coding
model…“</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
to adjust for redundancy within receptive field. So, variation in the range of
such peak connectivity may be one of dense vs. sparse factors.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A unique feature in
human brain (and to a lesser extent in other primates and whales) is</span><span><a href="http://a-shade-of-grey.blogspot.com/2007/06/asd-as-developmental-disorder-suggested.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">spindle
cells</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindle_neuron"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Wikipedia</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">: "Spindle cells emerge postnatally
and eventually become widely connected with diverse parts of the brain,
evidencing their essential contributions to the superior capacity of hominids
to focus on difficult problems." Axons of spindle cells are less branched
than those of pyramidal neurons, and their extended range must come at the
expense of reduced density of other connections. This trade-off probably
enables better top-down (general-to-specific) focus in humans.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Another possible
factor in the trade-off is the ratio of glia to neurons, which also determines sparsity.
This is an excerpt from the</span><span><a href="http://www.ftpressscience.com/books/the-root-of-thought/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">"The
Root of Thought"</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">: "As we move up the evolutionary ladder, in a widely
researched worm, <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>, glia are 16 percent of the
nervous system. The fruit fly’s brain has about 20 percent glia. In rodents
such as mice and rats, glia make up 60 percent of the nervous system. The
nervous system of the chimpanzee has 80 percent glia, with the human at 90
percent. The ratio of glia to neurons increases with our definition of
intelligence."</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">However, his
interpretation that glia a main information processing component in human brain
is implausible, I agree with</span><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glial_cells"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">mainstream opinion</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">that they mainly provide
support for neurons.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Greater proportion of
glia would reduce density of neurons, but enable higher activity and
longer-range connections for each of them. Again, that means a sparser neural network.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Differences
between higher and lower cortical regions</span></i></b><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Very roughly, cortical
hierarchy consists of four sub-hierarchies, listed from the bottom up:</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- spectrum of
primary-to-association cortices, within each of sensory and motor cortices</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- posterior sensory
and anterior motor cortices, the latter is somewhat higher in generalization</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- lateral
task-positive and medial default-mode networks, the latter is somewhat higher</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- right and left hemispheres,
the latter is somewhat higher</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Joaquin Fuster on the
differences between primary and association areas in</span><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cortex-Mind-Cognition-Joaquin-Fuster/dp/0195147529"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Cortex & Mind</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, p. 73: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">“At the lower level,
representation is highly concrete and localized, and thus highly vulnerable.
Local damage leads to well-delimited sensory deficit. In unimodal association
cortex, representation is more categorical and more distributed, in networks that
span relatively large sections of that cortex… In transmodal areas
representation is even more widely distributed… P. 82: “Thus a higher-level
cognit (e.g., an abstract concept) would be represented in a wide network of
association cortex…” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In my terms, wider
networks imply “sparse bias” on higher levels of generalization.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Similar quotation via
“How to Create a Mind” by Ray Kurzweil, p. 86: A study of 25 visual and
multi-modal cortical areas by Daniel Felleman found that “As they went up the neocortical
hierarchy,.. processing of patterns comprised larger spatial areas and
involved longer time periods“.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Another study by Uri
Hasson stated: “It is well established that neurons along the visual cortical
pathways have increasingly larger spatial receptive field.” and found that
“similar to cortical hierarchy of spatial receptive fields, there is a
hierarchy of progressively longer temporal receptive windows”. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The neocortex is
myelinated sequentially from primary to association areas at correspondingly increasing
age (up to ~</span><span><a href="http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress-fact-sheet/index.shtml"><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">30 year old</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> for prefrontal cortex), and
myelination then seems to decline in reversed order ("</span><span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ql4VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=neocortex+myelination+age+sequence&source=bl&ots=csg_LPPfSY&sig=ruo4Acyh2GZBrVDvC-I5daA-xyU&hl=en&ei=LGESSoTIPJiu8QSH7aSQBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8"><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Human
Neurophysiology",</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> page 197). Allowing for a multi-year delay in knowledge
accumulation, this probably reflects and / or determines the age at which
abilities peak in fields that require knowledge of corresponding generality.
It's known that athletic abilities (primary cortices) peak in early 20s, and
mathematical skills (likely parietal cortex) a bit latter.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On the other hand,
performance in business, politics, social sciences, and literature (prefrontal
cortex?) doesn't peak until late in life. This is probably even more true in
philosophy, but performance metrics there are questionable. Also supportive is
the</span><span><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/104/49/19649.long"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">observation</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> that cortical development
sequence is delayed by several years in subjects with ADHD. Obviously,
effective generality of discovered concepts, thus also development of higher association
areas, depends on attention span.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Comparison between
parietal and prefrontal cortex (highest levels of sensory and motor cortices):</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Buschman & Miller
of MIT,</span><span><a href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/attention.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">ref:</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">“ <u>have found two types</u>
of attention in two separate regions of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is in
charge of willful concentration; if you are studying for a test or writing a
novel, the impetus and the orders come from there. But if there is a sudden,
riveting event—the attack of a tiger or the scream of a child—it is the
parietal cortex that is activated. The MIT scientists have learned that the two
brain regions sustain concentration when the neurons emit pulses of electricity
at specific rates—faster frequencies for the automatic processing of the
parietal cortex, slower frequencies for the deliberate, intentional work of the
prefrontal." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I think lower
frequency here is due to longer feedback loop of higher levels.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I don’t have much info
on task-positive vs. default-mode networks, the latter is not well understood. Next
is cortical hemispheric asymmetry, AKA lateralization:</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Left hemisphere
represents higher-generality and long-term-goal- associated concepts, while the
right one mostly searches in the background, for lower-level contextual
patterns (Cortex & Mind, p. 184,</span><span><a href="http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~phils4/splitbrain.pdf"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Split Brain</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, Gazzaniga). According to my premise,
left hemisphere should be relatively “sparse”, which is supported in “Cortex
& Mind“, p 185: “Pyramidal cells in language areas have been found to be
larger on the left than on the right (Hayes & Lewis, 1995; Hustler & Gazzaniga,
1997)”. Their dendritic trees also extend further than those of right-hemisphere
pyramids (Jacobs & Schneibel, 1993).</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Another study:</span><span><a href="http://www.unr.edu/cla/psych/faculty/hutsler_pubs/hutsler5.pdf"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">"Hemispheric
asymmetries in cerebral cortical networks"</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> found that columns in left
hemisphere contain fewer minicolumns</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">and</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">better myelinated axons than
corresponding areas of right hemisphere, with same volume and number of
synapses. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hemispheres are
densely interconnected by Corpus Callosum. This is partly for sensory-motor
field integration and duplication (fault-tolerance). But greater
“lateralization” in humans, vs. other primates, suggests that our hemispheres
also combine in a deeper hierarchy of generalization.</span><span><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ambidexterity-and-adhd"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Finish study</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">found that ambidexterity
(correlated with lesser lateralization) doubles the risk of ADHD and lower
academic performance in children.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Autism as a
dense-connectivity cognitive style.</span></i></b><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The best evidence for
individual differences in cognitive focus comes from research on autism, which
is known to increase attention to details, often at the expense of higher
generalization. So, it’s a good proxy for a "specialist phenotype",
which according to my thesis should display greater short-range vs. long-range
connectivity. Below, I summarize some evidence for such bias in autism.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Casanova in
"Abnormalities Of Cortical Circuitry In The Brains Of Autistic
Individuals" reports that autistic individuals have more numerous but
smaller and more densely packed minicolumns, each containing smaller than
normal neurons with shorter axons (I came across it via</span><span><a href="http://a-shade-of-grey.blogspot.com/2006/09/autism-and-minicolumns.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">A Shade of
Gray</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">:
excellent review of relevant research, highly recommend).</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Related study
"Comparison of the Minicolumnar Morphometry of Three Distinguished
Neuroscientists and Controls" by Casanova is reported in</span><span><a href="http://a-shade-of-grey.blogspot.com/2007/02/minicolumns-genius-and-autism.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">"Minicolumns,
Genius, and Autism"</span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> The connectivity pattern of the neuroscientists appears to be
similar to autistics in the density and size of minicolumns, but different in
better inhibitory isolation between adjacent minicolumns. This should
compensate for smaller size, while enabling greater number of minicolumns.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Similar finding of
more compact and better insulated minicolumns in primates and cetacea, compared
to cats and lower mammals, was reported in</span><span><a href="http://frontiersin.org/neuroscience/neuroanatomy/paper/10.3389/neuro.05/003.2010/html/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">A
comparative perspective on minicolumns and inhibitory GABAergic interneurons in
the neocortex</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The thesis of local
vs. global connectivity bias in autism is also supported in</span><span><a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=sculpting-the-brain&print=true"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Exploring
the Folds of the Brain--And Their Links to Autism</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Hilgetag and Barbas:
"in autistic people, communication between nearby cortical areas
increases, whereas communication between distant areas decreases".</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Such cortex should be
more reliant on cortico-thalamo-cortical vs. cortico-cortical connections,
which might be the implication in</span><span><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6SYR-4KBVWWG-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=15fe0f3f8ff41c1068ee8fe1ac0a4fd0"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Partially
enhanced thalamocortical functional connectivity in autism</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Henry Markram, a
leading neuroscientist, a father of autistic son, and “pretty much an autist
myself”, proposed</span><span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21191475"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The intense world theory - a unifying theory of the
neurobiology of autism.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">:</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">“The proposed neuropathology
is hyper-functioning of local neural microcircuits, best characterized by
hyper-reactivity and hyper-plasticity. Such hyper-functional microcircuits are
speculated to become autonomous and memory trapped leading to the core
cognitive consequences of hyper-perception, hyper-attention, hyper-memory and
hyper-emotionality. The theory is centered on the neocortex and the amygdala,
but could potentially be applied to all brain regions. The severity on each
axis depends on the severity of the molecular syndrome expressed in different
brain regions, which could uniquely shape the repertoire of symptoms of an
autistic child. The progression of the disorder is proposed to be driven by
overly strong reactions to experiences that drive the brain to a hyper-preference
and overly selective state, which becomes more extreme with each new experience
and may be particularly accelerated by emotionally charged experiences and
trauma. This may lead to obsessively detailed information processing of
fragments of the world and an involuntarily and systematic decoupling of the
autist from what becomes a painfully intense world. The autistic is proposed to
become trapped in a limited, but highly secure internal world with minimal extremes
and surprises.”</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"In the early phase
of the child's life, repetition is a response to extreme fear. The autist perceives,
feels and fears too much. Let them have their routines, no computers,
television, no sharp colors, no surprises. It's the opposite of what parents
are told to do. We actually think if you could develop a filtered environment
in the early phase of life you could end up with an incredible genius child
without many of the sensory challenges."</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"The main
critical periods for the brain during which time circuits form irreversibly are
in the first few years (till about the age of 5 or so). We think this is an
important age period when autism can either fully express to become a severe
handicap or turned to become a major advantage. We think a calm filtered
environment will not send the circuits into hyper-active modes, but the brain
will keep most of its potential for plasticity. At later ages, filtered
environments should help calm the autistic child and give them a starting point
from where they can venture out. Each autistic child probably will first need
its own bubble environment before one can start mixing bubbles. It should
happen mostly on its own, but with very gentle guidance and encouragement. Do
all you would want for your child ... but in slow motion ... let the child set
the pace ... they need that control to feel secure enough to begin to venture
off into any other bubbles."</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Recent</span><span><a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(14)00651-5"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">study</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> found one reason for such
intense perception: reduced synaptic spine pruning in autistic brains, secondary
to mTOR over-expression. This seems to happen at the age of 3-4 years, when
synaptic spine density normally decreases by ~50%. I suspect reduced pruning
may also happen during prenatal development. If so, greater synaptic density should
increase activity, thereby reducing normal prenatal die-off of neurons. This
would explain minicolumnar differences noted by Casanova.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Either way, more
numerous synaptic spines increase density of connections in the cortex, which
must ultimately come at the expense of their effective range.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Truly pathological
autism probably requires more than increased synaptic density and activity. The
ultimate cause might be something as basic as pre|post- natal viral infection
or retroviral expression, combined with low vitamin D levels (as is</span><span><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus/article_view?b_start:int=2&-C="><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">likely</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> the case for schizophrenia and
bipolar disorder). </span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Sparse
connectivity as a risk factor for schizophrenia.</span></i></b><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One such factor is
greater ratio of astrocytes to neurons in schizophrenia, specifically in
prefrontal cortex (astrocytes is a type of glial cells, covered above). This
imbalance was recently discovered in</span><span><a href="http://www.riken.jp/en/pr/press/2016/20161102_1/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">RIKEN study</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> on stem cells and post-mortem
brains of patients vs. controls. It seems to be due to reduced expression of
gene </span><i><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;">DGCR8. </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Fewer neurons make network more vulnerable to acute damage, but
more astrocytes can better maintain remaining neurons for regular wear and tear
of our long life.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span><a href="http://today.duke.edu/2015/05/mouseschizo"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Duke University study</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> found a more direct “sparse”
risk factor for schizophrenia: increased synaptic pruning "‘Spine pruning
theory is supported by the observation that the frontal brain regions of people
with schizophrenia have fewer dendritic spines, the tentacles on the receiving
ends of neurons that process signals from other cells". But this increased
pruning happens during puberty, probably secondary to increased testosterone,
vs. reduced pruning at 3-4-year-old in autism.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Schizophrenia seems to
be a uniquely human disorder, and there must be a reason these risk factors
evolved. Other things that are unique for humans are large neocortex, complex
society, and long life.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I think this risk and
benefits are closely related: decreased density leaves more space and resources
(such as astrocytes) for remaining neurons and connections, so they may grow
longer. Which enables global intellectual integrity, thus dynamic social
coordination, and long-term planning in general.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">More specific “sparse
disorder” may be dyslexia. This connection was also made by Manuel Casanova: </span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“Autism and dyslexia: A spectrum
of cognitive styles as defined by minicolumnar Morphometry“</span></u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, although there is a lot less
research on that. Basically, he thinks that dyslexia is caused or exacerbated
by a “lossy” cognitive style, secondary to sparse connectivity, at least in language-oriented
cortices.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Implications and
speculations</span></i></b><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Generalist vs.
specialist tradeoffs are somewhat ambiguous in terms modern societal utility:</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- On one hand, speed
& precision was more important for survival in the wild, which may explain
why apes seem to have photographic memory, superior to humans:</span><span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7124156.stm"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Chimps beat
humans in memory test.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- On the other hand,
more recent functional differentiation of modern society once again requires
increasingly “lossless” knowledge acquisition. Social positions that do require
higher generalization are relatively few, including law, management, politics
and related academic disciplines.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In terms of gender,
men are obviously overrepresented among extreme specialists, and even more so
among generalists. This should be expected: extremes, especially that of
environmental detachment, are risky, and risk is a male domain. Males don’t
contribute nearly as much to reproduction as females, in some species only
their genes. Their additional purpose in evolution is to serve as a test
vehicle for variations, initially genetic and later also memetic. Males are a far
better target for sexual selection because their mutations are more likely to be
expressed: they have only one X chromosome.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Relatively speaking,
women don’t take chances. They have two X chromosomes to conceal mutations,
more symmetrical brains as a backup for damage, stronger immune system and
higher HDL. Same for behavior: they have lower testosterone and vasopressin to
avoid risk, higher estrogen and oxytocin to seek and provide support, generally
heightened senses to pay more attention to their bodies and immediate
environment. Another salient difference is</span><span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21087671"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">recently discovered</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> higher myelination in female thalamus,
likely related to faster and more frequent attention switching in women. All
that must come at the expense of intellectual detachment and higher generalization.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Paradoxically,
generalist bias may also be associated with smaller brain size, due to shorter
global links. For example, it is known that low-generality savant abilities can
be induced by inhibiting prefrontal cortex, presumably because top-down speculation
competes with bottom-up perception. Inversely, shorter distances improve signal
propagation across global networks (such as fronto-parietal, fronto- temporal,
salience networks), suppressing bottom-up detail by top-down filtering. And
selection for stronger patterns is necessary to compensate for reduced overall
memory capacity of a smaller brain.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Another benefit of
smaller size is potentially better quality of development over the same time:
there is a well-known “slow growth vs. sloppy growth” trade-off in biology. Basically,
slower growth allows for more time and resources to prevent and correct mistakes
made during cellular division and other anabolic processes. For example,
slower-growing axons are less affected by short- term fluctuation in gradients
guiding their growth cones. So, they will be straighter, further reducing the
length of connections among cortical areas. And shorter connections are</span><span><a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000395"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">associated with higher IQ</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Of course, this is
contrary to conventional bigger-is-better view, supported by increasing brain
size in human evolution. But this trend reversed after Neolithic revolution,
which might not be a bad thing. Some margin of increased brain and body size is
net-beneficial only for fight / flight emergencies. Given drastically improved
security of settled society, that margin should become net-detrimental, by
impairing cellular quality. For example, although animals of larger species
generally live longer, smaller individuals of the same specie live longer than
the larger ones in the absence of predation.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This is also true for
women. But, women have proportionally less white matter and more grey matter
than men, which compensates for shorter distances. And I think subcortical
differences are even more important: lower testosterone and higher oxytocin
makes women more sensitive to their immediate environment, especially social
one. They’re better at bottom-up perception, but less free in top-down selection.
