An avatar is a representation of a user, i.e. the computer user’s (graphical) representation of himself/herself. In the Avatar film, the avatar is a body of an alien remotely controlled by a human operator. The sheer scale and ambition of the outstanding vision make this film hard to beat. Awesome special effects, spectacular images and magnificent CGI landscapes. A fascinating and staggering trip to another world.

As a blog author, you have to align your products to the market demand in order to survive in the market share battle. People obviously want to see pictures of funny animals with captions. So here are even more funny animals with pictures: for example Psychology 101..

..Physics 101..

..Computer Science 101..

.. and Business 101

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Jochen Fromm (abbreviated “JoFr” or 0x4a6f4672 in hexadecimal notation). That’s me. A computer scientist and software developer who studied physics and computer science in Münster and Kassel, respectively. Admin of this blog, the wiki and the site in general. This entry is an experiment – an attempt to create a very simple Landing Page with a single blog entry in the own blog. If you have found this blog entry by a search engine, then it has worked… I also have a programming blog here named 4 Lines of Code

From time to time I examine the stats of this blog. Every author is interested in feedback, and I am trying to write really interesting articles about complex adaptive systems, new forms of AI, and interesting philosophical questions. Surprisingly, it is not the post with the most interesting topic or deepest philosophical questions which gets the most hits, it is the christmas article for the search keywords “funny animals with captions”. The top search engine terms for this blog are: “funny animals”, “funny animals with captions”, “funny animals pics”, and “more pictures of funny animals”. People are not looking for answers to deep philosophical questions, they are looking for “funny animals with captions”. I struggle with really difficult concepts, topics, and theories, try to put them in simple words, and the only people who read it accidentally just want to have some fun.. Great. Well, this blog is not the right place to find “funny animals with captions”. If you are looking for them, then I recommend Lolcats, Loldogs and related sites. However, here are some for those strongheaded fellows who believe they can find them here.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

moar funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The technological singularity is a hypothetical future event which takes place when humans succeed in creating an AI being more intelligent than any human could ever be. Imagine a future where computers match or exceed our own intelligence; where problem solving is no longer limited by human thinking. I think it is possible to create a strong AI with common sense comparable to humans. The mind does not resist explanation, because it is formed by the world around us. We know what brains are made of, and we are able to do impressive things if we work together. If we can fly to the moon and back, it should be possible in principle to create a network of computers that could mimic the thought patterns of people, although I doubt that it will be easy to achieve. For as long as we’ve been aware of our ability to make machines that can think, creating human-like intelligence has seemed just a small step away, but has always been completely out of reach on a closer look.

So yes, we will be able to create an AI, but it will be hard. Despite all the difficulties, eventually we will be able to construct an AI which develops a similar form of self-consciousness than we have – but it certainly will be as confused as we are about it. It is doubtful that it will be much more intelligent or “radically super-intelligent” than any human (or group of humans) could ever be. There will be no “explosion if intelligence” as long as the AI speaks the same language, experiences the same worlds, and explores the same universe at the same resolution. Humans take 18-20 years of learning to grow up, and the pool of human knowledge available and accessible on the internet is quite large. Our thoughts may be contained in plain text, simple
“one-dimensional strings of code”, but they are not one-dimensional.

Intelligence depends on experience, learning and training. Intelligent software or intelligent machines, like humans, will need to be trained in particular domains of knowledge and expertise. This takes time and deliberate attention to the kind of knowledge you want the machine to have. If intelligent means just being flexible, adaptive and attentive to change, is there a stronger form of intelligence than a “blank slate” with absolute formability and plasticity, which can be found in an agent which is constructed and formed by its environment?

Everyone of us speeks at least one language, the native language. Some may speak clearer and faster than others, but basically all people are able to formulate any idea which they want to express. It is hard to invent radically new metaphors or words for daily life because people have done this for hundreds of years. Therefore even if an AI finally understands language, it will be difficult to come up with completely new metaphors, analogies or words for the same reason. If machines will understand the world using the same methods humans do, then they will face similar difficulties and problems. But an AI of the future may have access to different languages, to different virtual worlds and computational universes that are completely distinct from ours. It may handle a greater amount of information at a greater speed and store and combine a much larger number of patterns. Then it may indeed produce ideas which exceed the limits of our imagination.

If a technological singularity will happen, then probably more as a result of a major transition in evolution, or in the way of Koch and Tononi, and less as a point of exponential increase in intelligence. According to Koch and Tononi, you need to be a single integrated entity with a large repertoire of highly differentiated states to be conscious: ideally a universe of states mapped and compressed on a single point, which resembles the notion of a mathematical singularity. Before an agent is able to recognize itself it must be able to roughly understand a world. During this adaptation process, it has to learn to represent all the basic structures and dynamic processes, until a complete internal universe of neural assemblies has been built up. In one world our self is a single agent, in the other world our self is a complete universe. Self-consciousness is the confusion which arises if we try to bring the one point of view into agreement with the other, the chaos which results if different worlds collide. In this sense, each of us is a small singularity, a small exceptional 1/x point where different universes meet and worlds collide.

