Science, Technology & Health: November 2010 Archives
Here's a cool artificial intelligence project idea: life on auto-pilot:
How far will this go? It's hard to say. As computers become more sophisticated, we will see more and more, and increasingly complex, tasks handed off to them either temporarily or permanently. Will we one day reach a point where it seems only natural to hand control over to a trusted digital friend when our careers or personal relationships start to get sticky? Just like a really difficult level in a computer game, right? Give the computer temporary control and then you can step back in later when things have calmed down a bit. ...What if a computer program came along that was as good at living your life -- as measured by achieving the outcomes that you most desire -- as a calculator is at figuring out square roots, or as the examples above are at playing Donkey Kong Country or parallel parking? Maybe you wouldn't just relinquish control to it, but I bet you would at least want to know what is has to say.
Actually, I think this would be a pretty simple piece of software to write. The hardest part would be writing the input and output mechanisms.
I've long been interested in neuroeconomics and quantitative psychology because it edges so close to my own artificial intelligence work which is heavily dependent on data. It is frustrating to me that so much research into the human brain is driven by observing symptoms and I'm glad to see that progress is being made towards understanding the underlying mechanisms.
Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, uses a combination of brain imaging and interactive games to explore this skill, with the long-term goal of developing new diagnostic tests for psychiatric disorders."This is an extremely promising approach to identifying the mechanisms that underpin these disorders," says Peter Fonagy, a psychiatrist at University College London who has collaborated with Montague in the past. "Psychiatry is the last medical specialty where the symptoms are equivalent to a diagnosis."
In a study published today, Montague and collaborators found that people take one of three strategies when playing a simple economics game, and that specific parts of the brain seem to be more active in people who choose to bluff. A second paper published last month shows how the strategies chosen by healthy people playing a similar game change depending on the mental status of their opponent. Researchers ultimately hope to create an automated version of this approach and use it to diagnose disease.
(Emphasis mine.) As automated system as described would be a fun AI project to develop.
Now someone needs to hook a few Kinects together to generate a complete model.
(HT: NC and Engadget.)
Aram Bartholl has embedded USB drives in mortar around New York City to facilitate anonymous file sharing. Pictures at the link.
(HT: RB.)
