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Nisansa de Silva is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon. His research interests are in the area of Artificial Intelligence, specifically, in the sub-domains of; Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, and Data mining.
Nisansa is currently on study leave from his position of lecturer at the Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
Nisansa is a polymath of sorts and has a wide range of interests including history, philosophy, linguistics, mythology, pop culture and classical music.
Nisansa is on Twitter at @NisansaDdS.
Show Notes
Not only did Nisansa appear as our guest in this episode, he compiled the show notes that follow, making them the most comprehensive set of show notes we have ever had on the podcast to date. We’d like to thank him for being so generous with his time and knowledge.
- Artificial neural network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_network#History
- Artificial neuron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neuron
- Perceptron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron
- Backpropagation: http://bit.ly/39qAdtO
- Hill-climbing (Note from Nisansa: This term was used for the benefit of non-computer science people in place of Gradient Descent. Computer science people, put your scythes away.) Refer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_climbing and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradient_descent for the actual definitions.
- Example of neural network with a memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_short-term_memory
- AGI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence
- Transfer learning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_learning
- Fuzzy Logic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_logic
- AIML: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIML
- Chinese Room: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
- Expert system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert_system
- AI is just If-Else comics: https://i.imgur.com/UkpWru4.jpg https://external-preview.redd.it/gJ6PpMqv58ehrQywr473RhcMoXbx_39uUHp20PuFHB4.jpg?auto=webp&s=c81360a3db680ed726d2db80e01f2e6081757576 and https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-89cfa17ca63ddac683e04f0852336e47.webp
- Generalization in AI context: https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/crash-course/generalization/video-lecture
- Brain vs Computers (Slides 21,22) http://bit.ly/2sBvKUm
- Google confirms ‘quantum supremacy’. Please note that at the time of recording, the news was brand new and we did not have much information about it. https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/23/20928294/google-quantum-supremacy-sycamore-computer-qubit-milestone
- How Far Are We From Achieving Artificial General Intelligence?: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/06/10/how-far-are-we-from-achieving-artificial-general-intelligence/#4d49a6de6dc4
- NP-hard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NP-hardness
- Travelling salesman problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem
- Reduction (complexity): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduction_(complexity)
- Here is a yet another reduction joke: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1kid90/the_mathematicians_interview/
- AI-hard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI-complete
- A more elaborate version of the mathematician vs the engineer joke: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/2ijugj/a_mathematician_and_an_engineer_agree_to_a/
- Clarke’s three laws: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws (Note from Nisansa: I wrongly say it is the second law when in fact it is the first law.)
- Sentient: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentient
- Sapient: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sapient
- Anthropocentrism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism
- Neanderthal extinction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_extinction
- Examples of other alien cultures building robots in their image can be found in Mass Effect (https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Reaper vs https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Leviathan) and in Star Wars (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_droid vs https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Geonosian)
- Turing test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
- Westworld: https://www.hbo.com/westworld
- Trolley problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem
- The Moral Machine experiment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0637-6
- Why do all alternate universes have zeppelins: https://sententiaesite.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/why-do-all-alternate-universes-have-zeppelins/
- Hindenburg disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster
- Hierarchical clustering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_clustering
- The Chinese room problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
- Uncanny valley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
- CATS – Official Trailer [HD] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtSd844cI7U
- ‘The Lion King’ Official Trailer (2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Raf9bVk75s8
- Cats MusicalStage production example – Memory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY
- Sophia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(robot)
- OpenCog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCog
- Ben Goertzel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Goertzel
- Ex Machina (film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Machina_(film)
- “Dial “F” for Frankenstein” by Arthur C. Clarke in “The Wind from the Sun”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_from_the_Sun
- SETI@home: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI@home
- BotNet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet
- Person of Interest (TV series): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey
- Terminator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(franchise)
- Occam’s razor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
- Mass Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect
- Star Wars Droids: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Droid
- L3-37 https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/L3-37 (Not from Nisansa: Another mistake by me. L3-37 is not from Rouge-One. She is from Solo.)
- The Measure Of A Man (episode): https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Measure_Of_A_Man_(episode)
- Author, Author (episode): https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Author%2C_Author_(episode)
- Hyperion Cantos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
- Marvin the Paranoid Android: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Paranoid_Android
- Gorilla uses SIGN LANGUAGE to tell zoo goers not to feed it: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5847241/Cheeky-monkey-Gorilla-uses-SIGN-LANGUAGE-tell-zoo-goers-not-feed-it.html
- Washoe (chimpanzee): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)#Self-awareness_and_emotion
- Chimp who ‘talked’ with sign language heartbreaking reaction to keeper’s miscarriage: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/chimp-who-talked-sign-language-14993695
- The Animatrix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix
- The Naked Now (episode): https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Naked_Now_(episode)
- Ship of Theseus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
- “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/117526-no-man-ever-steps-in-the-same-river-twice-for
- Krang: https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Krang
- Moral nihilism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_nihilism
- To build a moral rocket: https://sententiaesite.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/to-build-a-moral-rocket/
- Victorian Hypocrisy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_morality
- “Kill all humans”: https://theinfosphere.org/Kill_all_humans
- Bender Bending Rodriguez: https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Bender_Bending_Rodr%C3%ADguez
- The Kobayashi Maru scenario: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru_scenario
- Knocker uppers: Waking up the workers in industrial Britain: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35840393
- Luddite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
- Goldman Sachs analysis of autonomous vehicle job loss: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/22/goldman-sachs-analysis-of-autonomous-vehicle-job-loss.html
- Autonomous vehicles won’t only kill jobs. They will create them, too: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/10/autonomous-vehicles-are-creating-jobs-heres-where.html
- Turning Coal Miners Into Coders–And Preventing A Brain Drain: https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2017/01/30/turning-coal-miners-into-coders-and-preventing-a-brain-drain/#639f3b0ff81d
- “Learn to Code” meme origin: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/should-you-learn-to-code
- “Learn to Code” meme: https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-where-learn-code-meme-originated-hint-not-ashe-schow
- This Horrifying App Undresses a Photo of Any Woman With a Single Click: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzm59x/deepnude-app-creates-fake-nudes-of-any-woman
- Generative Adversarial Network (GAN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_adversarial_network
- Prohibition in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
- How Prohibition Put the ‘Organized’ in Organized Crime: https://www.history.com/news/prohibition-organized-crime-al-capone
- “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” – Max Planck, (Note from Nisansa: I mistakenly attribute this to Niels Bohr instead of Max Planck)
- [Westworld] Ford and Bernard “Mistakes”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hra3U_C56w
- Childhood’s End: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood%27s_End
- WALL-E: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash