Socratic Method

The Socratic Method (or Method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate), named after the Classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate rational thinking and to illuminate ideas.^[1] It is a dialectical method, often involving an oppositional discussion in which the defense of one point of view is pitted against the defense of another; one participant may lead another to contradict himself in some way, strengthening the inquirer's own point.

In Plato's early dialogues, the elenchus is the technique Socrates uses to investigate, for example, the nature or definition of ethical concepts such as justice or virtue. According to one general characterization,^[6] it has the following steps:

1. Socrates' interlocutor asserts a thesis, for example "Courage is endurance of the soul", which Socrates considers false and targets for refutation.
2. Socrates secures his interlocutor's agreement to further premises, for example "Courage is a fine thing" and "Ignorant endurance is not a fine thing".
3. Socrates then argues, and the interlocutor agrees, that these further premises imply the contrary of the original thesis, in this case it leads to: "courage is not endurance of the soul".
4. Socrates then claims that he has shown that his interlocutor's thesis is false and that its contrary is true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method

While arguing it is second nature for all of us(yeah this is universal; SHUT UP! my blog my truths...) to defend all that we say usually to the bitter/victorious end(at least we remain convinced in our heads that we couldn't possibly have been wrong). A sure fire way to end most arguments (and start some(stupid) fights)(with strangers) would be showing "the finger", along with some invectives(qty: to taste).I have 26 hours and 30 minutes before my end sems start and all I can think about is the prolonged discussion(argument) I had with my friend for the last two hours(topics ranged from nationalism, terrorism, etc. to mallus & coconuts and hyderabadis and so on and so forth.....the original idea was to study.(very common occurrence, this(at least happens to me time and again), sit with your friends {night out} to group study{biggest academic sham there is} and end up talking nonsense.(I have paid the price for this in full, now writing after seeing the results of the said end semester exams)

Refusing to get goaded in an argument is a trick of mind, I've learnt this the hard way.

[ Its essentially involves to presume, before anything at all is said, that

the one goading will be spouting supreme bull crap, consciously listening to which itself

is self demeaning in the extreme.(This approach is not becoming in a

proper debate where ignoring your opponents opinions is a strategic

disadvantage and indicative of ignorant arrogance(besides being plain stupid,else what is the point of the entire exercise?), but the incidence under consideration is not a proper debate, just another innovative way to waste time.).]

Goading is an art, some have an inborn ability to goad and others have an inborn ability to get goaded.The latter is the breed which puts a lot of store in righteous anger and its efficacy(delusional at best).

The exchange itself is charming by its very nature, endearingly entertaining due to the classic crassness of the content, skilled presentation and delivery of the points of argument, and of course the sheer volume(courtesy occasional incoherence of the participants involved)

In senseless arguments like these it is important to "get to" your opponent. Repeating what he just said in a ridiculous imitation is a classic albeit somewhat primitive trick.

to be continued..........

“adsummum!”

“ To the highest point! ”

A dreamy(not that knowledgeable) exploration of the science of artificial intelligence and a testimony to my ignorance.

Law I - A robot may not harm a human or, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

Law II - A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law

Law III - A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law

Zeroth law of robotics - A robot shall not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

More than the copious capabilities of reasoning that makes us the only sentient race in the immediate stellar region around earth, what we value, admire and adore more is that peculiar spark of creativity, that ushers in something new, something original to the eclectic tapestry of human creations that will mark the passing of our species( that is, if we fail to master interstellar travel first), once our sun dies, assuming that global warming, communism or materialism don't do the job first.

There have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code, that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?

Dr Alfred Lanning(I,Robot)

Simulation of independent thought is the only goal of all AI scientists everywhere. Seeing that as a precursor to creating machines capable of having an original idea, in other words creating machines capable of creativity, capable of eventually, individually considering the possibility of making other machines with thought patterns similar or superior to theirs would be the closest we would ever come to creating life.

Problems & Solutions

"aut viam inveniam aut faciam"

"I'll either find a way or make one."

Human thought is precisely that.....human....if there is a set of rules governing its realization, we are unaware of it; all we are capable of is making educated guesses.

Mimicking the crude superfluous frameworks, through which we teach problem solving[e.g. : solving linear equations requires assigning variable symbols to unknown quantities, factoring them in the equation, and using mutual relations between them and constants as defined by the equation to solve them] is the first step in developing artificial intelligence. This objective has been thoroughly realized albeit with a certain apparently unsurmountable obstacle, human problem solving is fairly intuitive, unless following a defined procedure to do so; simulating this intuitive thinking is all but impossible using conventional methods.

