The story revolves around Dr. Yu Tsun, a Chinese spy working for the Germans during World War I, who must transmit a crucial message by killing a man named Albert. The narrative intertwines with the concept of Ts'ui Pen's unfinished novel and labyrinth, which are interpreted as a single project representing multiple possible futures. The story explores themes of time, reality, and the infinite possibilities of choice, foreshadowing concepts from quantum mechanics and chaos theory.
György Buzsáki's "The Brain from Inside Out" offers a revolutionary perspective on how the brain functions. Buzsáki challenges traditional models of brain activity, arguing that the brain's internal dynamics play a crucial role in shaping our perception and behavior. He emphasizes the importance of brain rhythms and oscillations in coordinating neural activity and generating conscious experience. The book delves into the complex interplay between brain regions and the role of spontaneous brain activity in shaping our thoughts and actions. Buzsáki's work provides a compelling framework for understanding the brain's intricate workings.
The Gentle Seduction by Marc Stiegler is a science fiction tale that delves into the transformative power of technology, particularly nanotechnology, and its potential to reshape human existence. The story is inspired by Vernor Vinge's ideas about a technological singularity, where rapid technological advancements could fundamentally alter human life. Stiegler's narrative offers a hopeful vision of the future, where technology acts as a 'gentle seducer' that elevates humanity to new heights.
Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Autonomous AI. Irina holds an MSc and PhD in AI from the University of California, Irvine as well as an MSc in Applied Mathematics from the Moscow Gubkin Institute. Her research focuses on machine learning, neural data analysis, and neuroscience-inspired AI. In particular, she is exploring continual lifelong learning, optimization algorithms for deep neural networks, sparse modelling and probabilistic inference, dialog generation, biologically plausible reinforcement learning, and dynamical systems approaches to brain imaging analysis. Prof. Rish holds 64 patents, has published over 80 research papers, several book chapters, three edited books, and a monograph on Sparse Modelling. She has served as a Senior Area Chair for NeurIPS and ICML. Irina's research is focussed on taking us closer to the holy grail of Artificial General Intelligence. She continues to push the boundaries of machine learning, continually striving to make advancements in neuroscience-inspired AI.
In a conversation about artificial intelligence (AI), Irina and Tim discussed the idea of transhumanism and the potential for AI to improve human flourishing. Irina suggested that instead of looking at AI as something to be controlled and regulated, people should view it as a tool to augment human capabilities. She argued that attempting to create an AI that is smarter than humans is not the best approach, and that a hybrid of human and AI intelligence is much more beneficial. As an example, she mentioned how technology can be used as an extension of the human mind, to track mental states and improve self-understanding. Ultimately, Irina concluded that transhumanism is about having a symbiotic relationship with technology, which can have a positive effect on both parties.
Tim then discussed the contrasting types of intelligence and how this could lead to something interesting emerging from the combination. He brought up the Trolley Problem and how difficult moral quandaries could be programmed into an AI. Irina then referenced The Garden of Forking Paths, a story which explores the idea of how different paths in life can be taken and how decisions from the past can have an effect on the present.
To better understand AI and intelligence, Irina suggested looking at it from multiple perspectives and understanding the importance of complex systems science in programming and understanding dynamical systems. She discussed the work of Michael Levin, who is looking into reprogramming biological computers with chemical interventions, and Tim mentioned Alex Mordvinsev, who is looking into the self-healing and repair of these systems. Ultimately, Irina argued that the key to understanding AI and intelligence is to recognize the complexity of the systems and to create hybrid models of human and AI intelligence.
Find Irina;
https://mila.quebec/en/person/irina-rish/
https://twitter.com/irinarish
YT version: https://youtu.be/8-ilcF0R7mI
MLST Discord: https://discord.gg/aNPkGUQtc5
References;
The Garden of Forking Paths: Jorge Luis Borges [Jorge Luis Borges]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Forking-Paths-Penguin-Modern/dp/0241339057
The Brain from Inside Out [György Buzsáki]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brain-Inside-Out-Gy%C3%B6rgy-Buzs%C3%A1ki/dp/0190905387
Growing Isotropic Neural Cellular Automata [Alexander Mordvintsev]
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.01681
The Extended Mind [Andy Clark and David Chalmers]
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3328150
The Gentle Seduction [Marc Stiegler]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentle-Seduction-Marc-Stiegler/dp/0671698877
Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) 
