Archive for October, 2009

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Updated Dissertation Structure

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

dissertation
The title is still “Language, Code and Communication – What Does It Take To Make Artificial Intelligence?”, but I have now re-drafted my dissertation structure as follows:

  1. Introduction
    • 1.1 – What I plan to discuss
    • 1.2 – A brief history of AI
  2. Intelligence
    • 2.1 – What is intelligence?
    • 2.2 – How do we solve problems?
      • 2.2a – Intrinsic and extrinsic knowledge
      • 2.2b – Learning by trial and error
  3. Communication and Language
    • 3.1 – Why the need to communicate?
      • 3.1a – Humans
      • 3.1b – Machines
      • 3.1c – The Internet
    • 3.2 – Why and how did language evolve?
      • 3.2a – Spoken word
      • 3.2b – Written
      • 3.2c – Print
      • 3.2d – Digital
  4. Code
    • 4.1 – Why do we need code?
      • 4.1a – Communication
      • 4.1b – Increasing productivity
      • 4.1c – Problem solving
    • 4.2 – How has code evolved to better handle complex tasks?
    • 4.3 – Why do different codes exist?
  5. Artificial Intelligence
    • 5.1 – How does AI work and how has it evolved?
      • 5.1a – Set-response AI
        • 5.1a.1 – Point and click games
        • 5.1a.2 – Command-line games
      • 5.1b – Linear reactive AI
        • 5.1b.1 – Pong
        • 5.1b.2 – PacMan
      • 5.1c – Strategic learning-based AI
        • 5.1c.1 – Chess machines
        • 5.1c.2 – Social networking sites
      • 5.1d – Problem-solving and self-autonomous AI
        • 5.1d.1 – ASIMO
        • 5.1d.2 – Mars Explorer
    • 5.2 – Faking intelligence
    • 5.3 – The worry of self-awareness
      • 5.3a – The Terminator franchise
      • 5.3b – I, Robot
      • 5.3c – Issac Asimovs “Three Laws of Robotics”
        • 5.3c.1 – The possible 4th and 5th laws
  6. How hard is it to make AI?
    • 6.1 – Have we actually created intelligence? (as defined in 2.1)
    • 6.2 – How can AI be made better?
    • 6.3 – What is holding us back?
      • 6.3a – Technical limitations
      • 6.3b – Social restrictions

As for references, I only have:

  • Prolog – Programming for Artificial Intelligence, Second Edition by Ivan Bratko [0-201-41606-9]
  • AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence by Daniel Crevier [0-465-02997-3]

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Flash…a Love/Hate Relationship

Monday, October 26th, 2009

gaming
I love Flash. I love ActionScript. It comes to me as easily as the Welsh accent comes to Tom Jones. I know AS2 very well and I am starting to get my head around AS3 without too much of a problem. My plan this year was to do as much work in Flash as possible to make it as easy for myself as possible.

For our gaming module, Orrin and I have decided to make an interactive and immersive mobile game using binaural audio. We have done some test recordings using binaural and they worked out very well. However, the next stage for me, whilst Orrin is working on a plot and the game mechanics is to do some ‘tech tests’ to try and deduce what technologies we use to make the game.

Our initial plan was to use Flash, which would make the game more universal. This would work fantastically, as Orrins phone (the HTC Hero) supports the full-fat Flash 9.0 rather than the semi-skimmed Flash Lite, which has limited capabilities with regards to graphics, sound and animation – the key ingredients in our project! However, the current version of Flash (9.0) doesn’t include support for mobile APIs such as GPS, compasses, accelerometers and audio input.

Unfortunately, there is a new version of Flash coming out (10.0) which will support just about everything we need from the mobile API access side of things, but it will be coming out “later this year” which is just a tad too late for us. The other 3 options are iPhone (Objective-C based XCode), Android (Google-based Java libraries and Eclipse) and Java/JavaME.

I have not yet looked into the iPhone SDK, despite being one of the first to download it. It has been left dorment in my Developer folder for quite some time for fear of it being just to difficult. However, according to that ever-reliable resource Wikipedia, the learning curve for the iPhone SDK is not that bad at all, much better than Java (which I semi-mastered in the second year) and the ever-so-slightly-different Android Java, which gives me the push to go and learn XCode for the iPhone. Plus, you never know what else I could build!

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-19

Monday, October 19th, 2009
  • There is a bug, exactly 1 pixel by 1 pixel, wandering around just inside my monitor. I appear to have a moving dead pixel…how frustrating! #
  • E4, School of Comedy – Not big, not clever and definately not funny. Kids are only funny when they fall over or inadvertently swear… #fb #
  • OMG wow! A blade-less fan has been invented! http://bit.ly/YrWI0 #
  • I'm very saddened by Colin McRae: Dirt 2. The gameplay has gone from realistic, unpredictable beauty to fast and straight-forward arcade. :( #
  • New Flickr photo: Chase: AJHosgood posted a photo:

