Google tech talks published a bunch of video from AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) 2011 today, they're all linked from the conference site. I haven't watched any of them yet but the titles sound interesting.

http://agi-conf.org/2011/conference-schedule/#vp

(Via Patrick Hahn @OB-NYC.)

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I especially enjoyed the talk about Probabilistic Programs.

Off-topic tidbit: He (like Eliezer) pronounces "Bayesian" to rhyme with "Asian". He does a similar thing with with "Gaussian", pronouncing it "GOW-shan" (0:45:33).

It seems like the more common pronunciations are "BAY-zee-an" and "GOW-see-an" (that is, name + "ian"), but I'm basing that on a small sample size.

Name + "ian" as the alternative to rhyming with Asian strikes me as a somewhat limited illustration.

The end of "Asian" does not sound like "ian", and "Asian" does not have a "z" sound in it like "Bayes" does.

IPA to the rescue!

"Bayes" is pronounced /beɪz/. I pronounce "Bayesian" /ˈbeɪziən/. Noah Goodman and Eliezer pronounce it /ˈbeɪʒən/. The Random House unabridged dictionary (1993) gives both pronunciations (and the OED does not have "Bayes" or "Bayesian" entries).

"Gauss" is pronounced /gaʊs/. I pronounce "Gaussian" /ˈgaʊsiən/. Noah Goodman pronounces it /ˈgaʊʃən/. The Random House unabridged and the OED (1989) give only /ˈgaʊsiən/.

[-][anonymous]00

I appreciate the amount of effort that went into this comment.

However, I just realized it's probably supposed to be called the "Bay-shan Conspiracy" and died a little inside.

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The end of "Asian" does not sound like "ian"

No, it doesn't, does it? I wonder if that is at all related to my point.

Was I correct in taking your point to be that the great-great-grandparent comment was not as clear as it could have been?

Well, not exactly. I was more going for "that's a good point but also a little ironic, heh!"

;)

This was the first one I watched - it is the reason I got hooked to watch the others. I highly recommend this video.

Are you just being helpful or is this also a value judgement about the other talks?

Ceteris paribus, Anna Salamon's talks will be slightly more interesting than others due to our backgrounds.

Of course, Anna Salamon's rationality is a data point in favour of all things not being equal.