Marvin Minsky "The Emotion Machine": Chapter 5 "Simulations and Predicting Machines"
How to bring "human" technology and how technology helps to understand and improve and scale the "human"?
This will help us harsh Marvin Minsky, who with his merciless mind analyzes feelings, emotions, pain, love and consciousness.
')
But also we can all imagine an arch, the upper rectangular block of which will be replaced by a block with three sides.
How can a program or mind "represent" things that are not in scope? We could do this by “imagining” object changes at any stage of perception!
Making changes at a low level: In principle, we could create a new image by changing each point on the retina - but in practice, such changes would require huge calculations. Also, if you want to shift your point of vision, you would need to “calculate” the entire image again. Worse, before you can do these calculations, certain parts of the brain should know exactly which picture to describe. But in order to do this, you first need to present this picture at some top level, but if the picture is described, then why should it be calculated?
Making changes at intermediate levels: What can change is not the image itself, but parts of the high-level image description. For example, at the level of the Region Finding systems, it would be possible to change the name of the front edge of the upper arch block from “rectangular edge” to “triangular edge”. However, this can cause problems at other levels, because the edges of the triangle will not have the same ratios as the edges of the areas next to it.
Later we will see that it is better to replace the whole block at the highest level of the Object Locating system.
Visualizer: I have problems like the ones described above. When I try to imagine a triangular shape, I know where the three lines of the figure should appear, but I see them as foggy, glowing stripes whose fuzzy ends often do not occur. When I try to correct this by “pushing” the line - it moves abruptly at some constant speed that I cannot change, and when I tell this line to freeze, it still continues to move (although, oddly enough, it never goes far)
You tried to change the description of the object, but you did not manage to maintain the necessary relations between the parts of the object. Imagination is sometimes like a vision, except that when you change the internal representation of an object, it cannot maintain its consistency. A real object cannot move at two different speeds at the same time, as well as two real lines cannot intersect and not meet, but the imagination can allow such things.
Making changes at higher semantic levels: You can imagine changing the upper block of the arch by changing the name of the form of the upper block itself, changing the “rectangle” to “triangle” in the definition of the arch itself: “Triangular block supported by two vertical blocks”.
Now think how effective it is! To make such a change at the sensory level, you will need to change the behavior of thousands of “pixels” (the data units that make up the pictures), while you only need to change one word when you work at an abstract language level to represent something using only one or more compact characters. Of course, these symbols are useless as long as they are not related to structures that give more detail or “meaning” to what you see.
Our system the Builder could do similar tricks by making changes in the so-called "Semantic Networks". For example, she could imagine an arch of three blocks by describing the relationship between these three blocks. [13] Then, in order for the Builder to present a triangular block at the top of the arch, he only needs to change one connection:
Making such changes at earlier levels would involve too much detail. If you used the replacement of recorded images similar to the pictures, then it would be difficult for you to change any part of the already recorded image. But at the higher “semantic” level, you can more easily make meaningful changes. For example, when you describe a “lying block supported by two vertical blocks” you do not need to describe the vision of this block from an observer perspective. Therefore, this description applies equally to the following set of pictures:
If we replace the word “block” with the word “object”, then our network will be able to describe even more situations.
This shows how convenient the “abstract” descriptions are. Sometimes the word “abstract” is used to denote an “intellectually complex” task, but in this case the word “abstract” has a completely opposite meaning: abstract description is simpler because it suppresses various details of the description that are irrelevant. Of course, the descriptions should not be too abstract: when you ask someone for advice, and it gives an answer like, "If you want something, do what gives you that."
We discussed how we can present visual pictures by building “simulations” in our mind. We also do similar things in other areas. Perhaps some chefs represent new tastes by directly changing the state of low-level sensory systems, and perhaps some composers just as well represent the sounds of new instruments; however, such thinkers can also achieve similar results by making small changes in higher levels of representation, thus causing excitement or aversion without constructing low-level details of the presented dishes or music.
Dramatic critic: I can clearly remember how I felt after participating in a certain performance, but I cannot remember any details of what this terrible game was about.
To discuss this, we must use the new word, combining the words "simulation" and "stimulus". Simulation is a model perception of an object, which is caused by a change in the mental representation of an object. Thus, when discussing "Challenger" in §4-7, we saw how you can use a defeat simulation to trigger anger. In order to do this, it was enough to present a mockery on the face of our enemy without any features of that person, since we are able to describe the simplest phenomena using high-level abstractions.
Visualizer: When I think of my cat, her image is presented with so many details that I can imagine every hair on her body. Would it not be our advantage to create a real image indistinguishable from the original? [14]
Perhaps when you first remember your cat, its surface has only a “woolly” structure, and only when you look at the picture more clearly do you begin to add more details to your mental performance. However, this can happen so quickly that you simply do not have time to notice this transition, and it begins to seem to you that you saw it that way from the very beginning. Your experience may be one of the descriptions of illusions that we introduced in §4:
The illusion of Immanence is manifested not only when we represent something; we never see “real images” because we do not perceive most of the small details until our mind asks for these details. In fact, recent experiments have suggested that our internal representation of visual images is rarely updated in real time. [15] In chapters §6 and §8 we describe a scheme that calls “Panalogiya”, which will help explain how our brain can isolate and work out the requested details in an incredibly fast way.
Now we can create a machine that can do the same thing, predicting different outcomes of specific situations. Let's assume that it has rules like the following:
Then we will give our car, let's call it Seer, a way to replace what she sees at a particular point in time, which is realized thanks to forecasts made on the basis of the above rule. In such a case, when the Seer is in situation A, and then he is considering the action of X, this will force the “seer” to see the seer that he is in situation B.
I included the Suppressive Bands group for two reasons. The first is when the Seer represents the future state B, we do not want it to quickly replace the existing state A. The second is that we don’t want the Seer to perform Action X, because he can still consider some other options for the future before making a final decision . Thus, the Seer can use these overwhelming stripes to disengage from the outside world, which will allow him to “stop and think” what action he should best do. [sixteen]
By repeating such an operation, the Seer can use predictive chains to simulate actions taking place in the “virtual world.” Of course, in order for the Seer to make such predictions, he must use the types of search described in §5-3 to simulate (and then compare) the effects of various actions before accepting one of them. This will require additional memory from it, as well as a large number of other mechanisms. Nevertheless, anyone who played modern computer games can see for themselves how much the art of creating virtual worlds inside machines has advanced.
I expect that in the next few years we will find the structures described in the upper diagram, inside our brain. How did our brain develop similar abilities? In the primate species that preceded us, we should have similar structures, thanks to which they could think through several future steps. But then, a few million years ago, this system seems to have begun to grow rapidly, because the frontal lobes of our brain have developed their current size and architectural complexity; apparently it was a key stage in the development of human intelligence.
This chapter described some of the structures and processes that can do the same things as a person. We have noted a set of levels that we can use to consistently increase the ways of thinking.
However, we have assumed many details about what is happening at each of these levels. Further, I will suggest how this system works at each particular level, constantly responding to specific problems that arise by switching to more appropriate Reflections. We will present this Model of Reason using the simplest diagram:
In the rest of this book, we will often switch between these two models of reason, because each model gives the best answers to certain questions about ourselves. The Six model provides a better distinction between different levels of mental behavior, and the Critic Selector model gives a better understanding of how we can solve complex problems.
Chapter 7 combines these two models because we often use different Critics and Selectors at each cognitive level.
However, no matter how this system is built, it will never seem complete until it knows the world it is in. In particular, she should be able to foresee some possible outcomes of actions, and she will not be able to do this until she has the relevant types of knowledge. In humans, this knowledge is called "common sense" and reasoning. And although in everyday life this phrase means “things that most people find obvious,” the next chapter will demonstrate that “common sense” is surprisingly extremely complex.
For the translation, thanks to Stanislav Sukhanitsky. Who wants to help with the translation - write in a personal or mail magisterludi2016@yandex.ru
Marvin Lee Minsky (Eng. Marvin Lee Minsky; August 9, 1927 - January 24, 2016) - American scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ Wikipedia ]
Interesting Facts:
This will help us harsh Marvin Minsky, who with his merciless mind analyzes feelings, emotions, pain, love and consciousness.
§5-8. The concept of "Simulation"
“Reality leaves much to the imagination”All of us can recognize the arch made up of rectangular blocks.
- John Lennon
')
But also we can all imagine an arch, the upper rectangular block of which will be replaced by a block with three sides.
How can a program or mind "represent" things that are not in scope? We could do this by “imagining” object changes at any stage of perception!
Making changes at a low level: In principle, we could create a new image by changing each point on the retina - but in practice, such changes would require huge calculations. Also, if you want to shift your point of vision, you would need to “calculate” the entire image again. Worse, before you can do these calculations, certain parts of the brain should know exactly which picture to describe. But in order to do this, you first need to present this picture at some top level, but if the picture is described, then why should it be calculated?
Making changes at intermediate levels: What can change is not the image itself, but parts of the high-level image description. For example, at the level of the Region Finding systems, it would be possible to change the name of the front edge of the upper arch block from “rectangular edge” to “triangular edge”. However, this can cause problems at other levels, because the edges of the triangle will not have the same ratios as the edges of the areas next to it.
Later we will see that it is better to replace the whole block at the highest level of the Object Locating system.
Visualizer: I have problems like the ones described above. When I try to imagine a triangular shape, I know where the three lines of the figure should appear, but I see them as foggy, glowing stripes whose fuzzy ends often do not occur. When I try to correct this by “pushing” the line - it moves abruptly at some constant speed that I cannot change, and when I tell this line to freeze, it still continues to move (although, oddly enough, it never goes far)
You tried to change the description of the object, but you did not manage to maintain the necessary relations between the parts of the object. Imagination is sometimes like a vision, except that when you change the internal representation of an object, it cannot maintain its consistency. A real object cannot move at two different speeds at the same time, as well as two real lines cannot intersect and not meet, but the imagination can allow such things.
Making changes at higher semantic levels: You can imagine changing the upper block of the arch by changing the name of the form of the upper block itself, changing the “rectangle” to “triangle” in the definition of the arch itself: “Triangular block supported by two vertical blocks”.
Now think how effective it is! To make such a change at the sensory level, you will need to change the behavior of thousands of “pixels” (the data units that make up the pictures), while you only need to change one word when you work at an abstract language level to represent something using only one or more compact characters. Of course, these symbols are useless as long as they are not related to structures that give more detail or “meaning” to what you see.
Our system the Builder could do similar tricks by making changes in the so-called "Semantic Networks". For example, she could imagine an arch of three blocks by describing the relationship between these three blocks. [13] Then, in order for the Builder to present a triangular block at the top of the arch, he only needs to change one connection:
Making such changes at earlier levels would involve too much detail. If you used the replacement of recorded images similar to the pictures, then it would be difficult for you to change any part of the already recorded image. But at the higher “semantic” level, you can more easily make meaningful changes. For example, when you describe a “lying block supported by two vertical blocks” you do not need to describe the vision of this block from an observer perspective. Therefore, this description applies equally to the following set of pictures:
If we replace the word “block” with the word “object”, then our network will be able to describe even more situations.
This shows how convenient the “abstract” descriptions are. Sometimes the word “abstract” is used to denote an “intellectually complex” task, but in this case the word “abstract” has a completely opposite meaning: abstract description is simpler because it suppresses various details of the description that are irrelevant. Of course, the descriptions should not be too abstract: when you ask someone for advice, and it gives an answer like, "If you want something, do what gives you that."
We discussed how we can present visual pictures by building “simulations” in our mind. We also do similar things in other areas. Perhaps some chefs represent new tastes by directly changing the state of low-level sensory systems, and perhaps some composers just as well represent the sounds of new instruments; however, such thinkers can also achieve similar results by making small changes in higher levels of representation, thus causing excitement or aversion without constructing low-level details of the presented dishes or music.
Dramatic critic: I can clearly remember how I felt after participating in a certain performance, but I cannot remember any details of what this terrible game was about.
To discuss this, we must use the new word, combining the words "simulation" and "stimulus". Simulation is a model perception of an object, which is caused by a change in the mental representation of an object. Thus, when discussing "Challenger" in §4-7, we saw how you can use a defeat simulation to trigger anger. In order to do this, it was enough to present a mockery on the face of our enemy without any features of that person, since we are able to describe the simplest phenomena using high-level abstractions.
Visualizer: When I think of my cat, her image is presented with so many details that I can imagine every hair on her body. Would it not be our advantage to create a real image indistinguishable from the original? [14]
Perhaps when you first remember your cat, its surface has only a “woolly” structure, and only when you look at the picture more clearly do you begin to add more details to your mental performance. However, this can happen so quickly that you simply do not have time to notice this transition, and it begins to seem to you that you saw it that way from the very beginning. Your experience may be one of the descriptions of illusions that we introduced in §4:
The illusion of immanence: When your questions are answered before you could ask them, it seems to you that you already knew about these answers.
The illusion of Immanence is manifested not only when we represent something; we never see “real images” because we do not perceive most of the small details until our mind asks for these details. In fact, recent experiments have suggested that our internal representation of visual images is rarely updated in real time. [15] In chapters §6 and §8 we describe a scheme that calls “Panalogiya”, which will help explain how our brain can isolate and work out the requested details in an incredibly fast way.
§5-9. Predicting Machines
William James: “Try to imagine how you bend your finger, and at the same time keep it straight. After some time, it will begin to tingle and an imaginary change in position will be felt; however, the finger will remain in place, because the thought “the finger remains straight” also holds in your mind. Then drop these ideas and think about some pure movement and voila! Your finger will take the necessary place without any effort on your part. ”- Principles of Psychology, 1890, p.527 [The Principles of Psychology, 1890, p527.]Everyone can think about things without doing the following, just like Carol, who imagined moving blocks. But how does she manage to do this? You can now close your eyes, sit back and pamper yourself with dreams and fantasies, or try to predict what can happen in the future.
Now we can create a machine that can do the same thing, predicting different outcomes of specific situations. Let's assume that it has rules like the following:
Then we will give our car, let's call it Seer, a way to replace what she sees at a particular point in time, which is realized thanks to forecasts made on the basis of the above rule. In such a case, when the Seer is in situation A, and then he is considering the action of X, this will force the “seer” to see the seer that he is in situation B.
I included the Suppressive Bands group for two reasons. The first is when the Seer represents the future state B, we do not want it to quickly replace the existing state A. The second is that we don’t want the Seer to perform Action X, because he can still consider some other options for the future before making a final decision . Thus, the Seer can use these overwhelming stripes to disengage from the outside world, which will allow him to “stop and think” what action he should best do. [sixteen]
By repeating such an operation, the Seer can use predictive chains to simulate actions taking place in the “virtual world.” Of course, in order for the Seer to make such predictions, he must use the types of search described in §5-3 to simulate (and then compare) the effects of various actions before accepting one of them. This will require additional memory from it, as well as a large number of other mechanisms. Nevertheless, anyone who played modern computer games can see for themselves how much the art of creating virtual worlds inside machines has advanced.
I expect that in the next few years we will find the structures described in the upper diagram, inside our brain. How did our brain develop similar abilities? In the primate species that preceded us, we should have similar structures, thanks to which they could think through several future steps. But then, a few million years ago, this system seems to have begun to grow rapidly, because the frontal lobes of our brain have developed their current size and architectural complexity; apparently it was a key stage in the development of human intelligence.
Summary
This chapter described some of the structures and processes that can do the same things as a person. We have noted a set of levels that we can use to consistently increase the ways of thinking.