Women do seem to have better integrity, but within a narrower range of interests.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On another note, IQ
tests are inherently incapable of capturing higher generalization ability
because they are time-limited. The tests are supposed to be </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">background-neutral, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">except for verbal and math IQ.
Thus, they can only measure our ability to discover patterns within data given
to a subject during relatively brief test. That means they’re biased toward the
speed of learning, where “sparse” subjects are at disadvantage. This is
effectively confirmed by the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> finding </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">that lobotomy, which disables prefrontal cortex (the seat of
highest generalization levels), has</span><span><a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/x952046576561443/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">little or no
impact on IQ.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The same bias is built
into any educational system: detail-oriented "dense" bias is better
for passive knowledge acquisition. "Sparse" bias is better at
independent research, but that’s far more difficult to evaluate. And modern
science amassed a huge body of knowledge, which must be acquired before one can
make a novel contribution. That's a major disadvantage for a generalist.
Einstein’s assertion that “imagination is more important than knowledge” may no
longer hold in established fields (</span><span><a href="http://www.cognitivealgorithm.info/"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">not mine</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">).</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There's been a lot of
talk about association between</span><span><a href="http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13489714"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">"genius"
and autism,</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> which I think is misleading for two reasons. First, the diagnosis
of autism includes asocial behavior, which is irrelevant: anyone with unusual
interests will be correspondingly "asocial". Closely related is
avoidance of novelty, which is emotionally overwhelming for an autist. But a
detached generalist would also avoid society and novelty, for the opposite reason:
they are likely to be a trivial distraction to his own thoughts.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Second, it is far
easier to recognize exceptional abilities of a specialist than those of a generalist.
We all share lower generality levels, - that's where the data comes from, leaving
less to interpretation. But effective generality of top association cortices
definitely differs among individuals, and it takes an equally competent generalist
to evaluate quality of generalizations. Which is why the work in psycho-social
sciences, and especially in philosophy, is so vastly inferior to that in
relatively lossless hard sciences. So, an autistic genius is far more likely to
gain recognition than “anti-autistic” one.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Needless to say, this
write-up is motivated by introspection.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span lang="EN">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: small;"></span></span></span>Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-13272882502911354752021-11-20T14:42:00.001-08:002023-11-02T13:09:35.029-07:00Introspection<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I design cognitive process from a functional definition, as open-ended
hierarchical pattern discovery: <a href="file:///C:/Users/boris/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Word/www.cognitivealgorithm.info">www.cognitivealgorithm.info</a>.
Been working on that most of my life, anything else is trivial by comparison. On
my own, because nothing I’ve come across is coherent enough. And because I can,
emotionally, recently financially, and even more recently with decent
concentration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Real intellectual integrity seems to be extremely abnormal in people,
probably a </span><a href="https://chat.openai.com/share/347b3e19-da67-4ed7-9313-9a05637a08cd" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">developmental
artifact</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> for me. Lacking nearly universal addiction to social support and tangible
benefits (starting with experimental confirmation), I am free to focus on purely
cognitive imperatives.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My first interests were geography and history, then physical
sciences and biology. I majored in social science because modern society has the
deepest structured complexity of any established subject. But that field lacks
in academic integrity. And the most important process in society is discovery and
invention, which is a composite of individual human learning. So, I switched to
studying the latter, most of my life ago, both for intellectual depth and for
potential impact on the world.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That doesn’t mean psychology and neuroscience. I got into both
more recently, mostly for insight into our deficiencies. To understand
intrinsic function of cognition, vs. tons of other things in human mind,
sustained introspective generalization is far superior to mere observation.
Having started with the former, I find everything about brain and neurons to be
grossly sub-optimal. Which is not surprising for a product of blind evolution
and severe biological constraints.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Formalizing cognition is also the only legitimate problem in
philosophy, which was my interest for a while. But establishment philosophers
are too busy bullshitting college freshmen and other clueless highbrows, they seem
to have no time or interest for real work.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then there is math, but that’s primarily deductive, while
cognition is primarily inductive. Effective induction requires fine-grain selection:
logically complex but mathematically simple. People like math for its
certainty, but that’s mutually exclusive with complexity of a subject. Which
don’t get more complex than effective intelligence. I picked complexity and speculation
first, certainty had to wait.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Logical complexity is the province of coding, but that requires a constructively
defined objective first. It was never defined for cognition, so it took me a
lot of work before I could start programming. And it didn’t help that I first
tried C, which is horrible for anything conceptually complex. So I went off to work
with my own pseudocode, until I realized that there is already Python for that.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I skip on biography because mine is a life of mind, the rest is a
distraction (I had plenty of that). Throughout history, working alone on my
problem would be of no consequence. Things changed: publish on the net and
Google will find you with the right keywords, status and credentials be damned.
And convincing people is not even necessary anymore, all you really need is
working code.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Still, a constructive conversation would be nice for now, seeing
that I am short of the former.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;">
</p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anything I write is meant to be substantially original, thus
speculative. But the subject is king, I never stop questioning assumptions and
all my posts are a work in progress</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk502093226;"></span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-35054389527773489352018-11-04T18:04:00.001-08:002021-11-04T18:50:46.822-07:00Cultivating top-down focus<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Theoretical work is driven by sustained top-down attention. The
top is long-term priorities, derived from broad generalizations, and the bottom
is current experience. Evolution always neglected long-term: people didn’t
survive very long unless they paid close attention to their immediate environment.
Modern society is drastically more secure, but our attention spans barely budged.
In fact, it’s been getting worse for the majority lately, - they just elected ADHD-addled
clown-in-chief.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Thinking is to people as swimming is to cats: they can do it but
prefer not to” Daniel Kahneman.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious” Albert
Einstein.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A lot of people could become world-changing geniuses, if they
spent 10 years of their youth fully focused on important problem. But that must
come at the cost of “life“: unthinkable for hand-to-mouth hunter-gatherers that
we evolved to be. I first decided on my</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.cognitivealgorithm.info/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">top priority</span></a></span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">in the adolescence. But
maintaining effective working focus on these abstractions, vs. “real” distractions,
was far more difficult. Over the years, I majorly improved my concentration via
following techniques:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Practice, externalization, formalization</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Anything profound is initially boring, curiosity is cultivated by
incrementally deep study. Which forms redundant representations, differentiated
by their context to explore alternative scenarios. This redundancy helps to
maintain parallel subconsciously searching threads, even when your
consciousness is distracted. They also fill-up memory and starve unrelated
subjects out of resources. This is very important: irrelevant memories keep
competing for our attention until they faint out.</span> </span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Obsessed with externalities, we need a conducive environment to
facilitate virtuous cycle of practice. Basic working environment is a notepad
or a computer screen, so we need to fill them with a well designed write-up of
the subject. The brain obviously has plenty of memory for a few pages of text,
scarce resource here is our attention. Writing down thoughts turns them into a
sensory feedback, which is far more effective at maintaining conscious
attention than “internal” abstractions. Same for motor feedback: verbalizing,
writing by hand, semi-random editing or re-arranging text or code.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Another focus aid is formalization: developing subject-specific
terminology, abbreviations, symbols. This is critical for building concise and
comprehensive model of a subject, structured to reverberate within</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cortical_memory"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">working memory</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">. Such model must be
incrementally refined and extended, nothing worthwhile can be done on the first
try. Refining means resolving internal contradictions and eliminating overlaps
or the irrelevant, vs. simply accumulating related aspects and perspectives.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stimulation and avoiding distractions</span></span></i></b></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the most important “environment and stimulants” is people
we deal with. Your listener's attention (if credible) stimulates yours, even
when he doesn't contribute anything. To facilitate this, universities and
companies impose face-to-face contact among colleagues. However, relevance of
these institutions themselves depends on societal consumer competence, which is
sorely lacking on higher-generality subjects. But social stimulation can be
replaced by writing or talking to oneself.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Beside relevant stimulation (be honest about “relevant“), one must
block the irrelevant one. Real-life socializing is almost always meaningless,
compared to impersonal reading and writing. People are desperate to join a
group and rejection feels like a death sentence. But if there is no
sufficiently relevant group, any socializing is huge waste of mindspace.
However miserable social isolation feels at first, you get used to it. Aside
from broad stimulation and clear purpose, attention is a zero-sum game.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Such broad stimulation is easy: tea, cocoa, and low-dose nicotine
(patch) do it for me. As distinct from smoking, nicotine itself is pretty
benign, see</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.gwern.net/Nicotine"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">Gwern</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">. For less intrinsically
stimulated, there are ritalin, adderall, deprenyl, modafinil, etc. Another
potent stimulant is exercise while working. I work on a</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/LifeSpan-TR800-DT-Treadmill-Desktop-Model/dp/B008BRK9VO/ref=pd_sbs_sg_3"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">treadmill desk</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> and alternate between walking,
standing, and sitting, all while remaining in front of projector screen (which
is more “immersive” and distant than a monitor: it doesn’t jump in the eyes as
much when you walk). Highly recommend, it probably added ~3 hours of work per
day.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Beside socializing, the worst attention hog now is the web. Dealing
with it was a big challenge, until I discovered <a href="https://getcoldturkey.com/">Cold Turkey</a>. I block all but work-related
whitelist most of the day. Sounds trivial, but it made a huge difference to my
concentration. You may even want to lock yourself in for a fixed time, just put
the key in</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E9J3MLM/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">kitchen safe</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Direct self- conditioning</span></span></i></b></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But even more insidious, at least for a generalist like me, is
internal distractions: wandering thoughts.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There is a low-tech solution: </span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/60/Aversive-Conditioning.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">aversive conditioning</span></a>.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> It can be simple and old-fashioned: just slap
your face when distracting. But it’s a war with your own reptilian brain, slapping
must become reflexive, you shouldn’t have to decide on it. Then irrelevant
subjects acquire unpleasant associations and you will avoid them. Of course,
that depends on mindfulness: monitoring your thoughts for distractions.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Positive conditioning of relevant thoughts is far more difficult:
they are fluid, subconcsious and don’t associate with specific cues for conventional
reinforcement. Less specific but still helpful is reserving specific desk,
computer, and time only for work. Also useful is</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurofeedback"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">neurofeedback</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">,</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110408101740.htm"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #5588aa; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">article</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">. I currently use a very simple version: every
day, I write down the number of hours spent on work, multiplied by their effectiveness
relative to average effectiveness of recent working hours. It does help a bit.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Advanced neurofeedback may become possible by transcranial imaging
to</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news201939898.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">visualize</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> cortical activity. Eventually, we will directly stimulate
cortical areas that represent relevant subjects. Stimulation by</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3953713/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">red and infrared light</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> is already feasible, but very
imprecise. Overall, top-down attention seems to be coordinated by left</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsolateral_prefrontal_cortex"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">dorsolateral prefrontal cortex</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">:</span></u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> the highest level of
task-specific generalization, while symbolic and mathematical processing is in
left inferior parietal cortex / </span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_gyrus"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 150%;">angular gyrus</span></a></span><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Deliberate control over the subject of attention will be the most
profound revolution yet: it will change what we want out of life. But waiting
for technology will leave you hopelessly behind those who do it old-fashioned
way. Of course, most of us dressed-up apes don’t care, - there are bananas to
be picked.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-30998973542704318172012-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:002016-04-29T08:06:29.132-07:00Consciousness as an artifact of brain-to-body bottleneck<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></span><span lang="EN">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Conscious attention, implemented as <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baddeley%27s_model_of_working_memory">working
memory</a></span></u>, is focused on a single or few items at a time.
Intrinsically, cognition doesn't need such central focus: our brains are
massively parallel. Ideally, the pool of neurons
should be allocated to many subjects of interest by something like a
market, according to predictive value of these subjects. As it probably happens
in unconscious or intuitive cognition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">But the brain evolved to guide a single body, which in most respects
can only do one thing at a time. Hence the artifact of central consciousness.
Beside disrupting smooth allocation of cognitive resources, this bottleneck
obviously favors somatic concerns, which constitute lower forms of human motivation.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Such sequential focus is likely implemented by <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Thalamus">thalamus</a></span></u>,
which serves as a central switchboard for the brain. It seems to invoke
consciousness by generating higher-frequency brainwaves, especially <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave">gamma
waves</a></span></u>, which</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">bind together areas related to working memory (brief overview: <span style="color: #5588aa;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=VPpVgdqrsxUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+missing+moment&hl=en&ei=ebqdTI7FH4WBlAfOnbzsAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA%20\%20v=onepage&q&f=false"><span style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Missing
Moment</span></a></span> by Robert Pollack, pp. 46-56, or a far more involved
treatment: <span style="color: #5588aa;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ldz58irprjYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22rhythms+in+the+brain&hl=en&ei=SK6mTNGXE8G88gaauLSTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA%20\%20v=onepage&q&f=false"><span style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Rhythms of the
Brain</span></a></span> by Gyorgy Buzsaki.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">My personal opinion is that main function of thalamus is to mediate
competition between brain areas, particularly via <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamic_reticular_nucleus">TRN</a></span></u>.
From a networking perspective, it’s a lot cheaper to do this in a central body,
as opposed to each region or column directly inhibiting all others. In fact,
Sherman and Guillery suggest that a thalamus could be viewed as a consolidated
“7<sup>th</sup> layer” of neocortex (<u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=L7WAeCvWJ04C&dq=isbn:0123054605">“Exploring
the Thalamus”</a></span></u>).</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Primary sensory and motor cortices seem to be overrepresented in
thalamus, - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulvinar_nuclei"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">pulvinar nuclei</span></a>
alone comprise 40% of it. Better thalamic connectivity of primary cortices
should enhance search for relevant associations in other brain areas. This is
introspectively plausible: most of working memory is what we currently
visualize, vocalize, or actualize.<b><i> </i></b>I think we enhance our focus
on general concepts in the same fashion: by generating fake experiences of <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocalization">subvocalizing</a></span></u>,
<u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_image">subvisualizing</a></span></u>,
and subactualizing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">This is probably mediated by feedback to primary
cortices, underutilized during sensory “vacations”.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">So, primary cortices are frequently “hijacked” by higher areas to
simulate (interactively project) their generalized concepts. Such “primarization”
is particularly important for mathematicians, engineers, and scientists, who
work on imaginary constructs and often think visually rather than verbally. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">However, primary cortices are unnaturally “low” for such subjects. Because
“elevation” is wrong, these projections often become <a href="http://www.skepdic.com/falsememory.html"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">false memories</span></a>, <a href="http://www.skepdic.com/confab.html"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">confabulations</span></a>, <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucination">hallucinations</a></span></u>,
- substitution of imagination (feedback) for actual experience (feedforward).
This may be a factor in developing schizophrenia, in which imagination seems to
get out of control. It is suggestive that default
mode network, and specifically <a href="http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16185793"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">left posterior
cingulate cortex</span></a>, were found to be unusually active in
schizophrenics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Such confusion should be more likely in
habitually hijacked primary areas, which may become less attached to their
respective senses.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">More
general concepts are represented by higher association cortices. The highest
area seems to be dorsolateral PFC: developmentally the last to myelinate and
the most involved in <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_function">executive function</a></span></u>.
Primarization could be mediated by short-cuts to lower levels of cortical
hierarchy, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcuate_fasciculus"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">arcuate fasciculus</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindle_cells"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">spindle neurons</span></a>, with
their far-reaching axons.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
<b><i>Basal ganglia: subcortical modulator of attention.</i></b><br />
<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">While thalamus seems
to be a relatively neutral mediator of competition for conscious attention,
basal ganglia implements conditioning, which actively directs focus. Phasic
dopamine in basal ganglia also indicates “reward prediction error”, and variation in sensitivity to dopamine is a risk
factor for ADHD.<br />
<br />
For example, ADHD <span style="color: #5588aa;"><a href="http://works.bepress.com/jean_frazier/1/"><span style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">is correlated with</span></a></span>
7-repeat allele of DRD4, which accelerates reuptake. Even more important might
be variation in <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechol-O-methyl_transferase">COMT gene</a></span></u>:
Met 158 allele, which degrades postsynaptic dopamine 4x slower than Val 158
allele, is associated with better working memory, but slower attention
switching. Basically, it enhances top-down or goal-directed attention vs.
bottom-up or novelty-oriented attention. ADHD is treated by norepinephrine and
dopamine agonists or reuptake inhibitors, such as <span style="color: #5588aa;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion"><span style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Bupropion.</span></a></span><br />
<br />
This differs <u><span style="color: #5588aa;">between hemispheres</span></u>:
"To advance our understanding of ADHD and medication effects we draw upon
the evidence for (1) a neurotransmitter imbalance between norepinephrine and
dopamine in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and (2) an asymmetric
neural control system that links the dopaminergic pathways to left hemispheric
processing and links the noradrenergic pathways to right hemispheric
processing. It appears that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder may
involve a bi-hemispheric dysfunction characterized by reduced dopaminergic and
excessive noradrenergic functioning. In turn, favorable medication effects may
be mediated by restoration in neurotransmitter balance and by increased control
over the allocation of attentional resources between hemispheres".<br />
<br />
On a cellular level, temporal attention span is inversely proportional to the
"decay rate" for stimuli propagating from primary into association
areas of neocortex. Passive decay is caused by charge dissipation across
neuronal membrane and reuptake of excitatory neurotransmitters at the synapses.
Such decay promotes relatively novel stimuli. On the other hand, active
suppression by neurons that represent competing stimuli, via inhibitory
interneurons and neurotransmitters, should promote relatively recurrent or concurrent
stimuli. Longer term, slower passive decay would correspond to longer
connections and competition among more distant and persistent stimuli.<br />
<br />
Other factors affecting stimuli decay rate are axonal straightness and
myelination, structural trade-offs within cortical minicolumns and thalamus
(see <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://cognitive-focus.blogspot.com/2012/01/cognitive-focus-generalist-vs.html">“Cortical
Trade-Offs“</a></span></u><span style="color: maroon;"> </span>post), and so on.
A developmental possibility is that high levels of cortisol / low levels of
serotonin increase the levels of phasic dopamine, which in turn accelerates
dopamine reuptake. ADHD sufferers have fewer dopamine autoreceptors, leading to
greater fluctuations in its levels and increased novelty seeking to keep the
cortex busy. <br />
<br />
The degree of preference for novelty in the immediate environment also
depends on recent intensity of value-loaded stimuli, modulated by our
subjective sensitivity to the latter. Sensitivity is increased by deprivation
(vs addiction) for positive stimuli, and security (vs vulnerability) for the
negative ones. Particularly during formative years, attention span can be
increased by broad intellectual exposure, if combined with weak visceral
pressures and temptations.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 11.0pt;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span>Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-14173157510119548842012-01-07T07:13:00.000-08:002012-06-18T08:29:21.352-07:00Comments from "Cognitive Focus" knol<h4 id="knol-comment-title-27zxw65mxxlt7.7wt88c">
</h4>
<h4>
Derek Zahn on my personal
knol:</h4>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.7wt88c">
>"Given limited resources, there must be a trade-off
between the number & the length of connections in such network..."<br />
>I
don't understand what you mean by "length" here... It seems that the topology
etc of the network would be the important properties, not physical
measurements...<br />
<br />
Here I assume that innate topology of neocortex is
roughly the same, - genetic variation among individuals is very minor. On the
other hand, the “dense vs sparse” bias (genetic or perinatal) requires very
little information, see “Developmental factors” section. Of course, adult
topology is largely acquired, but acquisition process itself is affected by
innate biases. <br />
<br />
By “length” (of axons) I mean average distance between
connected nodes (minicolumns?), in whatever topology. Given a fixed total length
of connections (resources), greater average length of individual one-to-one
connection must come at the cost of smaller total number of these connections.
Think of spindle neurons, - very few but very long connections. So, this would
produce sparser network with longer-range & more selective associations
(concepts). Selection itself is probably through some variation of Hebbian “fire
together- wire together”. <br />
<br />
Let’s face it, the brain is physical, its
resources are limited, there are trade-offs to be made. Again, this knol is on
gross neural bias only, I deal with algorithmic level (not necessarily
neuromorphic) on my “Intelligence” knol.<br />
<h4 id="knol-comment-title-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">
Todor Armaudov:</h4>
<h4>
Cognitive abilities peaks.
Saturation of learning and Generalization novelty seeking.</h4>
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">
Hi
Boris,<br />
<br />
I'm not ready to discuss on neurological stuff, but I could on the
years of peak of cognitive abilities.<br />
<br />
I think some of the abilities are
"flat" or at least could be "emulated" without deep generalization, and their
peak might be more likely dependent on social status, aim at power and focus
rather than special generalization shift. Science has also a social status bug,
because usually researchers are supposed and they do accept to serve their
master's directions until 30s (PhD, post-doc ...)<br />
<br />
Language and stories
maybe don't have that deep hierarchy or so, I don't know, but I think gifted
writers and poets may reach to high or "perfect" skills as early as their 20s or
even teenage years. ("Perfect" means there's not much more where to go in style
and how to tell a story interestingly.)<br />
<br />
This can happen even without
reading lots of sample fiction. Acknowledgement or time-span needed to write
influential works may take decades, though.<br />
<br />
Also, you call art "fluff",
but I believe talent to write stories includes a good deal of generalization.
<br />
I think art is an imitation of algorithms; the worst authors copy data, the
talented and original ones induce and understand algorithms (patterns) that
could generate plausible data, their algorithms are more robust and are harder
to reverse-engineer given only the artwork.<br />
<br />
(I agree that for writing
literature critics, reading lots of books through many years is helpful,
though.)<br />
<br />
Maybe I'm just an exception, but was authoring pretty high
generality stuff at age of 17-18-19 such as philosophy (including "my theory");
[science] fiction and fantasy with philosophical elements; was doing language
engineering (lexical and semantic enrichment of Bulgarian), "genre and style"
engineering, and solid sociolinguistics research.<br />
<br />
It was a peak, and I
have explanation why it declined in the following years: saturation &
distractors. :) <br />
<br />
There's a phenomenon I call exhaustion or saturation of
learning. Saturation is not only cognitive (e.g. you don't get social support
for the activities and give up), but there is a crucial cognitive part which is
related to boredom and the conditions where the cognitive algorithm should skip
too predictive patterns. That's a form of novelty seeking, and I think it
contributes to shift to higher generality concepts after lower ones are
saturated.<br />
<br />
When mind extracts patterns from a given domain (set of raw
data/patterns), initially it does fast and improves quickly. This can be either
at same level of generalization (reaching high predictability & precision)
and multi-level - increasingly abstract generalizations are discovered. However
the process slows down in both directions, eventually at the highest level of
generalization discovered. Mind cannot find higher level of generalization, gets
bored and tends to switch to new domains in order to find:<br />
<br />
- more
unpredictable/comple<wbr></wbr>x patterns, starting from lowest level<br />
-
steeper function of generality increase (until another saturation)<br />
<br />
I'd
call this "Generalization novelty seeking"<br />
<br />
I suspect persons who have
higher tendency to search for inter-domain generality and the fast learners
don't freeze in one single domain because they feel such saturation of
generalization.<br />
<br />
The general knowledge gotten is reused between domains
and makes learning of new domains faster. Eventually domains run-out and merge,
and this is accelerated by the inter-domain generalizations showing that
different things are the same thing with different names.<br />
<br />
After
inter-domain saturation mind has no choice but to concentrate on higher concepts
from the now merged domains, that seemed saturated before, and try to generalize
further. Otherwise it would just be bored to death... :)<br />
<br />
The
not-that-inter-domai<wbr></wbr>n learners tend to focus to make one or a few
narrow domains "perfect". They don't care or don't notice that most of the time
the progress is very slow or none, they're reaching precision and generalization
limits and doing the same thing over and over again with no improve.</div>
<div class="knol-clearer-div">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw"></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-time" id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">
Last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">Jul 2, 2010 5:06
PM</span></div>
<span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="68" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="110" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="66" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="67" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" style="visibility: hidden;">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-replies-toggle-block" closure_uid_ukvomz="145" id="knol-comment-replies-toggle-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">
<span class="knol-comment-rating" id="knol-comment-rating-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw"><span class="knol-comment-votes-zero" id="knol-comment-votes-num-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">0</span><a closure_uid_ukvomz="91" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-nay-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" title="Poor comment"><img alt="Poor comment" class="knol-comment-nay" src="/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325869747115/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a><a closure_uid_ukvomz="90" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-aye-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" title="Good comment"><img alt="Good comment" class="knol-comment-aye" src="/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325869747115/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a></span><a class="knol-comment-replies-toggle knol-comment-replies-show-toggle knol-element-toggle-threshold-1 knol-element-toggle-level-0" closure_uid_ukvomz="42" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-replies-show-toggle27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw" style="display: none;">View/post replies (33) to this
comment ▼</a><a class="knol-comment-replies-toggle knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" closure_uid_ukvomz="43" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">Hide replies to this comment
▲</a></div>
<div class="knol-comment-replies knol-element-toggle-level-1" id="knol-comment-replies-27zxw65mxxlt7.6no1cw">
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">
> I
think some of the abilities are "flat" or at least could be "emulated" without
deep generalization, and their peak might be more likely dependent on social
status, aim at power and focus rather than special generalization shift. Science
has also a social status bug, because usually researchers are supposed and they
do accept to serve their master's directions until 30s (PhD, post-doc
...)<br />
<br />
As I mentioned elsewhere, I try to focus on cognitive
factors.<br />
<br />
> Language and stories maybe don't have that deep hierarchy
or so, I don't know, but I think gifted writers and poets may reach to high or
"perfect" skills as early as their 20s or even teenage years. ("Perfect" means
there's not much more where to go in style and how to tell a story
interestingly.)<br />
<br />
Poets, more likely than novelists (form vs. content).
Just because they all write doesn’t mean it on the same level of generalization.
Anyway, I’d rather not discuss art. <br />
<br />
> Maybe I'm just an exception,
but was authoring pretty high generality stuff at age of 17-18-19 such as
philosophy (including "my theory"); [science] fiction and fantasy with
philosophical elements; was doing language engineering (lexical and semantic
enrichment of Bulgarian), "genre and style" engineering, and solid
sociolinguistics research.<br />
There's a phenomenon I call exhaustion or
saturation of learning. Saturation is not only cognitive (e.g. you don't get
social support for the activities and give up), but there is a crucial cognitive
part which is related to boredom and the conditions where the cognitive
algorithm should skip too predictive patterns. <br />
<br />
I was talking about the
age of highest achievement. Just because you had energy, ambition, & did
some work doesn’t mean you achieved much. My experience with your writing
(including this comment) suggests that you’re after quantity rather than
quality. It seems like a “specialist bias” to me, even as you’re trying to
generalize. I think you got bored because you *did not* find any predictive
patterns, had no patience to continue, & nobody paid any
attention.<br />
<br />
> That's a form of novelty seeking, and I think it
contributes to shift to higher generality concepts after lower ones are
saturated.<br />
That’s a form of parroting, with wrong conclusions, & on the
wrong knol. <br />
<br />
> When mind extracts patterns from a given domain (set of
raw data/patterns), initially it does fast and improves quickly. This can be
either at same level of generalization (reaching high predictability &
precision) and multi-level - increasingly abstract generalizations are
discovered. However the process slows down in both directions, eventually at the
highest level of generalization discovered. Mind cannot find higher level of
generalization, gets bored and tends to switch to new domains in order to
find:<br />
<br />
You didn’t explain why discontinuous search (jumping domains) would
speed up generalization. “Boredom”, “saturation” are great pop-psych terms to
*obscure* the subject.<br />
<br />
> - more unpredictable/comple<wbr></wbr>x patterns,
starting from lowest level<br />
>- steeper function of generality increase
(until another saturation)....<br />
<br />
Confused. It’s ironic that I, a social
science major who hasn’t even *seen* a computer till 22 yo, got into formalizing
bottom-up pattern discovery when younger than you are. You started programming
at, what, 10 yo? This discussion belongs on the “cognitive algorithm” knol, but
please don’t comment till you can suggest quantifiable criteria. I really don’t
need more distractions. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="152" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="149" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="150" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="151" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="153" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="229" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="230" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.l1zv3r">Jun 3, 2010 2:00
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">
I'm
leaving you and myself alone with my abusive nonsenses, if you wish delete my
comments,<br />
but sorry - your overgeneralized offensive nonsenses are
wrong.<br />
<br />
>I was talking about the age of highest achievement. Just
because you had energy, ambition, & did some work doesn’t mean you achieved
much. My experience because you had energy, ambition, & did some work
doesn’t mean you achieved much. My experience <br />
>with your writing
(including this comment) suggests that you’re after quantity rather than
quality. It seems like a “specialist bias” to me, even as you’re <br />
>trying
to generalize. I think you got bored because you *did not* find any predictive
patterns, had no patience to continue, & nobody paid any attention.<br />
<br />
I
engaged a professional die-hard 40+ yo philosopher and philosophy writer with
opposite POV to discuss in many long letters with me, while I had read a few
high school textbooks and magically inducing "working" philosophy from my mind,
that a "master" like him couldn't "defeat".<br />
<br />
Inventions from my
linguistics/sociolin<wbr></wbr>guistics were cited in at least two scientific papers
(I wouldn't join the "mainstream" though, because I didn't have education and
was criticizing their bad terminology). I befriended a leading sociolinguist
(40+ yo), had a comprehensive and solid conclusion work called "The Decline of
the language of Bulgarian society".<br />
<br />
My electronic dictionary with
enriched Bulgarian has thousands of downloads and keep counting; was uploaded at
download space and published in a magazine by somebody else's promotion. I was
interviewed for another magazine before that, for newspapers, radio and
surprisingly to you I *denied* a request for a TV interview, when I was already
bored of understanding and knew this won't help to achieve what my research
aimed at and what it concluded.<br />
<br />
>got into formalizing bottom-up
pattern discovery when younger than you are<br />
<br />
Because I've never really
tried to formalize it, I guess.<br />
<br />
BTW, I can speak about the language of
social scientists and you apparently don't sound as a typical SS graduate. In
Bulgarian it seemed like a trivial common-sense descriptive blah-blah, I was
disappointed it can have so low underlying complexity (I was a high school
student in a *technical* school and could understand and explain that stuff
better than those graduate social idiots). The writings were just masked with a
bunch of pointless foreignisms they call "terminology" - to prove it was a
"science". I suspect it was the same in USSR.<br />
<br />
Bye</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="234" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="354" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="232" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="233" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.zs7jv4">Jun 3, 2010 7:54
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">
Todor,
your comments aren’t abusive, just distracting. My replies are often offensive,
but that’s how you deal with distractions. If I didn’t think there’s a slight
chance you might eventually contribute, I wouldn’t reply at all. My
“overgeneralization” is simply a matter of selective focus.<br />
<br />
>> I
engaged a professional die-hard 40+ yo philosopher and philosophy writer with
opposite POV to discuss in many long letters with me, while I had read a few
high school textbooks and magically inducing "working" philosophy from my mind,
that a "master" like him couldn't "defeat".<br />
...<br />
<br />
Not much of an
achievement, is it?<br />
<br />
>> you apparently don't sound as a typical SS
graduate.<br />
<br />
Much of my SS background was in the US, that was a lifetime
ago, & I am not typical anything.<br />
<br />
>>got into formalizing
bottom-up pattern discovery when younger than you are<br />
>Because I've never
really tried to formalize it, I guess.<br />
<br />
There's a reason for
that.<br />
<br />
Look, I am sorry to keep offending you, but it’s not personal
(though you do have a very annoying habit of self-promotion). There’s only one
thing worth focusing on, & I don’t care if I offend the rest of humanity to
do so.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="157" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="154" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="155" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="156" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="158" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="236" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="237" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.bz54e9">Jun 3, 2010 8:51
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">
>My
“overgeneralization” is simply a matter of selective focus<br />
It's
anti-promotion of your methodology - makes wrong predictions.<br />
<br />
>Not
much of an achievement, is it?<br />
<br />
Of course that was about *no body paid any
attention*. Content is too long a topic & I'm tired of self-promotion to
explain. I hadn't seen anything phil. to really surprise me after these years
(or just an year).</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="241" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="356" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="239" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="240" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.9l8d96">Jun 4, 2010 2:34
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">
> It's
anti-promotion of your methodology - makes wrong predictions.<br />
<br />
You have a
point there, I never heard of a social scientist or a philosopher doing much to
formalize cognition. But that may have more to do with dysfunctional nature of
social institutions that represent these fields. Yes, just about all writers on
the subject have math, CS, EE backgrounds. But that might be because they have
tangible accomplishments in their fields, which gives them the confidence to
tackle such grand ambitions, & convinces people to pay attention. And these
fields are closely related on a basic level, - it's all formal information
processing. But the level of complexity is vastly different, so the results
aren't impressive. Basicaly, there's no institutionalized field that's fit for
the problem. It's like science in the Middle Ages, if you want to do it, you're
on your own. <br />
<br />
> Content is too long a topic & I'm tired of
self-promotion to explain.<br />
<br />
<br />
There's a difference between
self-promotion & writing-up ideas in a coherent form. If you cared enough
about the content to actually work on it, just give me a link. As it is, your
writings in Bulgarian is just chatter & story-telling, you're not
translating them because they're not worth it (& google does it pretty
well). It feels strange to keep hearing about "your theory" as if it was some
kind of intellectual status symbol. It's all about you & your
accomplishments, & next to nothing about the subject matter. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="162" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="159" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="160" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="161" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="163" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="243" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="244" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.okox90">Jun 4, 2010 4:32
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">
>Basicaly, there's no institutionalized field that's
fit for the problem. It's like science in the Middle <br />
>Ages, if you want
to do it, you're on your own. <br />
<br />
Right.<br />
<br />
>> Content is too long
a topic & I'm tired of self-promotion to explain.<br />
>There's a
difference between self-promotion & writing-up ideas in a coherent form. If
you cared <br />
>enough about the content to actually work on it, just give me
a link. As it is, your writings in <br />
>Bulgarian is just chatter &
story-telling, you're not translating them because they're not worth it (&
<br />
>google does it pretty well). It feels strange to keep hearing about
"your theory" as if it was some kind <br />
>of intellectual status symbol. It's
all about you & your accomplishments, & next to nothing about the
<br />
>subject matter.<br />
<br />
I'm bored to discuss on this too. I guess
sometimes it's a defense, like "leave me alone, I'm busy! I'm not ready! I'm not
focussed! (and never had been)"<br />
<br />
While you are focused on the only most
significant etc. thing, I've been busy and focused on *many* most significant
things a day.<br />
<br />
Yes - I don't think it's worth the time translation in that
form and no one would read that long s*, I apparently have more important things
to do & should compress it to next to nothing or something. <br />
<br />
However
your definition is again overgeneralized, because as a philosophy my s* was
fine. I wouldn't be here if it was complete junk & whatever more I say,
would be self-promotion. I'm sick & tired of this, want to be constructive,
sorry for self-promotion and the spam.<br />
<br />
One last spam: a question from a
student. He said he was amused by your sentence "you need boring life" and
others, and asked:<br />
<br />
- Is Boris' theory falsifiable? Where his confidence
comes from?<br />
<br />
Funny, isn't it. I didn't have an answer. I've asked you in
the past also, you answered "implementation is trivial, once you have a formal
theory". Great, and what if you work 40 years to find your formal theory was
wrong.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="248" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="346" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="246" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="247" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.tb3wb9">Jun 5, 2010 4:15
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">
> Is
Boris' theory falsifiable?<br />
<br />
Ah, yes, Popperian philosophy. It’s wrong,
both corroboration & falsification are a matter of degree. Think of it in
Bayesian terms: facts don’t prove or disprove empirical theory, they simply
increase or decrease its predictive value. In my approach, the empirical part is
the definition of intelligence, & “falsifying” means finding some essential
function of intelligence (in common-sense terms) that it doesn’t cover. Then I
would have to generalize the definition, but that’s what I am doing anyway. The
rest of my theory is deductions from the definition, where the test is not facts
but internal consistency (as in math). <br />
<br />
> Where his confidence comes
from?<br />
<br />
Initially, probably my mother (she is pretty unique, very high
oxytocin & serotonin to cortisol ratio:)). To develop long attention span,
you need to have confidence to begin with, otherwise you’re stuck with 4Fs &
computer games. That’s why I am skeptical about engineers, & then hard vs.
soft science types. They can’t sustain their curiosity without short-term
feedback, - tests, proofs, experiments, action. Intellectual insecurity. <br />
But
of course that’s just a start, confidence needs to be constantly reinforced. So,
yes, successful engineers may develop confidence that affords them longer
no-feedback attention span, & gain more of a “generalist bias”. But I don’t
know if that can reverse early development, - the brain is not that plastic
anymore. For me, the confidence is reinforced by the simple fact that I
understand the issues better than anyone I’ve heard of. Kind of like you with
your philosophers :).<br />
<br />
> Great, and what if you work 40 years to find
your formal theory was wrong.<br />
<br />
I would spend 40,000 years if I had them, -
nothing else is worth doing. It’s not a matter of right & wrong, it’s about
making progress, faster than anyone else. Stop thinking in holistic terms,
there’s no immutable “theory”. I generalize a problem & deduce solutions,
it’s an incremental process. I am smarter than evolution & don’t need no
stupid trial & error outside of my head. That’s where intelligence is,
right?</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="167" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="164" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="165" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="166" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="168" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="250" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="251" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.189byd">Jun 5, 2010 11:05
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">
Thanks
for the answers!<br />
<br />
>That’s why I am skeptical about engineers, &
then hard vs. soft science types. They can’t sustain<br />
> their curiosity
without short-term feedback, - tests, proofs, experiments, action.
Intellectual<br />
> insecurity. <br />
<br />
I also don't like too pure hard science
types if that means they're too formal, too “mathematical” and focused only in
details, but to me the best scientists are interdisciplinary
hybrids.<br />
<br />
>>Where his confidence comes from?<br />
>Initially,
probably my mother (she is pretty unique, very high oxytocin & serotonin to
cortisol<br />
> ratio:))<br />
<br />
Indeed, you've once said "love is a stupid
addiction". I agreed then, but recently felt ashamed of this and reconsidered
“stupid”. To you everything is stupid and a waste of time, but the causes of the
start of the neurotransmitter addictive cycle in real love are cognitive:
matches and predictions, she's like you've wanted her to be, like made for you.
Love at first sight is possible (empirically proven), also one can fall in love
before puberty.<br />
<br />
Addiction is with a reason, because while the beginning
and the end of love are destructive to mind, the middle is stable and puts
neurotransmitters and hormones in a comfort state (this is a desired state,
addiction helps to keep you there); encourages focus on the most significant
one, instead of doing novelty seeking; there's a dedicated long-lasting
intellectual partner to discuss with and not the least, there's plenty of
oxytocin in the neurotransmitter soup. <br />
<br />
<br />
>But of course that’s just
a start, confidence needs to be constantly reinforced. So, yes,<br />
>
successful engineers may develop confidence that affords them longer no-feedback
attention<br />
> span, & gain more of a “generalist bias”. But I don’t know
if that can reverse early development, -<br />
> the brain is not that plastic
anymore. For me, the confidence is reinforced by the simple fact that I<br />
>
understand the issues better than anyone I’ve heard of. Kind of like you with
your philosophers :).<br />
<br />
Regarding the ages of peaks, if not mistaken Marx
& Engels did the initial core of their work in their 20s (1840s). OK ,"it's
not much". :) </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="255" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="348" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="253" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="254" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.hhhjmj">Jun 8, 2010 8:41
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">
> the
best scientists are interdisciplinary hybrids<br />
<br />
Not necessarily as
scientists, definitely not now. One of the reasons people go into hard sciences
is the promise of certainty, something you don't get when you go into
meta-science. <br />
<br />
> Indeed, you've once said "love is a stupid
addiction"<br />
<br />
Damn, I gave you an excuse to go off about love again.
Addiction is when you focus on things you shouldn't be focusing on, even if that
puts you in a "comfort state".<br />
<br />
> Marx & Engels did the initial
core of their work in their 20s (1840s). OK ,"it's not much". :) <br />
<br />
Right.
Ideology is really a form of art: the purpose is to make an impression, not to
make sense. But this is not an excuse for you to go off about art:). </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="172" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="169" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="170" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="171" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="173" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="257" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="258" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.c43pz3">Jun 8, 2010 11:26
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">
>>
Indeed, you've once said "love is a stupid addiction"<br />
>Damn, I gave you an
excuse to go off about love again. Addiction is when you focus on things you
shouldn't be focusing on, even if that puts you in a <br />
>"comfort
state".<br />
<br />
But by putting you in a "comfort state", some addictions might be
indirectly helpful for other purposes for ones without hormonal or
neurotransmitter genetic advantages.<br />
<br />
>> Marx & Engels did the
initial core of their work in their 20s (1840s). OK ,"it's not much". :)
<br />
>Right. Ideology is really a form of art: the purpose is to make an
<br />
>impression, not to make sense. But this is not an excuse for you to go
<br />
>off about art:).<br />
<br />
Communism is an ideology, but Dialectical
Materialism is a philosophy.<br />
It's quite general in definitions, but if not
more, DM at least notices important aspects such as mind imitating its inputs
and builds itself on them, emergent behavior; evolution, hierarchical
organization of matter and transition to higher levels of matter with preserving
"good" from the past; from specific to general/abstract etc.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="262" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="358" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="260" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="261" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.xvq6kn">Jun 9, 2010 6:17
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">
> But
by putting you in a "comfort state", some addictions might be indirectly helpful
for other purposes for ones without hormonal or neurotransmitter genetic
advantages.<br />
<br />
Good luck with that, but I don't think she'll leave you in
that state long enough. Women are practical people, they have their priorities
& stimulating you abstract thoughts not likely to be one of them (although
they're great at faking common interests at first).<br />
<br />
> Communism is an
ideology, but Dialectical Materialism is a philosophy<br />
<br />
DM was afterthought
for Marx (he never actually used the term), mostly borrowed Positivism,
fashionable at the time. He was a "philosophical" rabble-rouser at heart.
"Dialectical" part is meaningless, & "Materialism" is just an excuse to
trash religion (not that there's anything wrong with that). </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="177" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="174" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="175" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="176" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="178" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="264" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="265" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.cowh00">Jun 9, 2010 9:17
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">
Thanks...
Actually "love's no friend" of mine, I've been trying to kill it because it has
been killing me, but I don't manage yet - except in artworks. :) She's a deep
character though, plot-twists are possible.<br />
<br />
This is about romantic love,
but I guess the other kinds - friendship, friendliness, empathy and
socialization in general are providing healthy neurotransmitters and hormones as
well (a speculation). It's an "anti-reclusive health strategy" if your brain
fails to generate the right chemicals while feeling lonely.<br />
<br />
EDIT: BTW,
actually after reading a bit on the topic of oxytocin, I suspect I may have high
oxycotin as well, even when lonely or in love unrequittedly. Maybe that's why I
don't succeed in killing love and keep falling in.<br />
<br />
>DM was
afterthought for Marx (he never actually used the term), mostly borrowed
Positivism, <br />
>fashionable at the time. <br />
<br />
OK, I guess it's more of
Lenin than Marx.<br />
<br />
>He was a "philosophical" rabble-rouser at heart.
