Boog

Boog

Friday, October 7, 2016

Interpretation



I have many interests. Music, English history, linguistics and dialect by region (yes, that's a thing), science and technology. I'm especially interested in technology related to AI, or Artificial Intelligence. 

Wikipedia defines AI as:


Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence exhibited by machines. In computer science, an ideal "intelligent" machine is a flexible rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal.

The term "artificial intelligence" is applied when a machine mimics "cognitive" functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as "learning" and "problem solving". As machines become increasingly capable, facilities once thought to require intelligence are removed from the definition. For example, optical character recognition is no longer perceived as an exemplar of "artificial intelligence" having become a routine technology.

Capabilities currently classified as AI include successfully understanding human speech, competing at a high level in strategic game systems (such as Chess), self-driving cars, and interpreting complex data."



So, basically it is AI if it can interpret. Siri understands my Southern accent (most of the time), but can also understand the speech of a man from Boston. We sound nothing alike. Siri interprets. Self-driving cars interpret something suddenly appearing in front of it. If it's a leaf, it will keep going, if it's large/dangerous/living item, then it will slow down or stop. Interpreting.

Yes, I think we will have some sort of robot-like items soon that will do tasks for us we don't want to do or don't have time to do. I'm still waiting on that laundry-bot myself. Yet, it is a completely different type of AI I'm hoping to see in the not so distant future. AI that can "make up" for a possible lack of synapses in the human brain, thereby mimicking neural pathways. 

Why? Because one of the most difficult parts of Autism is communication. It's thought to be difficult due to a lack of brain synapses that should have been formed early on in life (if you need more explanation on synapses, I have a post explaining them here: http://www.allaboutboog.com/2015/03/new-study-on-brain-synapses-and-people.html
Without those crucial synapses the brain cannot send the thought correctly to the body or other region of the brain it needs to go to. The thought cannot be interpreted.

If you want to "cure" Autism, just stop reading now and please don't come back. Autism makes up part of my son's personality. Claiming you want to cure autism is like saying you want a cure that would make your child happy all the time. If she's happy all the time, that's not her personality. That would be a different person. Get it?

If not, click here and don't come back: http:/www.bored.com

I want a way that would make things easier for my son, not change him. Visually impaired children can receive glasses, a hearing impaired child may receive a cochlear implant. Why couldn't a form of AI assist my son to communicate? Yes, we have sign language, speech therapy, augmentative devices and are blessed to have them, but...  what if an attempt at speech is made at one part of the brain and a device could interpret that thought?  It could speak the thought. Maybe it could replace the missing synapses and the child could speak themselves. This really isn't out of the realm of possibilities. 

I'd gladly trade my laundry-bot in for something that could make it in any way easier for my son to communicate his needs. 

One in 65 children is a big number. At one point no one thought you could repair eyesight with surgery. No one thought you could put a device in a body that would regulate a heartbeat. No one thought people with type 1 diabetes could wear a device that gives them the insulin they require.

Things are changing daily. It used to be the race for space. Now it's the race to create. 

I like that race.