The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

[King Bob]

Some of you, especially DM, may be familiar with the author as a push-hands champion. Before that he was the subject of "Searching for Bobby Fischer."

He's a pretty good writer. He first tells the story of his chess career, and then his Tai Chi career, interspersed with discussion of learning. His discussion of incremental vs. entity intelligence was particularly interesting and explained a lot for me. At the end he looks at peak performance, and shares techniques from his work with performace coaches. On the other hand, he sometimes goes into extreme analysis of certain chess games and tai chi moves, which quickly became tedious, although it might not bore others with more connection to martial arts or chess. (It also made me suspect Asperger's, especially given his extreme devotion to chess and then almost complete switch to Tai Chi - and pointed out that his family has money, because he never mentions doing any paid work of any kind, and only talks about spending days on chess and martial studies.)

DM - I'll pass this on to you if you like.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Did I mention that I got DM to get a freelancer to write an article about Josh?

[King Bob]

I forgot to mention that he also has a chess game for Nintendo DS which is based on his ideas of chess teaching (and those of Bruce Pandolfini, his first teacher). For someone wanting to learn chess, like myself, it's quite good, but I only understood the thrust of the instructional mini-games after reading the book. I only picked up the book because I saw his name and knew it from the game.

[Drunk Monk]

See http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/view...6885#p6885.

He wrote a sidebar for us last year in Josh Waitzkin’s Checkmate Choke Out http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine...rticle=758

[cranefly]

This doesn't have to do with Josh Waitzkin, but everything to do with chess.  So I'm borrowing this thread based on that angle.

The top chess program for years has been Stockfish.  But Google's new Alphazero just destroyed it in a hundred-game match.

What is fascinating about this is that Alphazero was not "taught" the game of chess; rather, it was told the rules of the game, then given four hours to play itself.  With that little bit of "machine learning," it bested Stockfish in dramatic fashion, never losing a game.

I walked through the one game they show in this article.  Some of Alphazero's moves defy logic -- at least the logic a human can muster.

Maybe I'm overreacting to this, but I sense this is one of those tipping points in AI, where we accelerate rapidly towards our new masters.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/google-s...game-match

[Drunk Monk]

Nice thread necromancy here, cf

There's been a lot of disturbing AI news lately. This is the most disturbing.

Sex robot ARMIES: Fears hackers could create killer cyborgs and turn technology on punters
ULTRA-REALISTIC sex robots could be used by warped hackers to attack humans, according to a chilling warning.
By Jamie Micklethwaite / Published 9th September 2017

“Once hacked they could absolutely be used to perform physical actions”
Dr Nick Patterson

The sex robot craze has swept the globe, with punters willing to fork out the cash to have their wicked way with the dolls.

And producers have promised punters more realism than ever, with dolls able to mimic human voices and have orgasms set to enter the market.

But tech experts have warned that the more advanced these robots get, the greater the risk they will pose to mankind.


GETTY
KILLER: Could sex robots rise up against randy owners?

Inventor Elon Musk labelled advanced AI including sex robots as the biggest risk of World War 3, claiming that North Korea should be low on our list of concerns.

Cyber security lecturer Dr Nick Patterson worryingly said that hacking into a sex robot could even be easier than gaining access to someone’s laptop or phone.

He added that once the robot has been breached, the hacker then has full control.


INSTAGRAM/REAL DOLL
LOOKS COULD KILL: These robots could become deadly

He told Daily Star Online: “Hackers can hack into a robot or a robotic device and have full control of the connections, arms, legs and other attached tools like in some cases knives or welding devices.

“Often these robots can be upwards of 200 pounds, and very strong. Once a robot is hacked, the hacker has full control and can issue instructions to the robot.

“The last thing you want is for a hacker to have control over one of these robots! Once hacked they could absolutely be used to perform physical actions for an advantageous scenario or to cause damage.”

Dr Patterson, of Deakin University, Australia, predicted that we will soon see robots replacing human workers and mimicking humans.

But as long as the robots are connected to an interface, they can always be hacked.

He added: “Robots need an operating system to operate just like our phones, tablets and laptops.

“As we have seen, it’s popular to have everything connected to the internet these days – phones, fridges, surveillance cameras, smart homes… robots are no different.”

Skynet - I think the bots already stole the election. ?

[cranefly]

Well, hot on the heels of Google AI's impressive chess program, they've apparently contributed in some significant way to processing data in the hunt for extra-solar planets.

I tell ya, there could be some amazing developments in AI coming up -- sort of a snowball effect.  Maybe not sexbots that can withstand a clown in quicksand yet, but soon.

NASA To Reveal Kepler Breakthrough: What Did Google AI Find?

http://www.ibtimes.com/nasa-reveal-keple...nd-2626746