The talk was given by Dr. Paul A. Rhodes, the CEO of a company called Evolved Machines, which is focused on studying neural circuitry and finding ways to synthesize it artificially.  This, in essence, is the “new paradigm” mentioned in the title of the talk: the old paradigm being the basis of artificial intelligence on symbolic logic.

Artificial Intelligence, at least in the way that it is defined on Wikipedia, is “founded on the claim that a central property of human beings, intelligence—the sapience of Homo Sapiens—can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine.”  The point of the talk was that the current method of modeling AI systems on symbolic logic does not really simulate the mechanisms that underlie our intelligence – our neural circuitry doesn’t carry out operations in discrete, logical steps, but rather in a probabilistic, chaotic manner.

For this reason, AI researchers have been able to solve certain types of problems extremely well: where the states and set of states are clearly defined (such as playing chess).  However, other types of problems, such as visual recognition of objects in different contexts, remain very difficult.  I would tend to think of the second problem, something that almost human does automatically and without thought, to be much more at the heart of being human than playing chess.

And this is exactly what Dr. Rhodes and Evolved Machines are hoping to accomplish – he showed some great visualizations (which I wish I could have captured for you) of models they have built using simulated neuronal interactions, including one that showed how the neurons which receive signals from retinal nerves might re-wire themselves in response to visual input in order to better, and more quickly, recognize objects.

This is an example of the new paradigm as he described it – artificial neural circuits built of simulated neural components and characteristics, such as:

• Electrically active trees which homeostatically self-regulate
• Dynamic (probabilistic) synapses
• Self-organization of wiring in response to sensory input

To me, it is amazing that computing power has grown to the point where we can start programming computers to model systems that don’t work like computers.  As neuroscience, computer science, and other disciplines continue to collaborate in ways such as these, I am encouraged by the prospect that we will soon see true aspects of human intelligence being synthesized.

Mechanical timepieces have always been used not only to mark the passage of time, but also to dictate the scheduling of activities; they regulate the speed of action and therefore the pace of society.  “Contemporary ideas about promptness would have been incomprehensible to the vast majority of our predecssors,” concludes Robert Levine in his book A Geography of Time.

The Greeks, Levine explains, had two words for time: chronos and kairos.  Chronos means absolute time: linear, chronological, and quantifiable.  Kairos, however, means qualitative time – the time of opportunity, chance and mischance.  If you go to bed because the clock says 10:30, you are adhering to a chronological time system.  If you go to sleep because you’re tired, you are following kairological or event time.  Before they shifted to a more clock-based way of doing things, people listened to their bodies to tell them when to do things.  Babies, so much in touch with their internal needs, are perfect examples of humans turned to kairological time.  The clash between personal time flow (getting food, going home) and the public time flow (standing in a queue) is experienced as disturbing.

Our concept of time as dictated by the clock is so ingrained in us that it seems almost impossible to imagine what life would have been like before rush hour, minute rice, and never having a second to think.  In fact, in some ways, our concept of time is shaped by our conflict with it (how often do you think about the time when you are enjoying yourself or have nothing to do?).  Furthermore, it is almost frightening to think that the pace of life will only continue to accelerate.

Anyways, to lighten things up, here’s another astute set of observations about our changing perceptions of time from the comedian Louis C.K.’s appearance on Conan: