Collecting Cognition With Steve Sloman - 75th Conversation Computing Up podcast

58:15

Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), an author, historian, and academic, joins Michael and Dave in a fast conversation about the history of computing and its systemic biases from the '60s to the techbros of today, and much more. [Cover based on an image used by permission of Joy Rankin ] Note: This conversation was recorded in April 2024 but is only becoming available now. Computing Up regrets and apologizes for the extended delay!…

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Collecting Cognition with Steve Sloman - 75th Conversation 48:53

26 weeks ago48:53

48:53

Cognitive scientist and psychologist Professor Steve Sloman of Brown University ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ) joins Michael and Dave in a fun romp through connectionism, collective cognition, the illusion of understanding, and much more. Also, Dave illustrates his illusion of understanding of a bicycle in a true back of the envelope sketch -- [Episode cover based on image used courtesy of Steven Sloman]…

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Manon Revel: Is Democracy a Comma in History? - 74th Conversation 1:01:50

49 weeks ago1:01:50

1:01:50

Manon Revel ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), an Employee Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, joins Michael and Dave for a conversation about the past, present, and future of democracy, and ways to understand it in both computational and practical terms. [Thumbnail based on image provided courtesy of Manon Revel]…

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Martha White: Sparse is Rich - 73rd Conversation 56:10

1 year ago56:10

56:10

Martha White, associate professor of Computing Science at University of Alberta ( 🔗 , 🔗 ) joins Michael and Dave in a conversation about AI, system prediction and control, the power of sparse representations, and many aspects of machine learning from new mathematical theory to the absolutely practical control of a real water treatment plant. [Thumbnail based on image used courtesy of Martha White]…

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Rich Sutton Brings Reinforcements - 72nd Conversation 54:48

1 year ago54:48

54:48

Computer scientist Rich Sutton, FRS ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), a quiet giant of machine learning, joins Michael and Dave in a sprawling conversation touching on reinforcement learning, a hopeful view of AI, the importance of ideas, and a host of other topics. [Thumbnail image used courtesy of Rich Sutton]

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The Living Computation Theory of Everything - 71st Conversation 1:19:33

2 years ago1:19:33

1:19:33

Michael interviews Dave about his recent video ( YouTube ) on a 'theory of everything'. The conversation begins with Michael praising Dave for finally doing some theory, and descends from there.

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Oren Etzioni All Over - 70th Conversation 53:23

2 years ago53:23

53:23

Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at University of Washington, ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ) joins Michael and Dave in a conversation that ranges all over, from AI hype and language models to alignment and existential risk and ethics and morality to information pollution and cryptography and politics and more. [Thumbnail based on image licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Carissapod link ]…

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Beautiful Messiness with Jonathan Frankle - 69th Conversation 58:34

2 years ago58:34

58:34

Jonathan Frankle, the new Chief Scientist - Neural Networks at Databricks ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), joins Michael and Dave in a fast conversation about topics ranging from AI risks and fairness to the problems of Computer Science education to the beautiful messiness of modern deep learning. [Thumbnail based on image courtesy of Jonathan Frankle]…

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Love Hate Writing - 68th Conversation 1:00:12

2 years ago1:00:12

1:00:12

Michael and Dave talk about their love and hate relationships with writing, in the context of Dave's foray into publishing "Companionate Caring" and Michael's upcoming MIT Press book "Code to Joy" . (This conversation is Part 2 of Where The Hell Have Michael & Dave Been?)

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Busy Busy / Let's Blame AI - 67th Conversation 1:03:09

2 years ago1:03:09

1:03:09

Michael and Dave catch up on where the hell they've been for the last couple months. (Mostly it's about busy, but Dave wants to blame everything on AI.)

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Michael Levin TAMEs Life - 66th Conversation 1:03:27

2 years ago1:03:27

1:03:27

Michael Levin ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ) is the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Distinguished Professor of Biology and Vannevar Bush Chair, among several other roles. In this episode he talks with Michael and Dave about computing writ very large indeed, with topics ranging from the meaning of life and agency to the problems of computability theory to the ways Levin's TAME model - Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere ( 🔗 ) - envisions a reality full of adaptive machines made of adaptive parts adapting to each other with everything they've got.…

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The Understandable Cynthia Rudin - 65th Conversation 51:38

2 years ago51:38

51:38

Cynthia Rudin, the Earl D. McLean, Jr. Professor of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Statistical Science, Mathematics,and Biostatistics & Bioinformatics at Duke University ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), joins Michael and Dave for a fast and feisty conversation about how to make machines we can understand and control, with high-stakes examples like predicting power failures in New York City.…

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Vukosi Marivate: Deep Learning Africa - 64th Conversation 55:55

2 years ago55:55

55:55

Vukosi Marivate, Associate Professor of Computer Science and ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria ( 🔗 , 🔗 , 🔗 ), joins Michael and Dave for a discussion of AI and machine learning research across Africa and around the world, and the challenges of centralization and efficiency versus diversification at the edge, and what each can learn from the other. [Title card based on image courtesy of Vukosi Marivate]…

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Andrew Davison's grand SLAM - 63rd Conversation 49:03

3 years ago49:03

49:03

Andrew Davison is Professor of Robot Vision ( 🔗 ) at Imperial College London, and leads the Dyson Robotics Laboratory ( 🔗 ). Andrew invented the SLAM algorithm for robot mapping and navigation, and as this fast conversation makes clear, Dave and Michael are both big fans. [Thumbnail based on image courtesy of Andrew Davison]…

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John Twelve Hawks - 62nd Conversation 48:45

3 years ago48:45