"Dialectical" part is meaningless, & "Materialism" is <br />
>just an excuse
to trash religion (not that there's anything wrong with that).<br />
<br />
I do see
low-complexity, obvious definitions and plays with words. I guess one of the
basics, the never ending fight between two opposites/contradict<wbr></wbr>ions can be
derived from the minimal possible number of different elements: 2 + the basic DM
assumption of never-ending motion/change (and maybe the ideology assumption of
class struggle).<br />
<br />
Ah, and another question from Georgi. I've told him what
you've told me you're doing for a living and why. <br />
<br />
He asked:
<br />
<br />
Georgi: Isn't it a dangerous job? What's going to happen to your
advanced yet unintelligible-by-ot<wbr></wbr>hers work if an accident happens or so? It
might be lost for the world. [Do you care?]</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="269" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="360" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="267" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="268" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.585aqi">Jun 11, 2010 2:56
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">
I said my
mother must've had high oxytocin, definitely not me. Opposite effect. Anyway,
all that neurobabble is pointless, use your common sense. Kicking the "life"
habit is like kicking any other habit. It's hard at first, but if you stick to
it, *&* work semi-productively, the work will take over as the main habit.
<br />
Lose life, move to the countryside or something. Try it, go on vacation,
anything else is just an excuse. <br />
The best confidence is the one you gain by
doing real work. <br />
<br />
Appreciate the concern, but my job is not dangerous at
all, & only takes ~1 hour of my time per shift. But even that is excessive,
I seriously consider quitting it.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="182" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="179" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="180" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="181" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="183" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="271" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="272" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.8zweht">Jun 11, 2010 8:01
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">
>I
said my mother must've had high oxytocin, definitely not me. Opposite
effect.<br />
<br />
OK - I presumed oxytocin effects might be linked to your health
and confidence.<br />
<br />
>Appreciate the concern, but my job is not dangerous
at all, & only takes ~1 hour of my time per <br />
>shift. But even that is
excessive, I seriously consider quitting it.<br />
<br />
:)<br />
<br />
>Lose life,
move to the countryside or something. Try it, go on vacation<br />
<br />
That's a
good idea, I've been considering it (in the mountains) and may try it this
summer, but it probably would be short. It may be a silly excuse to you, but I
couldn't sustain long a living with my savings and current scarce
earnings.<br />
<br />
You give prizes, but it's risky because reaching there may take
me too long and I may fail.<br />
In order to relax, I need a back-up plan and
financial security... :-|</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="276" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="349" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="274" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="275" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.2wo0k7">Jun 12, 2010 3:13
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">
> OK -
I presumed oxytocin effects might be linked to your health and
confidence.<br />
<br />
No, that's probably early serotonin exposure (<a href="http://www.raysahelian.com/serotonin.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.raysahel<wbr></wbr>ian.com/serotonin.ht<wbr></wbr>ml</a>.) Serotonin
is upstream from oxytocin & far more general (oxytocin is specific to social
interactions). That pop-sci article on your blog totally ignores it, probably
because the effects are too complex & not as flashy. The "peace of mind"
effect is receptor-specific & not well understood. My point is, you can have
a peace of mind without going through all the nonsense of social interaction :).
<br />
Another thing that article totally misinterpreted is the fact the oxytocin
is anti-addictive. <br />
What that means is, prior exposure to oxytocin will make
you crave social support less, not more, so you may get less social
:).<br />
<br />
> You give prizes, but it's risky because reaching there may take
me too long and I may fail. In order to relax, I need a back-up plan and
financial security... :-|<br />
<br />
Of course it risky, anything worthwhile is. But
consider the alternative: you'll never make a difference. You're so far behind,
any delay means you may never catch up. Are you willing to take that risk?
Relaxing is more a matter of lifestyle & immediate environment than
financial security (heck, you can grow you own potatoes :)). <br />
Anyway, I sent
you a loan to be paid by a future prize, just to show that I am serious.<br />
You
owe me an insight :).</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="187" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="184" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="185" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="186" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="188" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="278" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="279" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.a1y2z8">Jun 12, 2010 10:54
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">
>>
OK - I presumed oxytocin effects might be linked to your health and
confidence.<br />
>No, that's probably early serotonin exposure <br />
>(<a href="http://www.raysahelian.com/serotonin.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.raysahe<wbr></wbr>lian.com/serotonin.h<wbr></wbr>tml</a>.) Serotonin
is upstream from <br />
>oxytocin & far more general (oxytocin is specific
to social interactions). <br />
<br />
OK (social interactions - "animate objects"...
)<br />
<br />
>That pop-sci article on your blog totally ignores it, probably
because the <br />
>effects are too complex & not as flashy. The "peace of
mind" effect is <br />
>receptor-specific & not well understood.
<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading!<br />
<br />
>My point is, you can have a peace of mind
without going through all the <br />
>nonsense of social interaction :).
<br />
<br />
Right - ascetics, monks...<br />
<br />
>Another thing that article totally
misinterpreted is the fact the oxytocin <br />
>is anti-addictive. What that
means is, prior exposure to oxytocin will make <br />
>you crave social support
less, not more, so you may get less social :).<br />
<br />
I think there are clues
for this from life: picking-up a girlfriend and "real love" often causes less
interest in socializing with other people, but The One; also - loosing touch
with friends.<br />
<br />
>Of course it risky, anything worthwhile is. But
consider the alternative: <br />
>you'll never make a difference. You're so far
behind, any delay means you <br />
>may never catch up. Are you willing to take
that risk? Relaxing is more a <br />
>matter of lifestyle & immediate
environment than financial security (heck, <br />
>you can grow you own potatoes
:)). <br />
>Anyway, I sent you a loan to be paid by a future prize, just to
show that I <br />
>am serious.<br />
>You owe me an insight :).<br />
<br />
Thank
you for your generosity and expectations! :) <br />
Hope to deserve the loan... I
just couldn't do too radical things immediately and for too
long.<br />
<br />
Collaboration may be found, I already met a core of smart and
attracted students, who are willing to keep the communication and continue
discussions out of class. I plan to have open lectures and another more advanced
and focused course or two in the University next year, it may include lessons on
generalizing (hope to progress by then), and brain-storming/gener<wbr></wbr>alizing
real problems together.<br />
<br />
Regarding love, it's being distracting and
hurting, but it may happen to be helpful for concentration anyway - if it fails
to be because of oxytocin, it may succeed by turning into action my maxim: "I'm
most inspired when I'm most despaired"...</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="283" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="359" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="281" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="282" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.weup0w">Jun 13, 2010 4:49
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">
> "I'm
most inspired when I'm most despaired"...<br />
<br />
Probably in the wrong
direction, desperation shrink attention span. Good read: <a href="http://www.theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theameric<wbr></wbr>anscholar.org/solitu<wbr></wbr>de-and-leadership/</a></div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="192" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="189" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="190" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="191" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="193" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="285" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="286" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.hqln3u">Jun 15, 2010 12:35
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">
Thanks
for the link. I agree with the essay, with some exceptions: would discuss about
multi-tasking and social networks, don't think it's Black and
White.<br />
<br />
>> "I'm most inspired when I'm most
despaired"...<br />
>Probably in the wrong direction, desperation shrink
attention span. <br />
<br />
It's perhaps quite poetic & sentimental, there's a
continuation of the maxim: "I'm the most inspired creator" ~ the most despaired,
it shouldn't be a regular despair. Some grief and understanding of sort of
hopelessness (prediction of inevitably undesirable outcomes) is not a real
(chemical) despair, more likely I do Repair and Inspire again.<br />
<br />
There
might be a "vector" of different inspirations/despira<wbr></wbr>itions [of ...]. I've
got some thoughts that could be related to such a "vector", distractors, what
you call ADD bias/search for novel specifics, domain jumping and "threads" in
mind (mind as not really integrated system), but I'd think some more.<br />
<br />
If
not mistaken this direction is related to the 4-th level in your cognitive
hierarchy, you've mentioned Economy of cognitive resources or something.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="290" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="350" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="288" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="289" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.3y9gyi">Jun 16, 2010 5:35
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">
>
There might be a "vector" of different inspirations/despira<wbr></wbr>itions [of ...].
I've got some thoughts that could be related to such a "vector", distractors,
what you call ADD bias/search for novel specifics, domain jumping and "threads"
in mind (mind as not really integrated system), <br />
<br />
Right, desperation might
lead to radical change, & you definitely need it, but use every excuse in
the universe to avoid.<br />
Novelty seeking has many different aspects, you need
to be analytical about it.<br />
In my interpretation, valuable “novelty” is
actually an incrementally abstract type of correspondence. <br />
<br />
> If not
mistaken this direction is related to the 4-th level in your cognitive
hierarchy, you've mentioned Economy of cognitive resources or
something.<br />
<br />
Those levels are way out of date, too coarse & analogical.
Resource allocation is what every level does. <br />
My work now is strictly
quantitative & incremental, the levels are defined by the type of
correspondence they select for. Higher types are recurrent subsets of lower
types.<br />
The first four are: magnitude ) matched magnitude ) projected match )
additional projection...<br />
Try to formalize those, on the "cognitive algorithm"
knol :).</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="197" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="194" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="195" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="196" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="198" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="292" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="293" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.17z2c9">Jun 16, 2010 9:19
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">
>desperation might lead to radical change, & you
definitely need it, <br />
>but use every excuse in the universe to
avoid.<br />
<br />
I've been doing lots of things yet and probably would do, but I
think I do progress to the right direction. A part of my "distractors" in the
last half an year or so and yet have been reading/studying and preparing and
conducting the AGI course. <br />
<br />
However I'm tired of reading and it won't get
work done, I've always preferred thinking on my own, so this time-slice is about
to go to active mode.<br />
<br />
>Novelty seeking has many different aspects, you
need to be analytical about it. <br />
<br />
OK.<br />
<br />
>In my interpretation,
valuable “novelty” is actually an incrementally <br />
>abstract type of
correspondence. <br />
<br />
I supposed so - "novel generality"; maybe novelty that
allows inducing novel generality. I think searching and getting lots of samples
may help to find it, though. Having lots of similar patterns in mind promotes
compression and generalization.<br />
<br />
>> If not mistaken this direction
is related to the 4-th level in your <br />
>>cognitive hierarchy, you've
mentioned Economy of cognitive resources or <br />
>>something.<br />
>Those
levels are way out of date, too coarse & analogical. Resource
<br />
>allocation is what every level does. <br />
<br />
OK. :)<br />
<br />
<br />
>My
work now is strictly quantitative & incremental, the levels are defined
<br />
>by the type of correspondence they select for. Higher types are
recurrent <br />
>subsets of lower types.<br />
>The first four are: magnitude )
matched magnitude ) projected match ) <br />
>additional
projection...<br />
>Try to formalize those, on the "cognitive algorithm" knol
:).<br />
<br />
Nice, thanks. :) I haven't forgotten the other one, as well; have
reflected, but too little, yet.<br />
<br />
BTW, what's your line on Ben Goertzel?
Trying to cover him, but don't sure for how long I will sustain. To me
Schmidhuber's "tune" is better. I like Goertzel as an enthusiastic guru and
popularizer, but he seems to be strongly influenced by high-level Cognitive
science & NLP... Maybe partially that's because he's quite impatient to sell
products immediately, and cognitive architecture style is more socially
acceptable/"apparent<wbr></wbr>ly should be working"/"pop-sci"..<wbr></wbr>.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="297" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="351" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="295" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="296" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.6b1cd6">Jun 18, 2010 12:54
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">
Reading
is great, I just can't find anything useful<br />
<br />
> maybe novelty that
allows inducing novel generality<br />
<br />
Right, but that accumulation of data
must be increasingly selective. Novelty corresponds to spatial discontinuity in
input flow. That’s macro-selection, & syntactic differentiation of past
inputs by comparison is micro-selection. Discontinuous input coordinate
selection is directed by projection: the value of syntactic re-integration at
that coordinate. Now, try to formalize those operations.<br />
<br />
> BTW, what's
your line on Ben Goertzel? Trying to cover him, but don't sure for how long I
will sustain. To me Schmidhuber's "tune" is better.<br />
<br />
Geortzel is a social
butterfly / tinkerer. His definition of intelligence is meaningless, he has no
theory & doesn’t think he needs one, - “it’s an engineering problem”.
Schmidhuber is more coherent, but he doesn’t get *incremental*. Mathematicians
are trained to deal with complex operations, they think starting simple is
beneath them. Yet, without simple incremental steps there’s no scalability.
Anyway, I’d rather discuss issues than people. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="202" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="199" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="200" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="201" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="203" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="299" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="300" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.r5cf47">Jun 18, 2010 8:40
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">
>>
maybe novelty that allows inducing novel generality<br />
>Right, but that
accumulation of data must be increasingly selective.<br />
<br />
And I guess, unlike
"normal novelty", this kind of novelty may be found by re-evaluation/focus on
very old recorded data, leading to "Eureka!". Generalization is lossy, thus
lower-generality records should have more details/features to select
from.<br />
<br />
>Anyway, I’d rather discuss issues than people.<br />
<br />
Fine, I
meant Goertzel's work; you did: the issues on "engineering problem",
mathematicians' training and incrementability.<br />
<br />
>Now, try to formalize
those operations.<br />
<br />
OK, got tough tasks - will comment in Cognitive
algorithm knol when got something to say on... </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="304" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="352" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="302" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="303" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.cc7fwt">Jun 20, 2010 3:50
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">
> And
I guess, unlike "normal novelty", this kind of novelty may be found by
re-evaluation/focus on very old recorded data, <br />
<br />
Again, the oldest data
would be on the highest levels, although there can be another hierarchy of
storage costs within each level. On the first level the cost also includes
default comparison, then it's only storage, from new: RAM, to old: tape. The
original form of novely seeking would be to to actually "look" at the new
locations. That would require motor feedback, but yes, it's not principally
different from feedback within the hierarchy.<br />
So, older inputs should be
displaced in FIFO order into cheaper storage, as long as the cost of transfer
& storage declines faster than predictive value of the inputs. <br />
I guess I
was wrong to dismiss your idea of buffering old inputs. <br />
Congratulations, you
won the first prize! (did you have any problems with PayPal?). It’s worth more
than $100, but the idea itself is simple, it needs to be justified in terms of
costs vs. benefits.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="207" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="204" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="205" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="206" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="208" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="306" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="307" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.78vxjz">Jun 21, 2010 5:03
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">
>>
And I guess, unlike "normal novelty", this kind of novelty may be found by
re-evaluation/focus on very old recorded data,<br />
>Again, the oldest data
would be on the highest levels, although there can be another hierarchy of
storage costs within each level. <br />
<br />
I think I see - higher level -->
higher range of patterns in space and time.<br />
<br />
In this comment I meant
something else - a hippocampal-style playback, sort of conscious(?)
recall/re-evaluation<wbr></wbr>. Records in memory are built from [sequences] of
hierarchical pieces/concepts. When playing back, mind may select pieces at a
given level of abstraction from one or many different records, which themselves
were selectively recalled in a sequence. More abstract pieces/concepts may be
induced from these pieces and the new higher concepts may be recorded back to
the old memories.<br />
<br />
I.e. mind may do this by introspection on data which
are in memory anyway, no need to read or search in the world. (In the context of
your line: "Reading is great, I just can't find anything useful")<br />
<br />
Also I
think it's related to the issue with wise books read too early. E.g. if a little
boy reads at school Exupery's "The Little Prince", he's not likely to understand
the metaphors and deep meanings, but he may remember the stories literally. Many
years later if he recalls them even without re-reading, he might understand
their moral. This particular phenomenon might not be "inducing", but "matching"
to already understood higher concepts, though.<br />
<br />
<br />
>On the first level
the cost also includes default comparison, then it's only >storage, from new:
RAM, to old: tape. The original form of novely seeking >would be to to
actually "look" at the new locations. That would require >motor feedback, but
yes, it's not principally different from feedback within >the hierarchy. So,
older inputs should be displaced in FIFO order into >cheaper storage, as long
as the cost of transfer & storage declines faster >than predictive value
of the inputs. <br />
>I guess I was wrong to dismiss your idea of buffering old
inputs. <br />
>Congratulations, you won the first prize! <br />
<br />
Thanks!
