Entries by John R

It's always about the actuators these days, isn't it? In the broadest sense, actuators are anything that can convert a signal into a physical motion or force. In a more practical sense, actuators are the “muscles” used to provide controlled motion to robotic systems. Robots and adaptive systems are able to manipulate physical objects around them by controlling the motion of actuators in specific ways. Likewise, they use actuators to manipulate themselves, as objects, relative to the objects around them.





This article explores the subject of actuators at a very introductory level. It is written by a programmer, who is trying to learn some of the details about what the robotics folk are up to, in order to organize those details into a more coherent understanding.

You can now buy the book from Amazon.com:



Netlab Loligo: New Approaches To Neural Network Simulation




djr

And so too, it would seem, are our thoughts...

• Metaphoric intelligence and foreign language learning - Jeannette Littlemore "Metaphor is so pervasive in language that it would be impossible for a person to speak without using metaphor at some point, whether knowingly or not."



• The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor - Lakoff, G.
  "...a great many common concepts like causation and purpose are metaphorical..."



• Cognitive linguistics - Terri Eynon
  "Until relatively recently it was assumed that it must be possible to provide an accurate, objective (i.e. literal) description of reality for the purpose of scientific advancement. For the modernist, metaphors characterized rhetoric, not scientific discourse. "



• Cognitive Linguistics - George Lakoff
  "It was discovered in the late 1970's that the mind contains an enormous system of general conceptual metaphors -- ways of understanding relatively abstract concepts in terms of those that are more concrete."



• Metaphor - a Working Concept - Olle Torgny
  "On the other hand, abstract products and services, computer software, medication, electronics and similar phenomena has an ”inner structure” that is dependent on specific domain knowledge or that even is incomprehensible for experts. In this case the properties of the product (object, service, concept) has to be conveyed by something else. The more complicated and abstract this message is, the better suited is the use of metaphor."



• Oral Metaphor Construct (OMC) - Asa M. Stepak !
  This guy has a very interesting theory. It is also relatable at a lower abstract level than most. That is, it may provide implementable understanding about neural networks at the signaling level, where neural-network constructs live. For now this is just an interesting aside I found while researching. It (for me at least) merits a closer look.



• Standford U. Lecture: Analogy as the Core of Cognition - Douglas Hofstadter
  A fairly decent talk on a very important subject.




• Related Blog Entries:


• Synaesthesia: Not a mental anomaly, a mental characteristic
  A blog entry here about syneasthesis specifically and Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran's theory that the underlying causes of syneasthesia are the same mechanisms responsible for our ability to think in metaphor and analogy.
  
  
• Simile, Metaphor, Analogy: Differences and Similarities
  A blog entry here that is mostly about unambiguously defining these terms for use in writing. It should help to in this area to clarify the definitions of these terms, which are often misunderstood, or used ambiguously.
  
  

"Red sky in morning, sailors take warning"

A Logical Question

From the vantage point of the observer, the red sky occurs before the storm, and, in fact, can be used to predict it. Does the red sky, therefore, cause the storm, or does the storm (which comes later) cause the red sky? This is not really a difficult question to answer, but it does nicely demonstrate some of the pitfalls to be aware of. This is especially true when observing cause-and-effect in phenomena that are closer to the limits of our current understanding. In short, there is more to observing cause-and-effect than apparent sequential precedence.

Not How, But Where & When

The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke about this (Mathew 16:1-3) clearly knew of it as a rule of thumb, or common knowledge. Did they, as individuals, discern the true causal direction back in Jesus' day? Perhaps, but there was likely a time in our knowledge of this, that we did not know. In other words, there may have been a time when we only knew that there was a correlation, and that the red sky came first. In those times, all but the deepest thinkers probably thought of the red sky as causing the storm which came after it; even if only tacitly, because they never really gave it much thought.

Obviously, in this day of radars, and satellite-pictures, our observational vantage-point has expanded well beyond this particular problem. It is probably true, however, that many newer observed correlations, as well as many observations throughout history have a similar local-sequential characteristic early-on. One can certainly understand, for example, how it would have been easy to conclude that the heavens revolved around the earth. This tendency, which may include correlation with no, or wrong, causal direction, probably continues to occur in many present-day, cutting-edge observations.

We seem to be advancing rapidly on what can best be described (metaphorically), as the brain-function correlates of metaphor and analogy. Synaesthesia—mistaking sound for color, or perceiving numbers as having colors, etc.—may, in fact, be a characteristic of basic, inherent functions and structures, which are common in all brains. The determining factor may be only a question of degrees.

Take A One-Question Survey

One of the following alien-alphabet symbols is named “Woobul,” and the other one is named “kitkit.” Take your best guess to answer the question: which one is kitkit, and which one is woobul?

A

B

If you're like over 90% of respondents, you have guessed that 'A' is woobul and 'B' is KitKit. Why aren't the responses to this question around 50/50 for either symbol? According to Vilayanur Ramachandran, who used the above demonstration in his talk, what you are seeing in these responses is, in fact, the same mechanism that leads to synesthesia [1]. It is, obviously, a bit less pronounced in most people compared to those whom we would classify as having synesthesia.

The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English — For those of us who have trouble blindly accepting short declarative rules about grammar and style; here's a guy who doesn't just relate HIS positions on the subject, he explains WHY he holds those positions. Within this framework you will learn that many of the grammar-rules, which are often presented as hard facts by others, are actually quite squishy. This author is not so arrogant as to think he can simply relate his opinions as a list of facts. Instead, he feels the need to justify his opinions. In explaining his justification for a given style-rule, he enlightens us, and gives us the understanding we need to draw our own conclusions. Those conclusions almost always agree with his, but with the added understanding comes the confidence to break rules we normally agree with, if that's what the situation calls for... ...Or should I have said: "if it is that for which the situation calls"

There they go again... The marketeers are always working feverishly to persuade us of our absolute need for whatever "next-big-thing" they think they can convince us to buy. It turns out, however, that memristors don't really need the market-speak and the sokalisms from the persuasive-arts crowd. Memristors really are extremely useful, and will almost surely bring about some seriously cool changes in the technological world.