Ever since I started my adventures with computers, I’ve been fascinated by the process and delight of random. Of taking something so precise as a computer and having it cough up random information. I think my first experience of this was with the venerable “Hypercard” running on a mac. Danny Goodman wrote a wonderful book on how to use and write for this product and it was a good initial introduction to programming.
I was thinking about how creativity contains elements of random – or new concepts (created because of random actions) and how AI is becoming rather good at defining, refining and regurgitating content to create the new.
Machine learning, giving a set of criteria and a desired result – infinite testing and the ability to weight or to project concepts. To test at an incredible rate – add to this the possibility of quantum computing and humanity is at a very interesting nexus.
Recently a group of researchers hooked an AI up to a robotic arm and sensing device (effectively giving the AI access into the physical world via the robotic arm and something similar to vision) when asked to identify an extinct animal it picked up a plastic model of a dinosaur. When asked what object might be the best for hammering a nail, it picked up a rock.
We live in interesting times.