:)<br />
<br />
>It’s worth more than $100, but the idea itself is simple, it needs
to be <br />
>justified in terms of costs vs. benefits.<br />
<br />
OK
:)<br />
<br />
>(did you have any problems with PayPal?). <br />
<br />
Unfortunately I
did - sent you an email.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="311" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="361" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="309" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="310" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.kn2btz">Jun 21, 2010 4:49
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">
> In
this comment I meant something else - a hippocampal-style playback, sort of
conscious(?) recall/re-evaluation<wbr></wbr>...<br />
<br />
Damn, you've gone all
analogical on me again :).<br />
I understand, you're talking about extended
storage within each level of detail | generalization, in case memory origin's
location becomes relevant in the future. In my understanding, a level is ordered
as a FIFO: proximity = priority (the sequence may include spatial frames, or
whatever). New inputs displace the old ones till they get pushed out of the
queue: selectively elevated, & deleted as obsolete on the current level.
<br />
That still stands, but I realized that this push-out should be multi-stage,
- into less expensive memory (if available) intstead of immediate deletion.
<br />
The first queue must be short because it's very expensive: all inputs are
immediately compared, generating redundant representations (overlaping
derivatives). The following stage queues can be much longer because they're
cheaper: inputs are stored but not compared unless their location comes into
"focus" again. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="212" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="209" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="210" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="211" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="213" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="313" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="314" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.ryvewv">Jun 21, 2010 10:51
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">
>Damn,
you've gone all analogical on me again :).<br />
>I understand, you're talking
about extended storage within each level of <br />
>detail | generalization, in
case memory origin's location becomes relevant <br />
>in the future.
<br />
<br />
Nice. :) I haven't thought with these precise terms though (origin's
location, I remember you mentioned once in a recent posting about hippocampus in
my blog). if you wish and have patience, check out the translation of my old
speculations and some new.<br />
<br />
Regarding the prize and buffers, longer
look-back buffers for recent inputs (seems at any levels for any purpose) also
for locations (context) would be an advantage for faster pattern discovery
allowing track back if needed, very useful for patterns extended in time
("delayed"), with which my speculations in the knol began. <br />
<br />
Anyway,
memory was a milestones in my old writings, a starting point, such as a
theoretical induction of neocortex and hippocampus (-like modules/effects) based
on the evidence from consciousness as biographical memory and the fact that mind
does learn and perform increasingly better before & without having such
memories in the early age.<br />
<br />
I assumed hippocampus-style-me<wbr></wbr>mory, or
"Events Operating System/Memory" (EOS) is somewhat higher level in mind than
"Executive Operating System/Memory" (EXOS, neocortex and patterns
there).<br />
<br />
EOS effects are more abstract than of "Executive OS" (EXOS,
neocortex), because EOS is an add-on to neocortex, I suspect there must be
levels of generality and "discretization points" already developed in neocortex,
in order the hippocampus-style memory to start working.<br />
<br />
Just published a
translation of some sections and some new speculations on the decline of
neuroplasticity in relation to the hippocampal-style memory (too long to put it
here): <a href="http://artificial-mind.blogspot.com/2010/06/teenage-theory-of-mind-and-universe.html" rel="nofollow">http://artificial-mi<wbr></wbr>nd.blogspot.com/2010<wbr></wbr>/06/teenage-theory-o<wbr></wbr>f-mind-and-universe.<wbr></wbr>html</a><br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
<br />
Regarding
your whole comment - indeed I think using FIFOs (either simple and priority
queues), fast caches and levels of memory might be universal rules-of-thumb from
Engineering. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="318" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="353" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="316" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="317" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gcd4c">Jun 24, 2010 5:08
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">
>
Regarding the prize and buffers, longer look-back buffers for recent inputs
(seems at any levels for any purpose) also for locations (context) would be an
advantage for faster pattern discovery allowing track back if needed, very
useful for patterns extended in time ("delayed"), with which my speculations in
the knol began. <br />
<br />
Yes, I said I was wrong to dismiss it… Oh, you want me
to change my reply there? Will do, as soon as I edit the knol itself, it doesn't
address that point at all.<br />
<br />
> I assumed hippocampus-style-me<wbr></wbr>mory,
or "Events Operating System/Memory" (EOS) is somewhat higher level in mind than
"Executive Operating System/Memory" (EXOS, neocortex and patterns there). EOS
effects are more abstract than of "Executive OS" (EXOS, neocortex), because EOS
is an add-on to neocortex, I suspect there must be levels of generality and
"discretization points" already developed in neocortex, in order the
hippocampus-style memory to start working.<br />
<br />
This is backwards. Buffering
is not higher than anything, there’s no abstraction going on, or any processing
for that matter, just simple copying. It’s not higher in scope either, the
macro-structure is hierarchy, sequence is a structure within its levels. <br />
As
for hippocampus, it’s not an add-on, the neocortex is (Hawkins is dead wrong
here). Hippocampus, otherwise known as archecortex, is a primitive 3-layer
structure, part of “reptilian brain”. Neocortex developed later, both in
phylogeny & in ontogeny. The fact that hippocampus is necessary to form
declarative memories is an evolutionary bug (brain is full of those). Ideally,
the neocortex + thalamus, maybe striatum, should be doing all the work, the rest
of the brain can go extinct. <br />
Look, neuroscience at its current state is just
a vague inspiration for understanding intelligence, you need to keep it separate
from theoretical work. <br />
<br />
> Just published a translation of some
sections and some new speculations on the decline of neuroplasticity in relation
to the hippocampal-style memory (too long to put it here): <a href="http://artificial-mind.blogspot.com/2010/06/teenage-theory-of-mind-and-universe.html" rel="nofollow">http://artificial-mi<wbr></wbr>nd.blogspot.com/2010<wbr></wbr>/06/teenage-theory-o<wbr></wbr>f-mind-and-universe.<wbr></wbr>html</a><br />
<br />
OK,
not bad for a teenager, but can we please get on? For example, stop abusing
"computerese" terms & acronyms that really just obscure the subject (for
yourself). The neuroplasticity stuff sounds random to me. <br />
If you have any
ideas you want to discuss *now*, great, but you need to formalize them.
Otherwise, your signal-to-noise ratio is too low to bother. Seriously, you
*talk* about compression, why not try to practice it?<br />
<br />
> Regarding your
whole comment - indeed I think using FIFOs (either simple and priority queues),
fast caches and levels of memory might be universal rules-of-thumb from
Engineering.<br />
<br />
You don’t need to know any engineering to understand these
things. Yes, there’re plenty of useful ideas in engineering. But, for a strictly
incremental approach, selecting the right ones is harder than deducing them from
the first principles (kind of like picking good ideas from your writing). The
economics change as you get into advanced math & engineering, but these
should not be necessary for a basic learning algorithm. At least not at the
stage I am working on now.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="217" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="214" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="215" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="216" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="218" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="320" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="321" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.cqdvzv">Jun 25, 2010 6:08
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">
>Oh,
you want me to change my reply there? Will do, as soon as I edit the knol
itself, it doesn't address that point at all.<br />
<br />
I don't mind, you're the
host (but yes, it would be useful for other readers), I was rather thinking
aloud/recalling that stuff/searching for connections...<br />
<br />
>This is
backwards. Buffering is not higher than anything, there’s no abstraction going
on, or any processing for that matter, just simple copying. It’s not higher in
scope either, the macro-structure is hierarchy, sequence is a structure within
its levels.<br />
<br />
Buffering - OK, but I guess episodic memory may need
discretization points and patterns (compression) before working. Yes, mind can
get quick this to some extent.<br />
<br />
>As for hippocampus, it’s not an
add-on, the neocortex is (Hawkins is dead wrong here). Hippocampus, otherwise
known as archecortex, is a primitive 3- layer structure, part of “reptilian
brain”. Neocortex developed later, both in phylogeny & in
ontogeny.<br />
<br />
OK... Hmm... So do you suggest that
archecortex/hippocam<wbr></wbr>pus function in lower species and what lasted in humans
might be literal copying of perceptions - saving locations/mapping the
environment/in order the animal to find its lair and remember where there was
food. (This makes sense to me.)<br />
<br />
I suspect that functionally archecortex
might be a recorder/associative memory, but lacks
generalization/compr<wbr></wbr>ession/prediction capabilities, or may have some
compression but as a by-effect like using low resolution/precision<wbr></wbr>. BTW
I've been studying about reptilian brain, checked a little about amphibian's
(it's 3-layers as well) - amphibians seem much closer to reptiles than reptiles
to mammals, a smaller evolution step, supposing easier to grasp something
meaningful about it. Indeed, isn't archecortex even amphibias ancestory
(archipallium), at least what I've read is reptiles have also a neopallium,
supposed to had evolved into neocortex.<br />
<br />
>The fact that hippocampus is
necessary to form declarative memories is an evolutionary bug<br />
<br />
OK,
interesting. :)<br />
<br />
<br />
> evolutionary bug (brain is full of those).
Ideally, the neocortex + thalamus, maybe striatum, should be doing all the work,
the rest of the brain can go extinct.<br />
<br />
I also think genes are messy and
brain design is "spaghetty code". Brain has been patched over and over and early
design decisions had been dragged all the time, because it was not possible
otherwise using this technology. The higher layers had to be adapted to use the
lower ones and I think bugs are very likely to come when there are functional
overlaps between a new module and an old module. Such ones can be found easily,
depending how deep the system is analyzed. I guess this can be the case with
hippocampus and neocortex, because neocortex is also recording/copying
perceptions.<br />
<br />
Sorry to mention software engineering, but I guess this
bugs-issue might be related to so called "coupling": <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling_" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.<wbr></wbr>org/wiki/Coupling_</a>
(computer_science)<br />
<br />
>Look, neuroscience at its current state is just a
vague inspiration for understanding intelligence, you need to keep it separate
from theoretical work. <br />
<br />
OK...<br />
<br />
>but can we please get on? For
example, stop abusing "computerese" terms & acronyms that really just
obscure the subject (for yourself). The neuroplasticity stuff sounds random to
me. If you have any ideas you want to discuss *now*, great, but you need to
formalize them. Otherwise, your signal -to-noise ratio is too low to bother.
Seriously, you *talk* about compression, why not try to practice it?<br />
<br />
I
understand, I will get on, these terms were very old; I try to compress
sometimes, but still often couldn't afford long-enough sustained concentration,
distracted with other things waiting in the pipelines to be
done...<br />
<br />
>You don’t need to know any engineering to understand these
things. <br />
<br />
That's right about understanding, and other good concepts are
also simple: pipeline (FIFO-related), branch prediction (prediction),
out-of-order execution, superscalarity & parallelism in general. Practicing
engineering helps keeping in mind they might be useful.<br />
<br />
I guess that may
go also for general software engineering guidelines, design patterns
etc.<br />
<br />
>Yes, there’re plenty of useful ideas in engineering. But, for a
strictly incremental approach, selecting the right ones is harder than deducing
them from the first principles (kind of like picking good ideas from your
writing). The economics change as you get into advanced math & engineering,
but these should not be necessary for a basic learning algorithm. At least not
at the stage I am working on now.<br />
<br />
OK</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="325" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="355" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="323" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="324" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.2gol2k">Jun 27, 2010 7:38
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">
> I
don't mind, you're the host (but yes, it would be useful for other readers),
<br />
<br />
What, both of them? Done.<br />
<br />
> Buffering - OK, but I guess
episodic memory may need discretization points and patterns (compression) before
working. Yes, mind can get quick this to some extent.<br />
<br />
Discretization,
yes, that’s multi-stage buffering. Compression: only symmetrical, non-selective
transforms. Selection = elevation, this is already hierarchical processing,
buffering is within levels. Any discontinuous comparison (pattern discovery)
generates redundant representations, thus requires selection to be compressive.
<br />
Also, buffering is more useful for spatial focus shifts, which are
reversible, than for purely temporal “obsolescence”, which is not. Of course,
reversal can be over derived, as well as original, coordinates. <br />
<br />
>
OK... Hmm... So do you suggest that archicortex/hippocam<wbr></wbr>pus function in
lower species and what lasted in humans might be literal copying of perceptions
- saving locations/mapping the environment/in order the animal to find its lair
and remember where there was food. (This makes sense to me.)<br />
<br />
I was
talking about buffering in conceptual terms, hippocampus probably does bunch of
other things too.<br />
<br />
> BTW I've been studying about reptilian brain,
checked a little about amphibian's (it's 3-layers as well), amphibias seem much
closer to reptiles than reptiles to mammals, a smaller evolution step, supposing
easier to grasp something meaningful about it.<br />
Isn't archicortex amphibias
ancestory (archipallium), at least what I've read is reptiles have also a
neopallium, supposed to had evolved into neocortex.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, don't know
much about it.<br />
<br />
> The higher layers had to be adapted to use the lower
ones and I think bugs are very likely to come when there are functional overlaps
between a new module and an old module. Such ones can be found easily, depending
how deep the system is analyzed. I guess this can be the case with hippocampus
and neocortex, because neocortex is also recording/copying
perceptions.<br />
<br />
Not also, almost all memory (sequential & hierarchical)
is in neocortex. But we didn't evolve as free thinkers, in evolutionary context
"important" information is about things that are "close" to you. I don't think
hippocampus holds or transfers much memory, but it associates memories with
locations, & strengthens the ones that are | will be "close". I am sure
neocortex is perfectly capable of representing maps (as in temporal lobe), but
hippocampus already did that, & was left at it. So, neocortex evolved to
depend on hippocampus to tell it what's important enough to be conscious of
(declarative). <br />
<br />
> That's right about understanding, and other good
concepts are also simple: pipeline (FIFO-related), branch prediction
(prediction), out-of-order execution, superscalarity & parallelism in
general. Practicing engineering helps keeping in mind they might be
useful.<br />
<br />
Right, but it also gives you a "man with a hammer" syndrome.