However, we have assumed many details about what is happening at each of these levels. Further, I will suggest how this system works at each particular level, constantly responding to specific problems that arise by switching to more appropriate Reflections. We will present this Model of Reason using the simplest diagram:
Critic Selector Mind Model
In the rest of this book, we will often switch between these two models of reason, because each model gives the best answers to certain questions about ourselves. The Six model provides a better distinction between different levels of mental behavior, and the Critic Selector model gives a better understanding of how we can solve complex problems.
Chapter 7 combines these two models because we often use different Critics and Selectors at each cognitive level.
However, no matter how this system is built, it will never seem complete until it knows the world it is in. In particular, she should be able to foresee some possible outcomes of actions, and she will not be able to do this until she has the relevant types of knowledge. In humans, this knowledge is called "common sense" and reasoning. And although in everyday life this phrase means “things that most people find obvious,” the next chapter will demonstrate that “common sense” is surprisingly extremely complex.
For the translation, thanks to Stanislav Sukhanitsky. Who wants to help with the translation - write in a personal or mail magisterludi2016@yandex.ru
Table of Contents of The Emotion Machine
Introduction
Chapter 5. LEVELS OF MENTAL ACTIVITIES
Chapter 6. COMMON SENSE
Chapter 7. Thinking.
Chapter 8. Resourcefulness.
Chapter 9. The Self.
Chapter 1. Falling in Love
Chapter 2. ATTACHMENTS AND GOALS
Chapter 3. FROM PAIN TO SUFFERING
Chapter 4. CONSCIOUSNESSChapter 5. LEVELS OF MENTAL ACTIVITIES
Chapter 6. COMMON SENSE
Chapter 7. Thinking.
Chapter 8. Resourcefulness.
Chapter 9. The Self.
about the author
Marvin Lee Minsky (Eng. Marvin Lee Minsky; August 9, 1927 - January 24, 2016) - American scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ Wikipedia ]
Interesting Facts:
- Minsky was a friend of critic Harold Bloom from Yale University (Yale University), who spoke of him as “sinister Marvin Minsky”.
- Isaac Asimov described Minsky as one of two people who are smarter than himself; the second, in his opinion, was Karl Sagan.
- Marvin is a robot with artificial intelligence from the cycle of Douglas Adams novels Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film).
- Minsky has a contract to freeze his brain after death in order to be “resurrected” in the future.
- In honor of Minsk named the dog of the protagonist in the movie Tron: Legacy. [ Wikipedia ]
About #philtech
#philtech (technology + philanthropy) is an open, publicly described technology that aligns the standard of living of as many people as possible by creating transparent platforms for interaction and access to data and knowledge. And satisfying the principles of filteha:
1. Opened and replicable, not competitive proprietary.
2. Built on the principles of self-organization and horizontal interaction.
3. Sustainable and prospective-oriented, and not pursuing local benefits.
4. Built on [open] data, not traditions and beliefs.
5. Non-violent and non-manipulative.
6. Inclusive, and not working for one group of people at the expense of others.
Philtech's social technology startups accelerator is a program of intensive development of early-stage projects aimed at leveling access to information, resources and opportunities. The second stream: March – June 2018.
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#philtech (technology + philanthropy) is an open, publicly described technology that aligns the standard of living of as many people as possible by creating transparent platforms for interaction and access to data and knowledge. And satisfying the principles of filteha:
1. Opened and replicable, not competitive proprietary.
2. Built on the principles of self-organization and horizontal interaction.
3. Sustainable and prospective-oriented, and not pursuing local benefits.
4. Built on [open] data, not traditions and beliefs.
5. Non-violent and non-manipulative.
6. Inclusive, and not working for one group of people at the expense of others.
Philtech's social technology startups accelerator is a program of intensive development of early-stage projects aimed at leveling access to information, resources and opportunities. The second stream: March – June 2018.
Chat in Telegram
A community of people developing filtech projects or simply interested in the topic of technologies for the social sector.
#philtech news
Telegram channel with news about projects in the #philtech ideology and links to useful materials.
Subscribe to the weekly newsletter
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/375935/
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