Comment author: gjm 04 December 2015 02:46:23PM 1 point [-]

Common knowledge means I know, and I know that you know, and I know that you know that he knows, and she knows that I know that you know that he knows, and so on -- any number of iterations.

Each child sees 99 muddy foreheads and therefore knows n >= 99. Each child can tell that each other child knows n >= 98. But, e.g., it isn't true that A knows B knows C knows that n >= 98; only that A knows B knows C knows that n>=97: each link in the chain reduces the number by 1. So for no k>0 is it common knowledge that n>=k.

Comment author: GMHowe 22 December 2015 12:20:23AM 0 points [-]

Thanks, I did end up figuring out my error.

[link] Pedro Domingos: "The Master Algorithm"

2 GMHowe 30 November 2015 10:28PM

Interesting talk outlining five different approaches to AI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8J4uefCQMc

 

Blurb from the YouTube description:

Machine learning is the automation of discovery, and it is responsible for making our smartphones work, helping Netflix suggest movies for us to watch, and getting presidents elected. But there is a push to use machine learning to do even more—to cure cancer and AIDS and possibly solve every problem humanity has. Domingos is at the very forefront of the search for the Master Algorithm, a universal learner capable of deriving all knowledge—past, present and future—from data. In this book, he lifts the veil on the usually secretive machine learning industry and details the quest for the Master Algorithm, along with the revolutionary implications such a discovery will have on our society.

Pedro Domingos is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, and he is the cofounder of the International Machine Learning Society.

Comment author: GMHowe 23 August 2015 09:16:41PM 0 points [-]

Maybe I'm confused, in the 'muddy children puzzle' it seems it would be common knowledge from the start that at least 98 children have muddy foreheads. Each child sees 99 muddy foreheads. Each child could reason that every other child must see at least 98 muddy foreheads. 100 minus their own forehead which they cannot see minus the other child's forehead which the other child cannot see equals 98.

What am I missing?

Comment author: GMHowe 21 August 2015 08:35:33PM 2 points [-]

Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.

Naval Ravikant

Comment author: GMHowe 04 June 2015 11:05:49PM 1 point [-]

You can see more results here: Image Annotation Viewer

Judging generously, but based on only about two dozen or so image captions, I estimate it gives a passably accurate caption about one third of the time. This may be impressive given the simplicity of the model, but it doesn't seem unreasonably effective to me, and I don't immediately see the relevance to strong AI.

Comment author: GMHowe 16 April 2015 03:56:10AM 3 points [-]

Let's say you precommit to never paying off blackmailers. The advantage of this is that you are no longer an attractive target for blackmailers since they will never get paid off. However if someone blackmails you anyway, your precommitment now puts you at a disadvantage, so now (NDT)you would act as if you had a precommitment to comply with the blackmailers all along since at this point that would be an advantageous precommitment to have made.

Comment author: hairyfigment 04 April 2015 09:00:06PM 28 points [-]

No, Mr. Shepard, with respect, (that) is not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is that, if you have grounds to believe there is a ferocious predator at large, don't appoint as your sole watchman a twelve-year-old child whom you have resolved to ignore.

  • Mitchell and Webb prosecuting attorney, from the sketch, "The boy who cried wolf"
Comment author: GMHowe 04 April 2015 10:48:57PM 9 points [-]
Comment author: Lumifer 24 March 2015 06:44:18PM 1 point [-]

Recall an old joke:

A man flying in a hot air balloon realizes he is lost. He reduces his altitude and spots a man in a field down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" The man below says, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, about 30 feet above this field." "You must be an mathematician," says the balloonist. "I am. How did you know?" "Everything you told me is technically correct, but it's of no use to anyone."

Comment author: GMHowe 25 March 2015 09:13:38PM 1 point [-]

It's a funny joke but beside the point. Knowing that he is in a balloon about 30 feet above a field is actually very useful. It's just useless to tell him what he clearly already knows.

Comment author: RowanE 19 March 2015 11:13:11PM 1 point [-]

Generating artificial gravity on spaceships using centrifuges is a common idea in hard-sci-fi and in speculation about space travel, but no-one seems to consider them for low gravity on e.g. Mars. Am I mistaken in thinking that all you'd need to do is build the centrifuge with an angled floor, so the net force experienced from gravity and (illusory) centrifugal force is straight "down" into it?

I realise there'd be other practical problems with centrifuge-induced artificial gravity on Mars, since it's full of dust and not the best environment, but that doesn't seem to be the right kind of objection to explain it never being brought up where I've seen it.

Comment author: GMHowe 20 March 2015 07:28:59PM 0 points [-]

I recall a SF story that took place on a rotating space station orbiting Earth that had several oddities. The station had greater than Earth gravity. Each section was connected to the next by a confusing set of corridors. The protagonist did some experiments draining water out of a large vat and discovered a coriolis effect.

So spoiler alert it turned out that the space station was a colossal fraud. It was actually on a massive centrifuge on Earth.

Comment author: MathMage 06 March 2015 10:37:43PM 0 points [-]

What do you mean? He narrated the whole sequence before the explosion, and fell to his knees at the moment Voldemort supposedly died, which is coincident with the explosion. I don't see a problem, let alone one that would be fixed by shifting the narrative back 20 seconds.

Comment author: GMHowe 07 March 2015 03:47:33AM 1 point [-]

Due to the finite speed of sound, the explosion would have had to occur approximately 20 seconds before they heard it. So if Voldemort's death was coincident with the explosion it would had to have happened about 20 seconds before Harry said it did.

She'd just about decided that this had to all be a prank in unbelievably poor taste, when a distant but sharp CRACK filled the air. [...] "It worked," Harry Potter gasped aloud, "she got him, he's gone." [...] "I think it's in that direction." Harry Potter pointed in the rough direction the CRACK had come from, "I'm not sure how far. The sound from there took twenty seconds to get here, so maybe two minutes on a broomstick -"

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