Thinking in terms of engineering about the problem is one thing, actually
training / working as an engineer on unrelated projects creates biases you're
not even aware of. And all possibly practical projects are utterly
*unrelated*.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="222" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="219" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="220" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="221" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="223" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="327" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="328" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.bvh540">Jun 30, 2010 6:08
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">
Sorry if
you don't really care about this neuro stuff, I put it for completeness about
paliums, because archicortex even seems to be fish brain...<br />
<br />
fish -->
archipalium --> hippocampus <br />
amphibia --> paleopalium --> cingular
cortex and other limbic cortex parts<br />
reptiles --> neopalium -->
neocortex<br />
<br />
<a href="http://wiki.cns.org/wiki/index.php/Paleopallium/archipallium" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.cns.org/<wbr></wbr>wiki/index.php/Paleo<wbr></wbr>pallium/archipallium<wbr></wbr></a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_cortex" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.<wbr></wbr>org/wiki/Limbic_cort<wbr></wbr>ex</a><br />
<br />
T>>
I don't mind, you're the host (but yes, it would be useful for other readers),
<br />
B>What, both of them? Done.<br />
<br />
Cool, I may include it in my resume!
:P<br />
<br />
B>Also, buffering is only useful for spatial focus shifts, which
are reversible, not for temporal “obsolescence”, which is not. <br />
<br />
Maybe I
don't understand your point correctly, but I guess buffering of any irreversible
sequences would be advantageous, namely because it would be impossible to go
back and re-input them by the sensors.<br />
<br />
B>Not also, almost all memory
(sequential & hierarchical) is in neocortex.<br />
<br />
OK, I was emphasizing on
the supposed functional overlap - quality rather than
quantity...<br />
<br />
T>> That's right about understanding, and other good
concepts are also simple: pipeline (FIFO-related), branch prediction
(prediction), out-of-order execution, superscalarity & parallelism in
general. Practicing engineering helps keeping in mind they might be
useful.<br />
<br />
B>Right, but it also gives you a "man with a hammer" syndrome.
Thinking in terms of engineering about the problem is one thing, actually
training / working as an engineer on unrelated projects creates biases you're
not even aware of. And all possibly practical projects are utterly
*unrelated*.<br />
<br />
I don't mean that these ideas solve themselves AGI problem,
they are general optimization/impleme<wbr></wbr>ntation suggestions that might speed
up and would be useful for "the solution". Computer engineering is mostly about
providing raw speed (and I think so far it is incremental there), and
optimizations of the implementation might be important in the very beginning of
AGI.<br />
<br />
Also, I like "big engineering" - design reaching to inventive ideas,
architectural innovations, understanding leading to leaps - like IBM "Stretch"
or some of Cray's computers. It's like science and art. However, to have a
chance to practice professionally that kind of engineering you depend a lot on
social status, which is usually gained with many years of activities, most of
which consisting of predictable and boring, not creative work, solving problems
that just need time to implement and debug.<br />
<br />
Actually I do agree that you
shouldn't practice that kind of engineering for too long, not to spend decades
or a career there. You can grasp the important ideas and think of architectures
with much less efforts.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="332" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="357" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="330" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="331" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.jccq2g">Jul 1, 2010 5:00
PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">
>
Sorry if you don't really care about this neuro stuff, <br />
<br />
It's fun, but
doesn't seem to be terribly relevant. I prefer to think in terms of function,
biological analogues are too macro, functionally mixed, & not well
understood. That goes for “engineering” discussion too :). <br />
<br />
B>Also,
buffering is only useful for spatial focus shifts, which are reversible, not for
temporal “obsolescence”, which is not. <br />
<br />
> Maybe I don't understand
your point correctly, but I guess buffering of any irreversible sequences would
be advantageous, namely because it would be impossible to go back and re-input
them by the sensors.<br />
<br />
You're thinking in terms of costs, not benefits.
Experience has no intrinsic value, the purpose is to predict, & you don’t
predict the past. The data in a buffer is addressable by its coordinates, you
retrieve it if: <br />
a) the location of expected inputs matches that in a buffer
again, in case of spatial shifts, <br />
b) the pattern in new inputs is stronger
than average, which means it should search further than expected, both forward
& backward (in the buffer). <br />
<br />
The second reason is equally valid for
both spatial & temporal shifts, which is why I’ve corrected my previous
reply before you answered it: “buffering is *more* useful for spatial focus
shifts”. Sorry to keep changing it on you :).<br />
<br />
So, you’re right, buffering
for the second reason would be more important in irreversible shifts. But I
think potential proximity is a lot more important reason to buffer data, - space
is multi-dimensional & prediction is far more affected by external impacts
than by past trajectory of the pattern. </div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4" style="display: none;">
<textarea closure_uid_ukvomz="227" id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="224" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="225" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-save-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4" style="display: none;">Save</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="226" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-cancel-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4" style="display: none;">Cancel</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_ukvomz="228" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="334" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="335" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris
Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.nqaci4">Jul 2, 2010 1:59
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">
Sorry
this comment came up a bit long (split in two), but I needed to include the
explanations.<br />
<br />
Edited: I shortened it, too long a comment, I'll post
details in my own place.<br />
<br />
T>> Sorry if you don't really care about
this neuro stuff,<br />
B>It's fun, but doesn't seem to be terribly relevant. I
prefer to think in terms of function, biological analogues are too macro,
functionally mixed, & not well understood. That goes for “engineering”
discussion too :).<br />
<br />
I agree functional is a cleaner way, but I'll share a
bit more, it's "neuro- functional-behaviora<wbr></wbr>l-evolutionary" and it's related
to the other thread.<br />
<br />
I suspect that minicolumns and neocortex structure
and functionality could be reproduced by a series of simple transformations from
simpler structures, such as replication, extension of range of connections,
variation etc.. Somewhat neocortical functions were implied in fish, amphibian
and reptile brains.<br />
<br />
(...)<br />
<br />
B> You're thinking in terms of costs,
not benefits. Experience has no intrinsic value, the purpose is to
predict<br />
<br />
It hasn't, but the more complex/higher resolution and
faster-than-"full"- evaluation-in-real-t<wbr></wbr>ime the environment, the more
having exact records might be important for delayed evaluation, because it gets
impossible to decide on the spot would the information be predictive in the
future.<br />
<br />
...Continues...</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="339" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="345" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="337" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="338" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3300679325320839673#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFGUokYgl3i2g">Invite
as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.gosci2">Jul 10, 2010 10:00
AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.hu993o">
<div class="knol-comment-text">
...Continues from the previous one...<br />
<br />
Edit:
Shortened, more detailed explanations would be posted in my blog or
so.<br />
<br />
>& you don’t predict the past.<br />
<br />
Depends on what you mean
with the past, sometimes you *do predict* the past: recalling older past and
searching for the reasons of how it got to the younger past, because you missed
some details or didn't understood them then. <br />
<br />
(...)<br />
<br />
B> But I
think potential proximity is a lot more important reason to buffer data, - space
is multi-dimensional & prediction is far more affected by external impacts
than by past trajectory of the pattern.<br />
<br />
Maybe, but I suspect this might
be over generalized, I guess a good mind should be able to adapt, depending on
experience and available resources. If mind has to decide, it should try to
predict what might be more important and would it be useful to buffer
what.</div>
<div class="knol-comment-text">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-text">
<h4 id="knol-comment-title-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
Some comments, pardon my
typos</h4>
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
Boris,<br />
<br />
I am no expert but I am a Ph.D. student in
Cognitive Psychology with a specialization in Neuroscience. I am a little lost
reading your post, in part due to a mismatch in your terminology with the fields
of neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience. I think your ideas as I understand
them are interesting but I would like to make a few corrections
comments.<br />
<br />
In response to, "A functional unit of neocortex is a
minicolumn, which seems to perform recognition / generalization function.”
Microcolumns (or minicolumns) neither perform "recognition" or "generalization"
but are involved in sensory processing such as vision, audition, smell etc. Your
ability to recognize something as an object or your ability to make conceptual
generalizations are high level cortical functions. Microcolumns are organized
anatomical structures that process particular features. For example in V1 or
primary visual cortex, a specific neuron termed simple cells respond
preferentially to specific features such as line orientation. These cells
distinguish between different lines orientations (such as / | \ ) by changing
neural firing rate. These cells will respond strongly to a preferred orientation
but may fire to a lesser extent to other orientations—the greater the difference
in orientation between the stimulus and the preferred orientation, the less the
cell will fire. <br />
<br />
Recognition, a memory function, and generalization, the
ability to transfer learning to a novel or related situation, are distinct
abilities and brain processes. <br />
<br />
I would caution you to generalize, no pun
intended, work regarding autism or other patient populations to make claim about
individual differences in normal human cognition. Non-autistic and autistic
individuals can both do feature processing, can perceive objects by integrating
features and can remember those objects. Some but not all autistic individuals
have difficulty with conceptual information. Autistic individual are feature
focused though they do have some interesting high level perceptual deficits with
objects and faces. I recommend the following paper:<br />
<br />
Gastgeb, H.Z.,
Strauss, M.S. & Minshew, N.J. (2006). Do individuals with autism process
categories differently? The effect of typicality and development. Child
Development, 77(6), 1717-1729.<br />
<br />
The concept of IQ and intelligence is an
extremely dicey subject. I recommend the following “Tall Tales about the Mind
and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction” by Sergio Della Sala – the chapters are
written by highly regarded (cognitive) neuroscientists. <br />
<br />
In closing I
want to say that cognitive neuroscience is a long ways off from addressing the
type of questions that interest you—we simply aren’t there yet—(see Bruer’s
paper Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far in the journal Educational
Researcher, v26 n8 p4-16 Nov 1997). There is some information but the field of
Cognitive Psychology can more thoroughly address your ideas. But I do recommend
the following papers.<br />
<br />
Morrision, Krawczyk, Holyoak, Hummel, Chow, Miller,
Knowlton (2004). A Neurocomputational Model of Analogical Reasoning and its
breakdown in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Journal of Cognitive
Neuroscience 16(2), 260-271.<br />
<br />
Waltz, Knowlton, Holyoak, Boone, Miskin, de
Mendez Santos, Thomas, Miller. (1999). A system for relational reasoning in
human prefrontal cortex. Psychological Science, 10(2), 119-125.<br />
<br />
And
finally some shameless self-promotion, my chapter on the brain and expertise may
be of interest to you. The entire book may be of interest to you, my chapter is
the only one that involves neuroscience, the rest deals with the expertise as
studied by cognitive psychology.<br />
<br />
Hill, N.M. & Schneider, W. (2006).
Brain changes in the Development of Expertise: Neuroanatomical and
Neurophysiological Evidence about Skill-based Adaptations. In K. A. Ericsson, N.
Charness, P. Feltovich, and R. Hoffman (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Expertise
and Expert Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Nicole M Hill</div>
<div class="knol-clearer-div">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-edit-wrapper" id="knol-comment-edit-wrapper-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" style="display: none;">
<textarea id="knol-comment-text-editor-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut"></textarea></div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut"></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-time" id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
Last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">Jul 3, 2010 10:21
PM</span></div>
<span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="76" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="111" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" name="knol-comment-block-name-Nicole M. Hill">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="74" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">Report abusive comment</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_ukvomz="75" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-report-hide-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" style="display: none;">Hide report window</a></span>
<br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-replies-toggle-block" closure_uid_ukvomz="364" id="knol-comment-replies-toggle-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
<span class="knol-comment-rating" id="knol-comment-rating-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut"><span class="knol-comment-votes-zero" id="knol-comment-votes-num-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">0</span><a closure_uid_ukvomz="95" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-nay-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" title="Poor comment"><img alt="Poor comment" class="knol-comment-nay" src="/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325869747115/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a><a closure_uid_ukvomz="94" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-aye-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" title="Good comment"><img alt="Good comment" class="knol-comment-aye" src="/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325869747115/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a></span><a class="knol-comment-replies-toggle knol-comment-replies-show-toggle knol-element-toggle-threshold-1 knol-element-toggle-level-0" closure_uid_ukvomz="46" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-replies-show-toggle27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut" style="display: none;">View/post replies (3) to this
comment ▼</a><a class="knol-comment-replies-toggle knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" closure_uid_ukvomz="47" href="javascript:void(0)" id="knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">Hide replies to this comment
▲</a></div>
<div class="knol-comment-replies knol-element-toggle-level-1" id="knol-comment-replies-27zxw65mxxlt7.vur2ut">
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.9zf16l">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.9zf16l">
Thanks
for the comments & references Nicole! <br />
<br />
The mismatch in terminology is
indeed formidable, & reflects corresponding mismatch in our conceptual
frameworks. <br />
First of all, recognition/generali<wbr></wbr>zation are distinct
high-level abilities only if you define them as such for some high-level
cognitive test. Unless so specified, recognition/generali<wbr></wbr>zation is
simply a discovery of common elements among multiple inputs. Algorithmically,
it's an iterative comparison (which discovers match) & projection (that
determines which inputs are compared): a step producing incrementally more
general patterns/concepts. This step is not specific to any level of complexity.
