#toRead #AI

📚 Index of Bongard Problems
by Mikhail Bongard, Douglas Hofstadter, Harry Foundalis, ...

http://www.foundalis.com/res/bps/bpidx.htm

Language processing terminology

Source code: a program written in a high-level language.

Preprocessor: does macro-processing, augmentation, file inclusion, language extension, etc.

Compiler: compiles the program and translates it to assembly program i.e. low-level language.

Assembler: translates assembly language programs into an object file, a.k.a. machine code, which contains a combination of instructions and data.

Linker: links and merges various object files together in order to make an executable file. All these files might have been compiled by separate assemblers. The major task of a linker is to search and locate referenced module/routines in a program and to determine the memory location where these codes will be loaded, making the program instruction to have absolute references.

Loader: loads executable files into memory and executes them. It calculates the size of a program and creates memory space for it. It initializes various registers to initiate execution. It is a part of the operating system.

Interpreter versus compiler:
An interpreter reads, converts, and executes one statement at a time. A compiler reads, converts, and executes the whole source code at once. If an error occurs, an interpreter stops execution and reports it. A compiler reads the whole program even if it encounters errors.

Cross-compiler: runs on one platform and is capable of generating executable code for another one is called a cross-compiler.

Source-to-source compiler: takes the source code and translates it into the source code of another programming language.

Ambiguity := one source code having more than one acceptable target codes.

Psyche is the operating system of the mind.

Formalization and de-generalization leads to inventions.

The machine cannot understand Chaos; neither can man! Both employ Order construction methods, stemming from self, which results in constructing arbitrary Order entities perceived from Chaos.

“There is nothing general except names.”
— John Stuart Mill

“We now understand how very complex and even apparently intelligent phenomena, such as genetic coding, the immune system, and low-level visual processing, can be accomplished without a trace of consciousness. But this seems to uncover an enormous puzzle of just what, if anything, consciousness is for. Can a conscious entity do anything for itself that an unconscious (but cleverly wired up) simulation of that entity couldn't do for itself?”
— Daniel Dennett

Machine is fast but stupid;
Man is intelligent but slow.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with seeing a face in a taco shell; it’s just a by-product of our evolved perceptual systems, like many of the other illusions to which humans fall prey. Our skills in this regard are so nuanced and powerful that even multimillion-dollar petaflop supercomputers still struggle to match us.”
— Steven Novella, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

“The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.”
— B. F. Skinner

Define define.

If I don't realize my vision, no one will.

Robustness versus brittleness
If a software system:
• can cope with errors
• can handle erroneous input
• allows modifications to its source code without losing reliability
it is said to be robust and not brittle.

Follow these principles to ensure robustness:
• Users may intentionally try to break your code
⇒ Disallow all such possibilities
• Users may try incorrect inputs
⇒ Display appropriate messages to inform the user
• When providing a higher level means to a lower level access, the interface may allow loopholes
⇒ Reenforce interfaces
• Nothing is impossible: the code may be modified later and this may turn an impossible case to a possibility
⇒ Treat impossibility as unlikely

Obeying artificial laws before personally concluding them is irrational.

A fair judge is an unbiased judge.
A self-aware subject is biased.
A subject cannot be a fair judge.

#Nile
Recur
- is a syntactic construct used in recursive functions, especially helpful in anonymous recursive functions and scripts:
{if x==0 return 0 else if x fits even return recur(x/2)/2 else return recur((x-1)/2)/2-0.5}

Formalization of the problem is how the machine understands it.

“Fools learn wisdom through misfortune.”
— Democritus

#Nile
Guidelines
when faced with an ambiguity, choose the obvious option based on the mixed contexts, if none or more than one exist, report back and do nothing.