[ExI] Savants and user-interfaces [was Re: [agi] WHAT SORT OF HARDWARE $33K AND $850K BUYS TODAY FOR USE IN AGI

[Vladimir Nesov]

On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Linas Vepstas <linasvepstas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What are you trying to accomplish here? I don't see where
> you are trying to go with this.
>
> I don't think a human can consciously train one or two neurons
> to do something, we train millions at a time. -- I'm guessing
> savants only employ a few tens of million neurons (give or take a
> few orders of magnitude) -- to do their stuff.
>
> Still, an array of 1K by 1K electrodes is well within current
> technology, we just don't know where to hook this up to,
> with the exception of simple motor areas, retina, and bit
> of the auditory circuits.
>

Certainly nothing to do with individual neurons. Basically, it's
possible to train a finite state automaton in the mind through
association. You see a certain combination of properties, you think
the symbol that describes this combination. If such automaton is
trained not just to handle natural data (such as language), but to a
specifically designed circuit plan, it'll probably be possible to use
it as a directly accessible 'add-on' to the brain that implements
specific simple function efficiently, such as some operation with
numbers using a clever algorithm in a way alien to normal deliberative
learning. You don't learn to perform a task, but to execute individual
steps of an algorithm that performs a task.

-- 
Vladimir Nesov
robotact at gmail.com
http://causalityrelay.wordpress.com/