Generalization starts from sensory processing, such as line angle recognition in
your V1 example, & continues into Association Cortices. To say that
minicolumns do not perform generalization is a bit absurd. Neocortex consists of
little but minicolumns (see "Cortex & Mind", p.26) and every cognitive
function can be reduced to generalization. <br />
<br />
Thanks for the pointer to
Gazzaniga's article, I will mention it in the knol. "The evolutionary
perspective" chapter there indirectly supports my premise: hemispherical
asymmetry can be summarized as a relatively higher-generality bias of the left
hemisphere. This seems to be a distinctly human feature, producing hugely
greater overall generalization ability compared to our nearest relatives. The
hemispheres do not normally operate independently, they are densely
interconnected by CC. Some of this connectivity is to provide simple
fault-tolerance & sensory-motor field integration, as in animals. But
because of the asymmetry ("lateralization") in humans, the transfer of data
between hemispheres will likely be between different levels of generality. This
mismatch will add another step of generalization to the hierarchy of the left
hemisphere. <br />
<br />
I couldn't find your chapter online(?), but you seem to work
with MRI, which too high a level for me. I think the most interesting part is
processing within a minicolumn, at the most a macrocolumn. <br />
Cognitive
Psychology is also too high-level for me, I am into the most basic mechanisms of
cognition. Neuroscience can be quite suggestive, given a meaningful theory. My
ideas here are difficult to understand out of the context of my "Intelligence"
knol: <a href="http://knol.google.com/k/boris-kazachenko/intelligence/27zxw65mxxlt7/2#" rel="nofollow">http://knol.google.c<wbr></wbr>om/k/boris-kazachenk<wbr></wbr>o/intelligence/27zxw<wbr></wbr>65mxxlt7/2#</a>
though it's a lot more abstract. <br />
<br />
Appreciate you interest and the
references, though it may take me a while to get to them, as this is not my main
focus. <br />
<br />
Boris. </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300679325320839673.post-65020885327982842142012-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:002012-06-18T08:34:01.000-07:00Comments from "Executive Attention" knol<br />
<h4>
Todor Arnaudov:</h4>
<h4>
Cognitive Resources and Schopenhauer</h4>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">
Regarding creative genii and ability to focus, I suspect that not only focus on imaginative concepts is important, but it is also the amount of cognitive resources (maybe you imply it). I think this is needed in order to render the concepts and I suspect that "ordinary" people cannot focus well on too general concepts or don't care that much of., partially because they cannot render them well.<br />
<br />
I suspect the focus and the growth of hierarchy could be mutually dependent - if higher associative areas fail to find meaningful generalizations or hardly do, they would hardly develop further or be busy with meaningful activations.<br />
<br />
BTW, have you read Schopenhauer's discussion on genius and focus, in his "The World as Will and Representation"? He mentions that genii possess too much of intellectual energy allowing them to escape from the subjectivity.<br />
<br />
(Translation - mine, from Bulgarian, some attributes missed)<br />
<br />
"...practical person applies his intelligence according to its purpose predetermined by nature - to comprehend the relations between things, partially one to another and partially compared to the will of the individual who cognizes. On the other hand the genius uses his intelligence against its purpose - to understand the objective nature of things. Because of the advanced cognitive capability the genius cognizes to a higher extent the generality in things, rather than the individual, while serving to Will mostly requires cognition of the individual ("specifics")." --- Specialists vs Generalists<br />
<br />
"(...) All of the great theoretical discoveries of any kind are achieved because their author directed all of his spiritual power towards one single point, where he links and concentrate the power to extent where this point occupies his entire reality and the rest of the world disappears for him." -- Detachment and Focus<br />
<br />
Etc., a lot could be cited.</div>
<br />
<div class="knol-clearer-div">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g"></span><br />
<div class="knol-comment-time" id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">
Last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">Oct 1, 2010 9:22 AM</span></div>
<span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="61" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="109" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="59" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">
</div>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-replies-toggle-block" closure_uid_7tcbs6="134" id="knol-comment-replies-toggle-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">
<span class="knol-comment-rating" id="knol-comment-rating-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g"><span class="knol-comment-votes-zero" id="knol-comment-votes-num-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">0</span><a closure_uid_7tcbs6="92" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-nay-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g" title="Poor comment"><img alt="Poor comment" class="knol-comment-nay" src="http://www.blogger.com/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325242053051/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a><a closure_uid_7tcbs6="91" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-aye-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g" title="Good comment"><img alt="Good comment" class="knol-comment-aye" src="http://www.blogger.com/k/knol/_/rsrc/1325242053051/system/app/images/cleardot.gif" /></a></span><a class="knol-comment-replies-toggle knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" closure_uid_7tcbs6="38" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-replies-hide-toggle27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">Hide replies to this comment ▲</a></div>
<br />
<div class="knol-comment-replies knol-element-toggle-level-1" id="knol-comment-replies-27zxw65mxxlt7.7c0y6g">
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">
Raw resources obviously matter, but it’s not an interesting part, - anyone can understand brute force. And variation there (my guess it’s within ~x10) is very minor, compared to variation in the outcomes. Face it, we waste >99% of our cognitive resources on trivial nonsense anyway.<br />
Ordinary people don’t care as much because most intellectual endeavors are a winner-take-all game. If you don’t feel a competitive advantage (however slight), you get discouraged & go elsewhere.<br />
Schopenhauer’s dichotomy is just an attempt to dramatize “boring” continuous spectrum in the scope of generalization. Typical of philosophers, they like “existential struggle” because it attracts attention of the highbrow clueless, - their target audience. Yes, he stresses focus, but I don't know if the discussion is very constructive, let me know if you find something.<br />
Of course, the equation looks different in art, - it’s intrinsically superficial, so high-level focus doesn’t matter as much there :).</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="39" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_7tcbs6="43" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="63" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.wz2cj2">Sep 24, 2010 11:08 PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">
Sure, we waste a lot of time and resources, but raw power advantage can compensate it, my guess for the variation, whatever the way it's measured, is: bigger.<br />
<br />
Also the direction of mind and the focus to advanced stuff is also initiated (or at least supported) because of the brute force advantage at young age. If you lack the advantage then, you might get stuck to "ordinary activities" etc. Otherwise you develop faster and your"skeleton" cognitive hierarchy reaches higher so you can focus there as well.<br />
<br />
>Yes, he stresses focus, but I don't know if the discussion is very constructive, let me know if you find something.<br />
<br />
OK<br />
<br />
I believe cognitive operations and progress are done step by step, there is a limitation of the complexity and the scope of data a mind can process at any given point of development,<br />
and I think it doesn't matter what the data represent and how general or specific data are. Here the raw power is important - lacking minimum working memory for a problem will stall a mind (or would not allow it to reach there at all). It's true that good modular design can minimize the requirement for minimum working memory for a cognitive step.<br />
<br />
Regarding art and how superficial it is. Writing/imaging a novel or a feature film with all the details that must be plausible seem to me more complex than doing many of the scientific discoveries;<br />
a lot of the scientists are "boring".<br />
<br />
Yes, a lot of mainstream art has simple underlying structure and repeats a lot. Scientific scope of data which leads to inventions might be ridiculously small also ("boring"), it's like most of your mind is idling.<br />
<br />
I know, this is because of methodology, appropriate hierarchical selective focus etc., but in a way I think it requires less horse power than imaging and holding in mind a whole novel with all events, causality and relationships inside; also nowadays computers do a lot of scientists' job - you can prove an empirical hypothesis and "generalize"" using a tool for Bayesian inference or by checking a trend in the statistics.<br />
<br />
On the other hand writing a written or visual story is AI-complete and experimental, symbolic and innovative art can be like engineering and research, you search for, discover, devise new concepts, new tools, and search for abstract messages.</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="68" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="110" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="66" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFPAmQY42PUcw">Invite as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.dz1568">Sep 26, 2010 3:07 PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">
You have to distinguish between the advantage of raw power per se, & of the motivation / confidence it gives you. Confidence really depends on prior results, determined by raw_intelligence * duration_of_focused_<wbr></wbr>attention on the problem. Attention span is an independent factor here, far more modifiable (thus variable) than innate quality of wetware. Anyway, if you have any suggestions on how to increase raw power, I am all ears. “Minimal working memory” looks like an excuse to me, cognitive process is far more incremental than conscious experience. Same goes for developing cognitive hierarchy, - if you spend more time on it, you compress better, thus need less cortical space.<br />
<br />
Regarding art, it’s superficial in the way you chose to focus on it (that’s a macro- attention span). I don’t care how deep the structures you work with are, understanding them is just a means to an end. And the end is to flex & show off your intelligence, not to advance knowledge. The latter requires specialization, even if you specialize on generalization process. Of course, you abhore specialization (in subject matter, not in presentation skills), - it will shrink your audience down to nothing. Artists & philosophers are cripto- attention whores, their top priority is recognition. That’s true for most people, but some do constructive work to gain it.</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="44" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_7tcbs6="48" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="70" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.7ooupq">Sep 26, 2010 7:15 PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">
>Attention span is an independent factor here, far more modifiable (thus variable) than innate quality of wetware. Anyway, if you have any suggestions on how to increase raw power, I am all ears.<br />
<br />
OK, that's a good point... Mine is that raw power is there also.<br />
<br />
>in the way you chose to focus on it (that’s a macro- attention span)<br />
<br />
Well, I don't think artists become artists to get famous or so, at the age of a few years, they can do it and they enjoy it.<br />
<br />
<br />
>And the end is to flex & show off your intelligence, not to advance knowledge.<br />
<br />
OK<br />
<br />
>The latter requires specialization, even if you specialize on generalization process. Of course,<br />
>you abhore specialization (in subject matter, not in presentation skills), - it will shrink your<br />
>audience down to nothing. Artists & philosophers are cripto- attention whores, their top priority is<br />
>recognition. That’s true for most people, but some do constructive work to gain it.<br />
<br />
Sorry, overgeneralized. I think my top-priority is to make my visions - reality and to do what I find valuable and I enjoy; movies is a synthesis of all arts, and seem closer than AGI, and after AGI is achieved movies and art in general might be pointless.<br />
<br />
Regarding constructive work in art - I've done such since many years, and I know about my originality without being applauded, more over I know why some of my art is not recognized and can hardly be yet.<br />
<br />
As Schopenhauer says, talented artists serve their Will and the mob, that's why they last only in their time, while ingenious artists are beyond, they do their art besides they are not understood, and of course they are smart enough to know that their finest art could hardly be understood and recognized by masses or even for some talented ones. Ironically, to get recognition you may have to do "dumber" art; it goes also about research, but as you know I still deny to do a "dumber" PhD to get formally recognized.</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="75" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="111" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="73" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFPAmQY42PUcw">Invite as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.8h8j9f">Sep 28, 2010 1:29 AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">
> I think my top-priority is to make my visions - reality and to do what I find valuable and I enjoy; movies is a synthesis of all arts, and seem closer than AGI, and after AGI is achieved movies and art in general might be pointless.<br />
<br />
It’s pointless now, you do it because you lack integrity. You do movies because it feels “close” (primary) & procrastinate on AGI because it’s too “abstract”, even though you realize that the former is infinitesimally trivial compared to the latter. For recognition, self-affirmation, or aesthetic pleasure – art is petty & superficial because it makes no difference in the world. Short macro- attention span.<br />
<br />
> And recently I try to do constructive work in visual effects.<br />
<br />
Means to an end, which is not constructive. Constructive work would be theory. Will you ever run out of pathetic excuses?</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="49" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-edit-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">Edit</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-remove-link knol-comment-authorid-27zxw65mxxlt7.0" closure_uid_7tcbs6="53" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-remove-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="77" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/boris-kazachenko/-/27zxw65mxxlt7/0" rel="nofollow">Boris Kazachenko</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.c44qyo">Sep 28, 2010 2:09 AM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">
>It’s pointless now, you do it because you lack integrity.<br />
<br />
Yes, and the other people usually are too "integral" (boring, single-minded, incapable, trivial, small cognitive resources, predictable, ...).<br />
<br />
>Will you ever run out of pathetic excuses?<br />
<br />
I'm very creative. :)<br />
<br />
>Short macro- attention span.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure about that, generalization sometimes is superficial. If I do enough of movies and art successfully, get enough of skills, recognition, self-affirmation, money, I may get bored of this, would have enough resources to do whatever I want, so I can still make movies being at a more general position, giving big ideas and approving, without dealing with all the details, and there are not many possibilities for intellectual activities to do next. Also from that point of social status and recognition I may find and motivate (and hire) other people to do it as well.<br />
<br />
> art is petty & superficial because it makes no difference in the world.<br />
<br />
People are emotional and need attractive and spectacular stimuli to get motivated and to believe. SF and fantasy motivates some people to become researchers and art may make people to relax, have fun etc., they need it.<br />
<br />
>it’s too “abstract”<br />
<br />
Unfortunately sometimes too abstract means boring, and you really underestimate the "security" of survival risk. What if I "loose life", loose contacts for several years and fail to earn 5 prizes per month or somebody is faster than you or whatever. I will turn to an insane homegrown wacko with no savings, no job, claiming he's been working on AI, while I could have found a back-up and be able to go back if I fail and even find collaboration.<br />
<br />
It's easy to say how superficial I am, having the backing of your savings. First of all why did you go to the USA, you could generalize back in Moscow or why not in a village in Sibir or Kamchatka, far away from the boring world. Why did you get a higher education, why did you find a "dumb job" next (I know, to save for the prizes...) - you could find a warm state and sleep under bridges, what more do you need to survive? You could even generalize in prison, after being caught for vagrancy, so even freedom is not required. :)<br />
<br />
Sorry for the sarcasm, but yours is funny as well.</div>
<br />
<span id="knol-report-placeholder-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib"></span><span class="knol-comment-action-link-span" id="knol-comment-action-link-span-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib"><a class="knol-comment-action-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="82" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-hide-link27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">Delete</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-block-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="112" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-comment-block-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib" name="knol-comment-block-name-Todor Arnaudov">Block this user</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-report-link" closure_uid_7tcbs6="80" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082" id="knol-report-link-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">Report abusive comment</a></span><br />
<div class="knol-spinner knol-comment-spinner goog-inline-block" id="knol-comment-action-spinner-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply-author">
<span id="knol-comment-edited-time-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">Posted by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/k/todor-arnaudov/-/202ul3ej0yyw/0" rel="nofollow">Todor Arnaudov</a><a class="knol-comment-action-link knol-comment-invite-link knol-comment-author-link" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6457849898198053082#manage-authors-KWl5ZVlbE_yu9KcQC-YGXz8tYVfs6hrFCJcZQ6SEqzFPAmQY42PUcw">Invite as author</a>, last edited <span id="knol-comment-timestamp-27zxw65mxxlt7.vxf0ib">Sep 28, 2010 5:26 PM</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="knol-comment-reply knol-element-toggle-threshold-1" id="comment-27zxw65mxxlt7.gvnkcr">
<div class="knol-comment-text" id="knol-comment-text-27zxw65mxxlt7.gvnkcr">
> People are emotional and need attractive and spectacular stimuli to get motivated and to believe. SF and fantasy motivates some people to become researchers and art may make people to relax, have fun etc., they need it.<br />
<br />
Until they grow up.<br />
<br />
> Unfortunately sometimes too abstract means boring,<br />
<br />
It’s only boring if you’re not making any progress, which is bound to happen when you’re not working.<br />
<br />
> and you really underestimate the "security" of survival risk. What if I "loose life", loose contacts for several years and fail to earn 5 prizes per month<br />
<br />
You don’t need $500 / month to live. Anyway, I am raising your first prize to $500, - buffering does change the algorithm on the margins. Do you want to get the balance the same way?<br />
<br />
> or somebody is faster than you or whatever. I will turn to an insane homegrown wacko with no savings, no job, claiming he's been working on AI, while I could have found a back-up and be able to go back if I fail and even find collaboration.<br />
<br />
That’s the problem, you don’t have the guts. Your risk is pretty minor, compared to the one I took by walking across Turkish border back in 1985. That was like jumping off the cliff blindfolded, because a map says there is water below.<br />
<br />
> It's easy to say how superficial I am, having the backing of your savings.<br />
<br />
You’re not making movies for money, a dumb job would be a lot better at that. Must be fun being so creative at fooling yourself.<br />
<br />
> First of all why did you go to the USA, you could generalize back in Moscow<br />
<br />
Almaty was even better, that’s where I grew up. But in terms of working on your own AI ideas, the old SU was as good as 19th century, - no chance of ever implementing them. And there was no web, so I had an illusion that there was real action elsewhere.<br />
<br />
> Why did you get a higher education,<br />
<br />
Because CIA paid for it (no, I didn’t work for them, it was a favor).<br />
<br />
> why did you find a "dumb job" next (I know, to save for the prizes...) - you could find a warm state and sleep under bridges, what more do you need to survive?<br />
<br />
I did a lot of stupid things in my life, mostly because I did *not* have anyone to work with.<br />
<br />
> You could even generalize in prison, after being caught for vagrancy<br />
<br />
This is the USA, the bums are protected specie here.</div>
</div>
</div>Boris Kazachenkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04025561850220554347noreply@blogger.com0