Then there is the question of knowledge representation. For AI to solve real world problems, the machines will require extensive knowledge of the world. The number of atomic facts that humans know is astronomical. Among the things that the AI needs to know are objects, properties, categories and relations between objects;situations, events, states and time;causes and effects;knowledge about knowledge (what we know about what other people know). Building a comprehensive database of all knowledge and defining logical rules to act using this knowledge is not enough because when humans think much of what we know takes the form of working assumptions, moreover the logic rules would not be sufficient since there would be a huge number of exceptions to these rules in any given situation if human thinking is to be mimicked(also defined as the qualification problem by John McCarthy); because almost nothing is quantitatively true or false as abstract logic requires.(paragraph mostly from wiki)

Humans are equipped with a sub symbolic, non conscious system of knowledge representation. For instance a particular chess position can “feel” too exposed, this feeling cannot be quantified and hence cannot be represented.(wiki)-----to be continued.......

Contemplating boo?

Boo is an object oriented, statically typed programming language in active development since 2003, which seeks to make use of the Common Language Infrastructure's support for Unicode, internationalization and web applications, while using a Python-inspired syntax^[1] and a special focus on language and compiler extensibility. Some features of note include......jus kidding...this post is not about Boo......its about boo



How many of us actually have everything figured out?....i haven't, so if the world does get in my face which i suppose must happen time and again, like the majority, i could lamely yell bring it on bitch and scram or....

Oh i do have dreams of "standing on the edge and showing the wind how to fly" but i m not ready for that kinda arrogance...not yet........(sometimes i wonder if these dots i (and other bloggers) keep using through all my (their) posts(.....) would qualify as a punctuation mark, with lang-struct pundits, or is it just an outstanding lack of coherence...see again...)

the other day i came down with pretty bad lumbago while playing basket ball(another relatively recent exploit of mine aimed at attaining the aforesaid arrogance), 2-3 days later i still have to think before overstretching myself.....i turn 20 day after tommorow....sigh.....pain has a positive side effect....it lends clarity to the thought process...incapacitating lumbago like pain...makes you review your life...questions like what have i done with my life?......am i growing old?.....why am i gorging on fast food?.....are all "specialty" doctors slightly arrogant?(i eventually went to a hospital...but didn't get to see a doctor, it being a sunday and instead went to city grande with some friends)............. why are there so many mallu nurses in all the hospitals of the world?...why are there so many mallus everywhere?...is it possible that mallus were once an elder race and everyone else "are" (would an "is" be more grammatically appropriate here?) their lesser decendants(arrogant me...my excuse?...i m sleepy)... etc(i said clarity not coherence)...popped up unbidden in my hitherto peaceful mind...which had been having a great time(on account the countless no. of pirated movies i had been watching, after some time one movie's story blends into another resulting into a fine mess.....till you reach a point when you are left staring into empty space.....shiesar(shy-SAAR an expletive...no i don't speak whatever the bourne girl was cursing in...googled the word) here i go again, mass bunk in coll. on the occassion of sankranti and all.

NOTE: At this point the author succumbed to an overwhelming bout of laziness and a sense of hopelessness(you see he didn't think anyone read his blog).......and called it a day....

nota bena: The objective of this post is not to advise.

I aint' soul searching or anything........the thought makes me gag.

Disclaimer: Some parts of the post may make some sense.

P.S.: i have a not-so-small ego so on the off chance that someone from the north pacific is reading this post and is not aware of the term "mallu" used in the post....it is a term used to refer to the natives of Kerala a southern state of the Republic of India.

Have a nice day!

Random Ruminations

Most of my limitations are self-imposed. I have been dreaming about studying medicine for quite some time.....high scores in high school biology exams helped fuel this "delusion". Now I am in my  second year in computer science engineering......and though by all reasonable standards i cannot be tagged one of the "brilliant" students in my class i like it.......I keep thinking i'd have expired had I taken some crap like ece and now i know that I am fortunate to have got cse in such a good instituition......since childhood brainteasers , riddles , puzzles have fascinated and frightened me....this predisposition of mine and my prominient(read monumental) laziness at problem solving often makes me wonder if I am of engineering calibre.......the only thing i like is reading books(fantasy mostly,outgrew thrillers), listening to music and making grand plans to undertake hugely mentally challenging projects.....stints at solving shakuntla devi 's puzzles and playing chess and doin math from famously infamous math refrence books(this one in my school days......now in engineering working for math is a thing of the past.......a friend once told me that some cricket player(kumble i think) raises his bat on scoring 40.....reason? he was an engineering student and WE KNOW how tough the chase for that elusive number gets.)

But there are times when at all the aforementioned things  I don't do so bad (at least in my opinion)......these are times when i don't care about the outcome.......I guess the mental barrier I have for them ceases to exist when I cease to care

Why am I talking of these things?

I dunno.

nota bena: The objective of this post is not to advise.

                   I aint' soul searching or anything........the thought makes me gag. 

Disclaimer: Some parts of the post may make some sense.