,
3 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
A fundamental trend in AI is that researchers conceptualize the human mind (and intelligence in general) by using as mental models the current technological tools they have available. This is implicit and insidious.
1950-1990: the dominant implicit metaphor for the mind was a computer, with formal programs and explicit knowledge bases.
2010s: the dominant implicit metaphor for the mind is now that of a freshly initialized neural network deriving knowledge and skills from "training data"
2010s: the dominant implicit metaphor for the mind is now that of a freshly initialized neural network deriving knowledge and skills from "training data"
(both are hopelessly wrong, and it is disheartening to see the blank slate NN analogy be just as uncritically accepted by the average student today as the computer metaphor was a few decades ago)
