 |
|
| |
|
Intrinsic Representation: Bootstrapping Symbols From Experience, by Stephen Larson
WRT: 35 minutes
Technology and Courage, by Ivan Sutherland
The following is the MEng thesis on which the paper, with the same title, was based. The thesis includes very clear descriptions of the algorithms uses in map adjustment, growing, clustering, and cross-domain cluster association. It is a good example of a premium MEng thesis.
Intrinsic Representation: Bootstrapping Symbols From Experience by Stephen Larson.
| There is no written assignment; just read the papers (supplement optional) on the plane and think about what you would write if you were to work up a written page in response to the following assignment. |
The piece de resistance is the Larson paper. You can skim the Sutherland paper.
Imagine that you are a graduate student working in Artificial Intelligence at MIT. Your research supervisor, Patrick Winston, says, roughly, “I would like you to go to this grounding conference to see what this stuff is all about. Put together a little trip report for me when you get back.” Because the conference is to be held in Sveti Stefan, a beautiful medieval town, converted into a resort, on the Adriatic Sea, you instantly agree.
Unfortunately, you end up partying a lot and sleep through the talks. Fortunately, a friend tells you that you didn't miss much, because the talks were all incredible pistarines, except for Larson's talk, which closely followed the the material in his paper, and Sutherland's keynote address, which closely followed the material in his paper.
Produce the requested trip report. Start with something like “The conference involved little of interest, except for the talk by Larson and Sutherland's keynote address...” Use what you have learned about presentation in the way you structure your report.
Human interest asside: After completing his MEng, Larson went to work in Wall street, at Morgan Stanley, but two years later, in 2005, he went back to graduate school at UCSD, to take the next step toward his dream, centered on getting a PhD in a neuroscience program at UCSD.
If you are doing a term project, complete the brief supplementary assignment by midnight, Monday, April 1; else, arrange to see Winston this week to do some emergency brainstorming.