—
The neuron picture is a Flickr picture from Scott Ingram Photography

Does anyone remember Elite ? It was one of the first home computer games with revolutionary 3D graphics – wireframe 3D graphics with hidden line removal – and was developed by David Braben and Ian Bell for 8-Bit computers. Today players play World of Warcraft or Eve Online (I have to try this one !). It is a player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in a science fiction space setting. EVE allows you to discover, explore and dominate an amazing science fiction universe while you fight, trade, form corporations and alliances with other players. The senior producers of EVE Online at CCP Games have indeed cited Elite as one of the inspirations. We have come a long way, but an exciting future lies ahead.

“Curiosity is the lust of the mind.”
–Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

We had Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Life (ALife). What comes next? Maybe Artificial Curiosity. The tremendous computational power of a human brain comes from years of learning and adaptation. Therefore programming all necessary knowledge into computers seems to be hopeless. The only hope is a general purpose learning algorithm. Contrary to computers and robots today, we are all equipped with an inquisitive mind, with the drive to explore and understand the world. At least as children.

Many grown ups have lost not only the happiness and innocence of childhood, they have also lost their natural curiosity. Children are endlessly curious and ask questions without end, they are naturally imaginative, innovative and open to worlds of possibilities. They are insatiably curious because it is fun to learn new things: to make new connections and to gain new insights is very pleasant. It is the same pleasure that scientists love about their jobs: the pleasure of finding things out. Children are like little researchers. For a child, there is always more to know. Some people stay curious for their life, for scientists it is their profession: universities are citadels for the pursuit of curiosity.

An autonomous agent with artificial curiosity would be childlike, a bit like an artificial scientist: it would enjoy insights and like the mysterious, i.e. it would like research and exploration, continuously investigating and questioning the world. Would an agent which shows artificial curiosity also be bored? Or be fascinated if there is something completely new and very interesting? How to be childlike is a good question for grown-ups, but it is also a question which leads maybe one day to true AI and ALife.

Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend’st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, resty Muse, my love’s sweet face survey,
If Time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make Time’s spoils despised every where.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life;
So thou prevent’st his scythe and crooked knife.
-Shakespeare Sonnet 100

The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the production of creative content. Some creative people have obviously better relationships with the muses than others, and often older, more experienced people produce better works than younger ones, although the younger are sometimes a little more creative. Why does a composer, writer or artist become better and better during his life? Do we have to be special in order to be creative? The ordinary earlier works of J.S. Bach, Will Shakespeare and W.A. Mozart were less spectacular and significant than their late masterworks. This is true for all authors and composers. Why does their creativity increase so dramatically?

There are two aspects, the performance and the composition aspect. The first is the performance aspect. The classic authors and composers were also performers of their own compositions. Bach, Mozart and Shakespeare performed their own works, and they knew their market: they knew what people wanted to hear. Shakespeare was a great actor, Mozart was a great pianist, and Bach a great organ player. It is well known that a musician becomes better only through practice, constant exercise and disciplined training. A better performer is obviously a better composer, because he can create, test and perform more complex creations and compositions. During the skill acquisition process, the performers learn to “speak” the language of a specific domain very well. They learn how to use and exploit the symbolic content of the cultural domain.

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton argue in their book “Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense” that exceptional performance depends heavily on experience and effort, and describe the 10-year rule for exceptional performance:

Exceptional performance doesn’t happen without exceptional effort, and even allegedly inherited abilities — like IQ and other “smartness” measures — improve markedly and continuously when people work hard, have good coaching, and believe they will keep getting better. The nature versus nurture debate persists in academia and society. But natural gifts are useless without lots of practice. People, teams, and organizations that are novices at something almost always do it badly at first; brilliant or at least competent performance is achieved through raw persistence, coupled with the belief that improvement will happen. What people are able to do as beginners is far less important than whether they try hard and keep learning every day. Research in dozens of domains reveals a similar story — exceptional performance doesn’t happen without approximately 10 years of nearly daily, deliberate practice, for about four hours a day, by people who somehow (e.g. coaching, skilled peers or competitors, or books) have access to the best techniques. This 10-year rule holds in every domain — chess, medicine, auditing, programming, bridge, physics, juggling, dance, and music. And once achieved, exceptional performance can’t be maintained without relentless effort.”
– “Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense” by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, Harvard Business School Press; (2006)

Exceptional performance is not possible without exceptional effort. Dean Keith Simonton writes in his book “Greatness: Who makes history and why” (The Guilford Press, 1994) to become a star or a genius you must “organize your whole life around a single enterprise […] You must start early, labor continuously, and never give up the cause.”

The second aspect is the composition aspect. The composer does not only speak the domain specific language, he invents new sentences and stories. Besides the spark of inspiration, the composition process requires a variety of techniques, materials, experiences, impressions and memories which are used in the process. The skills of a composer rely on these resources, which are mainly acquired by practice and learning. The memories and experiences form the voices of the “muses”, which inspire the creative person. The most important thing to feed creativity is experiencing new things, exploring new areas and perspectives, expanding your vocabulary, widening your horizon, and trying something really new. You must have enough dots to connect. Of course you need enough freedom, independence and artistic license to collect and use the dots.

It is very important for a creative person to see and hear what others have done and how they have done it. And a great composer must learn all the rules, guidelines, maxims of the field in order to break them. Creative people like composers, designers, writers and artists learn how to create better pieces of art during their lifetime. They learn how to weave the threads of their domain to make beautiful patterns. They adapt themselves to their specific domain of art (composing, painting, writing,..) and to a certain world of culture (the world of music, the world of graphics, the world of books, etc.)

Compare for example the early symphonies and string quartets from Mozart with his late ones. Or take a look at the early work of Shakespeare, and compare this passage from “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (Act 3, Scene I) known from the film “Shakespeare in Love”..

“What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be to think that she is by
And feed upon the shadow of perfection
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon;
She is my essence, and I leave to be,
If I be not by her fair influence
Foster’d, illumined, cherish’d, kept alive.”

..with a well-known late work from Shakespeare named “Romeo and Juliet” (Act 1, Scene 5)

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, creativity is a process by which a symbolic domain in the culture is occupied. To achieve true creativity, it is important to have enough freedom, and to keep the right balance of curiosity or playfulness which keeps you looking for new information (to explore a domain) and commitment or discipline which keeps you going when others have doubts (to exploit a domain). And it is necessary to be at the right place at the right time. Then you may have the luck to belong to those especially creative people who have made a name for themselves by exploring a cultural domain for the first time – Shakespeare explored the domain of the theater and English poetry, Mozart the domain of the orchestra and classical music, etc.

To sum it up, although creativity itself is not directly related to adaptive process – it is more related to mixing, (re-)combination and inspiration – the potential for creativity increases by adaptation, experience and learning. During learning, the (cap)abilities of the creator are optimized, and optimization is form of adaptation. A creative person has the ability to be really good if he loves what he is doing and if he knows his field well. Shakespeare has studied the works of Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe and many other contemporary and classic writers, Mozart has studied Haydn, Haendel and many other composers (including J.S. Bach and his sons). By studying their works, they learned new motives, schemes, styles and techniques. Edward O. Wilson said “Genius is the summed production of the many with the names of the few attached for easy recall.” Shakespeare’s life was the theater, as a playwright he was adapted to the theater of Elizabethan era. His plays embodied and incorporated the spirit of this era. Similarly, Mozart’s life was the orchestra and the opera, as a composer he was adapted to the concert rooms of the European royalty and incorporated the spirit of the classical era. Both were outstanding creative people who were perfectly adapted to their worlds. They started early, worked continuously very hard, and never gave up their love to the theater (Shakespeare) or classical music (Mozart). Only a few have reached their level of creativity. The wish or belief to be good is not enough in a creative endeavor, but if passion meets endurance, then anything is possible. In Shakespeare’s words:

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
– Shakespeare Sonnet 29

Tolerance is an aspect of modern human behavior, which appeared together with language and culture. Modern humans cooperate with non-relatives in coordinated actions, accept strangers and live together with foreigners.

Can you talk of tolerance in the stone age? Hardly. A man from the lower palaeolithic certainly had little tolerance for strangers who occupied his cave, picked his berries, and hunted his deer. Resources were limited. Apparently tolerance towards strangers appeared together with language and culture, when hunters turned into
cattle-breeders and gathers turned into farmers. At that time a resource surplus allowed the emergence of cities, countries, buildings and institutions.

Tolerance means accepting diversity, accepting group members and other groups which are different. It seems to be an adaptation to cooperation by strangers. Tolerance is an adaptation to

• ..living with strangers (in cities)
• ..continued presence of foreigners
• ..cooperation by strangers/foreigners
• ..chances/inspiration/praise by foreigners

If this is correct, then intolerance is an adaptation to competition by strangers. The repellent and protective behavior, which is related to arrogance, is an adaptation to

• ..living without strangers (in the country)
• ..total absence of foreigners
• ..competition by strangers/foreigners
• ..threats/oppression/accusations by foreigners