    A photo taken from the top of a double de.. http://tinyurl.com/yzhvg5g #

  • WHY IS GRAVITY SO WEAK COMPARED TO THE OTHER 3 FUNDAMENTAL FORCES?! Steven Hawkin, Einstein – where the hell are you?! #complexphysics #
  • National Camera Day, today…aparently! Everyone grab your cameras, get out in the sun and take some great photos! :D #fb #
  • The weather in Sao Paulo is absolute crap! #fb #
  • RT @RetoF666 RT: @allkpop: RT @MTVIndia eBay/Paypal & MillerCoors are donating $0.01 every time you mention #beatcancer today. Pls RT! #
  • @timhosgood I have watched Seb complete Mile High Club on Veteran. Less than 2% of people complete it. You lose… in reply to timhosgood #
  • I got my 6 and a half hours. I hope you all did! #fb #
  • In the pub and people next to us are trying to define the word 'lovely'! #
  • Very interesting if true… RT @ClassicFun Large Hardron Collider Trying To Destroy Itself From The Future http://bit.ly/2sUVDD #

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A Wikipedia Evening

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Tonight, I got very bored and ended up browsing Wikipedia for a few hours. After a few hours, I was so bored, I opened up my history and wrote it down:

  • RCA connector
    • List of video connectors
      • DisplayPort
      • HDMI
        • High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection
      • Apple Display Connector
      • Serial digital interface
      • Digital Visual Interface
      • S-Video
    • Composite monitor
      • RGB colour model
      • CVBS
    • Composite video
      • PAL
        • 576i
          • Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem
        • Standard-definition television
          • Carrier wave
            • Luma (video)
          • 3D television
            • 3D display
              • Autostereoscopy
              • Stereogram
                • Polarization
            • Alternate-frame sequencing
            • Holography
              • Volumetric display
                • Photorefractive effect
              • Free viewpoint television
              • 2D-plus-depth
            • BBC
              • Television
  • PS3
    • History of video games
      • History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
        • Zeebo
        • Atari Flashback
        • Generation NEX
        • Gizmondo
        • Pandora (console)
      • Timeline of video arcade game history
        • Defender (video game)
        • I, Robot (arcade game)
        • San Francisco Rush 2049
    • Video game console
      • Unlockable game
        • Sonic Adventure
    • PlayStation 3 launch
      • Call of Duty 3
        • Call of Duty (series)
          • Modern Warfare 2
      • Tony Hawk’s Project 8
      • Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
    • XrossMediaBar
    • Xbox 360
      • Xbox 360 System Software
      • Xbox Live
        • Wii Menu
          • Everybody Votes Channel
    • PlayStation 3 games
      • List of PlayStation 3 backward compatible PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games
        • PlayStation 2
          • PSX (DVR)
    • PlayStation 3 system software
      • Graphical user interface
        • History of the graphical user interface
        • Zooming user interface
          • Features new to Windows Vista
            • Remote Desktop Protocol
              • Remote Desktop Services
          • Application programming interface
            • Apple Inc.
              • iTunes Store
                • High-definition video
                  • HD DVD
                  • Blu-ray Disc
                  • Digital Cinema Initiatives
                    • 2160p
                    • Super Hi-Vision
                      • 22.2
                  • YCbCr
                  • YPbPr
              • iPhone
                • iPhone OS
                  • Mac OS X

It’s really weird to see my evening go from an RCA connector to Mac OS X, via the PS3. It seems that on the nights that I browse Wikipedia, there is a certain theme across the night.

…maybe I should get a life…

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Dissertation Proposal

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

dissertation
Possible title: Language, Code and Communication – What Does It Take To Make Artificial Intelligence?

Communication has always existed in some form. Whether it is spoken language, smell, sound or gesture-based, if a life form exists, it needs to be able to communicate with its neighbors and possibly even its surroundings. As time went by, language evolved into a spoken form that became almost universal amongst nearly all homo sapiens. At some point in history, man created computers to perform mind-numbingly boring and tedious calculations and operations. There became a point where the operations were so complex, it would be easier to create a system whereby the machine could give itself instructions.

John McCarthy was the first to coin the phrase ‘Artificial Intelligence’ in 1956, describing it as “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines” [What is Artificial Intelligence?, John McCarthy - Revised November 12, 2007].  There have been various forms of AI throughout the years, from simple trigger-based responses to robot that can perform complex problem-solving operations in unfamiliar situations, gaining knowledge that can be applied for future similar circumstances. Due to the rapid expansion of web-based technology in the past few years with tags, suggestions, sharing and a vast collection of ‘Web 2.0’ social networking sites, the information that everyone sees on the Internet is becoming very unique to the individual. The next step in searches and social sharing is artificially-intelligently suggested information.

As it stands, AI already exists in simple forms on the Internet, with some websites suggesting links to websites, news items or current trends that are similar to previously visited sites. However, current online AI technology is based on hard-coded information and commands and can only expand their knowledge by additional hard-coding or guess-work. A large percentage of Internet users are unable to code intelligence, due to a lack of coding knowledge, but what if I could create an intelligent entity that understood and responded to human-based commands?

Possible resources and critical context:

  • AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence [ISBN-10: 0465029973]

Sounds complicated, but interesting – no?

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