Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Can Anyone Tell Me What This Is...?



I mean, is this an implant, or something akin to it?  Its descriptive 'conclusion' is more in laymen's terms.  This appears to be a mind altering device/or model for one, patented, and made or modeled in 1997?

Here's the link.

11 comments:

Mark Thomas said...

Looks like a neural net based learning system designed for search functions.

scottsz said...

http://www.imagination-engines.com/cm.htm

scottsz said...

Oops, pasted the wrong link:

http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/imagination_engines_inc_011360364.asp?yr=08

Sorry...

Joseph said...

It's a dinglehopper!

grodog said...

The insides of the Stanley Cup??

Allan.

Rob Kuntz said...

Thanks mThomas, but being a fugitive from real scientific terms, that lost me, other than the idea that it has to do with the brain.

Scottz: Yes, but, but. what is it??? :)

Joe: I thought as much at first myself, but then it appeared pretty static for a "hopper". ;)

RJK--neurons overloaded...

Rob Kuntz said...

Grodog: Stanley lost his cup?

scottsz said...

I'm pretty sure it's just a conceptual diagram of an 'artificial intelligence' engine.

My reading about such things is limited, but this doesn't seem terribly clear or useful. 'Imagination Engine'? Really?

Last I checked, Artificial Intelligence (from the 1960's viewpoint) had been abandoned in favor of 'reasoning systems' meant to be assistive technologies. I remember reading about Bidirectional Associative Memory systems a few years ago - one of the big revelations was that such systems organize data as a method of conserving energy (i.e. it uses less electricity to remember a straight line than a curve, etc.) It would put AI study under thermodynamics - not terribly romantic, but perhaps useful for the future.

With the atomic/quantum computing that's coming down the pike, I believe some of the classic AI theories are being dusted off and looked at with fresh viewpoints.

There's a funny/sad story about one of the scientists working out problems in quantum computing having a revelation that perhaps the entire physical world was a system of quantum computations. I imagine that nothing looks the same after that.

If the flesh is filled with Eros, would an unbounded mind would be filled with Thanatos (to keep us balanced)? I always wondered if a true AI would emerge and, like something from a Rod Serling tale, turn itself off in a zero sum haze...

Sorry - it's late and I'm rambling. The diagram gives me the impression of a cheesy marketing pamphlet piece of art...

scottsz said...

Oops, forgot something. Told you it was late...

A sculptor I met had an interesting test for Artificial Intelligence - he said the test wasn't if it could play the game of Chess. The test was if it could design the game of Chess.

Rob Kuntz said...

Hey Scott. Thanks for amusing this fool. I've been in a state of tiredness (did not sleep well last night) and while looking at this thing my sci-fi side started tingling (probably the endorphins running out, actually). The thinga-ma-bob did give me an idea for fictional use, however, based errantly, of course, upon my first assumption. But that's the fun of creating. :)

Indeed, thanks for rambling, it was fun. :) I'll prep more next time. ;)

Hammer said...

It looks a lot like one of those engineering models you see of the guts of the Star Trek ships. Specifically, an antimatter injector from from any point after the first movie.