wedrifid comments on Algorithms as Case Studies in Rationality - Less Wrong

27 Post author: abramdemski 14 February 2011 06:27PM

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Comment author: wedrifid 15 February 2011 10:13:25AM 0 points [-]

Reinforcement learning is pretty much "non-algorithmic"

I'm rather certain I could implement reinforcement learning as an algorithm. In fact, I'm rather certain I have done so already. If I can point to an algorithm and say "look, that's a damn reinforcement learning algorithm" then I'm not sure how meaningful it can be to call it "non-algorithmic".

Comment author: lukstafi 15 February 2011 03:04:49PM *  0 points [-]

I concede, RL is a prototype example of algorithmic learning problem. The exploration vs exploitation trade-off is something that needs to be addressed by RL algorithms. It is fair then to say that we gain insight into the "trade-off" by recognizing how the algorithms "solve" it.

Comment author: wedrifid 15 February 2011 03:18:55PM 0 points [-]

It is also fair to say there is an abstract concept of 'trade off' that is not itself algorithmic.