robots.net blog for Flanneltron

Language Does Not Shape Thought

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:11:26 GMT

Cognition causes language, not the other way around. Correlations between changes in thought with changes in language abound. But the arguments are very weak for causality from language to cognition in this context. What do People Mean by Language Shapes Thought? Lera Boroditsky likes to spread the meme language shapes thought. Others have used it [...]

Symbol Grounding and Symbol Tethering

Wed, 3 Apr 2013 05:11:44 GMT

Philosopher Aaron Sloman claims that symbol grounding is impossible. I say it is possible, indeed necessary, for strong AI. Yet my own approach may be compatible with Sloman’s. Sloman equates “symbol grounding” with concept empiricism, thus rendering it impossible. However, I don’t see the need to equate all symbol grounding to concept empiricism. And what [...]

Sherlock Holmes, Master of Code

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:11:30 GMT

What if I told you that fictional mysteries contain practical real-world methodologies? I have pointed out the similarities between detectives solving mysteries to software debugging before. My day job of writing code often involves fixing bugs or solving bizarre cases of bad behavior in complex systems. In a new book called Mastermind: How to Think [...]

Biomimetic Emotional Learning Agents

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 05:11:14 GMT

Since I didn’t blog in back in 2004, you get to suffer—I mean, enjoy—another breathtaking misadventure down memory lane. In 2004 I started designing and coding (in C++) a cognitive architecture called Biomimetic Emotional Learning Agents (BELA). The Grand Plan This antique diagram reveals my old plans: The diagram indicates general flow of time from [...]

Comparison: ChainLocker vs. Heirarchical Mutexes

Fri, 8 Mar 2013 08:13:58 GMT

In “Concurrent Programming with Chain Locking,” Gigi Sayfan presents a C# class demonstrating chain locked operations on a hierarchical data structure. This reminded me of lock hierarchies described by Anthony Williams in the book C++ Concurrency in Action. To take a step back for a moment, the overall goal is to create multithreaded code which [...]

On the Concept of Shaping Thought with Language

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:11:06 GMT

Psychologist Lera Boroditsky says she’s “interested in how the languages we speak shape the way we think” [1]. This statement seems so innocent, and yet it implies that language definitely does shape thought1. It also leads us to use a metaphor with “shape.” Causes and Dependencies Does language cause thought? Or at least in part? [...]

What is a Room?

Tue, 5 Feb 2013 08:11:08 GMT

We all share the concept of rooms. I suspect it’s common and abstract enough to span cultures and millennia of history. The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one’s eyes.) —Wittgenstein Rooms are [...]

Rambling: Should All Software Be Real-Time?

Sat, 2 Feb 2013 20:11:59 GMT

As a design guideline, most disembodied “smart” computer systems should be real-time, at least of the soft variety. But they aren’t. We’ve gotten used to the cheap non-real-time properties of mainstream software. Evolution may have resulted in that design guideline for minds. But our computer programs and networks aren’t minds—at least not yet. However, successful [...]

All Minds Are Real-Time Control Systems

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:16:08 GMT

I conjecture that all minds are real-time control systems. In this post I will explain what that means and why it seems to be true. Creatures and Real-Time Systems Consider, if you will, artificial creatures that exist in either the real world or some model thereof. These [ro]bots do not know the environment beforehand, at [...]

Emotional Experience Needs Do Not Prevent Conscious Artificial Intelligence

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 03:14:09 GMT

I have mentioned the book The First Idea by Greenspan and Shanker many times recently. Lest anybody assume I am a fanboy of that tome, I wanted to argue with a ridiculous statement that the authors make in regards to consciousness and artificial intelligence. Greenspan and Shanker make it quite clear that they don’t think [...]