After thanksgiving

Wondering why I took off 3 nights and 2 days all in the name of thanksgiving.

Now, I'm backlogged with work and my migraine is back again.

I really like the idea of statistical pattern recognition....but what aspect am I really interested in? handwriting? signal? image? (does this exist?)

Accept the worst that can happen....then make your decisions based on the worst happening.

This was never my dream....I mean somehow I guess it was....I couldnt see it clearly, but now I do, I realize its the dream I've been dreaming...but can you tell your dream to hold on while you do other things?

What is more important? That I sacrifice now for the future that may never be...or I live life fully right now and by that I mean.....become stable right now as opposed to later.

Should I just pick something, get done with it and then move on?

I'm afraid of chasing something that will never be. I want to make sure I'm not running into a cul de sac.

Excited about Philosophy Society meeting

So I just found out that theres a student philosophy society at my school and in their next meeting the topic of discussion is

Philosophy of Mind:

• Can a computer think?
• Is the brain a computer?
• Is body separate from mind?
• What is the self?

Cant wait!

MUSINGS

So do we end up programming everything? Does intelligent mean that all scenarios have been implemented? But thats not how it happens in humans. We're not preprogrammed for every situation. We play life as it comes. We can learn from situations we've been in (neurons make connections = = pattern recognition learning schemes for machines?). We have survival instincts/guides.

I think what I might be heading at is the idea that computers/machines should develop this instinct/intuition and should be able to learn from past situations. (where does the symbiotic relationship come in?...cant focus only on the machine's process, have to consider the humans' process too....)

Hmm...Now I think about it, what exactly is a robot? I know I cant stand the notion of just working on a particular "robot" as part of my life. But since I'm concerned with the intelligence of humans and machines, doesnt that automatically include robots? I mean, when we finally figure out a way to make machines as intelligent as humans, wont that just be applied to robotics? I think the key is to stop using the words computers and robots. I am interested in cognition as relating to human and machines. Thats a better way of expressing my interest.

Decreasing the cognitive dissonance between humans and machines, increasing their cognitive productivity, reducing cognitive drain (i.e a human should be able to work in co-operation with a machine to more easily (for both of them) perform a task. The key term is symbiosis. Together, without "hurting" each other. two brains (computer and human) are better than one.

Cognition is definitely a word that has to be described in all my writings since it pervades my thoughts.

Here we go again with research interest

I love anything that has to do with the human brain, computers and cognition.

Intelligence (of humans and computers) is my forte(well what I'm fascinated about...dont think I can really call it my forte yet...I'm not yet a notable researcher in this field).

I'm intrigued by artificial intelligence but not as related to robotics. I have absolutely no interest in robotics.

I'm more interested in how the human brain and computers(machines) learn and how they can complement and improve each other's learning.

Learning is actually too narrow. Process is a better word. How they can improve each other's processes (way of doing things).