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| public:t720-atai-2012:architecture [2012/09/21 10:34] – thorisson | public:t720-atai-2012:architecture [2024/04/29 13:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| ====== AGI Architecture ====== | ====== AGI Architecture ====== |
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| ====== The Importance of Architecture ====== | ===== The Importance of Architecture ===== |
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| Main points: | Main points: |
| When we say "architecture" we refer to a system's information structural layout and the key principles behind its operation; the constraints that are put on information intake, transfer, storage, and how computations are implemented, performed, controlled, as well as how these may be different over the lifetime of the system and the principles guiding their change over time. Just like people walking around in a building, the building imposing limitations on where they can walk (doors and walls) and what they can look at (windows and glass walls), a software architecture is a blueprint for the components and operations of a software system. The architecture of a system, as implemented in a substrate (hardware) controls how and where information flows, and what computations are performed, their order, and in what manner. | When we say "architecture" we refer to a system's information structural layout and the key principles behind its operation; the constraints that are put on information intake, transfer, storage, and how computations are implemented, performed, controlled, as well as how these may be different over the lifetime of the system and the principles guiding their change over time. Just like people walking around in a building, the building imposing limitations on where they can walk (doors and walls) and what they can look at (windows and glass walls), a software architecture is a blueprint for the components and operations of a software system. The architecture of a system, as implemented in a substrate (hardware) controls how and where information flows, and what computations are performed, their order, and in what manner. |
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| The choice of programming language determines to a significant extent what kinds of systems can (theoretically and practically) be implemented. Programming languages impose constraints on what kinds of architecture is viable -- for example, LISP presents very easy ways to write code that writes code, while C++ makes this very difficult. If automatic generation of code, and subsequent runtime-dependent running of such code, is part of the requirements of a system we are planning to construct, we would naturally feel less constrained if we could choose Lisp over C++. There are of course other key factors that influence the choice programming language, and we will get to these shortly. Since the vast majority of current programming languages can in theory support any feature encountered in any other language, when we decide which programming language to choose the choice depends primarily on practical factors: how effectively and efficiently does it allow us to implement the data and control structures that we already know we'll be needing. | The choice of programming language determines to a significant extent what kinds of systems can (theoretically and practically) be implemented. Programming languages impose constraints on what kinds of architecture is viable -- for example, LISP presents very easy ways to write code that writes code, while C++ makes this very difficult. If automatic generation of code, and subsequent runtime-dependent running of such code, is part of the requirements of a system we are planning to construct, we would naturally feel less constrained if we could choose Lisp over C++. There are of course other key factors that influence the choice of programming language, and we will get to these shortly. Since the vast majority of current programming languages can in theory support any feature encountered in any other language, when we decide which programming language to choose the choice depends primarily on practical factors: how effectively and efficiently does it allow us to implement the data and control structures that we already know we'll be needing. |
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| Prolog seemed at one point to be a good programming language for programming logic-based systems. Logic of some kind seems to be necessary for any AGI if we want it to be capable of reasoning. While humans can -- and quite often do -- engage in activities that most would agree to call "logic", it is not clear that an exclusively logic-based environment provides the best platform for AGI research. One of the problems with most Prolog-based development environments is that the control of its runtime operation is typically out the programmer's hands. Another is that time is not handled well -- to do anything involving time, such as move a robot arm from X to Y, can be extremely cumbersome to do, if it can be done reasonably at all. A third problem is a fairly limited extensions beyond first-order logic. A fourth -- and very serious problem -- has been a lack of thread and parallelization support. | Prolog seemed at one point to be a good programming language for programming logic-based systems. Logic of some kind seems to be necessary for any AGI if we want it to be capable of reasoning. While humans can -- and quite often do -- engage in activities that most would agree to call "logic", it is not clear that an exclusively logic-based environment provides the best platform for AGI research. One of the problems with most Prolog-based development environments is that the control of its runtime operation is typically out the programmer's hands. Another is that time is not handled well -- to do anything involving time, such as move a robot arm from X to Y, can be extremely cumbersome to do, if it can be done reasonably at all. A third problem is a fairly limited extensions beyond first-order logic. A fourth -- and very serious problem -- has been a lack of thread and parallelization support. |
| A requirement of **transversality** means that the learning must be able to address, or be applied to, virtually anything in the cognitive architecture. Transversal cognitive functions are a system architect's nightmare: They affect anything and everything in the system, and make its design orders of magnitude more difficult. | A requirement of **transversality** means that the learning must be able to address, or be applied to, virtually anything in the cognitive architecture. Transversal cognitive functions are a system architect's nightmare: They affect anything and everything in the system, and make its design orders of magnitude more difficult. |
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| There are several cognitive functions besides learning that are transversal, and still others that have transversal aspects. Among those that clearly fall into the class of transversal functions are attention, temporal grounding, and goal acquisition. By **goal acquisition** is mean a cognitive system's ability to identify the need for creating a new goal, and the ability to create an appropriate goal from a set of circumstances, often times defined by either a lack of a particular goal or the need for a goal to bridge between other goals. Goals should in fact be generatable from a variety of contexts, including from instructions of another cognitive system, e.g. when participating in some activity for the first time. To take an example, a goal of being on average //slightly less tense every day//, may be all that is needed for someone to get rid of sore muscles. Identifying the non-desired state, muscle soreness, inferring potential causes, and generating a plan with a root goal to reduce or remove those causes, is a necessary function of any AGI. The source of the need for the new goal should not matter: Without the //general ability// to perform this feat, a cognitive system is less likely to be an AGI. | There are several cognitive functions besides learning that are transversal, and still others that have transversal aspects. Among those that clearly fall into the class of transversal functions are attention, temporal grounding, and goal acquisition. By **goal acquisition** we mean a cognitive system's ability to identify the need for creating a new goal, and the ability to create an appropriate goal from a set of circumstances, often times defined by either a lack of a particular goal or the need for a goal to bridge between other goals. Goals should in fact be generatable from a variety of contexts, including from instructions of another cognitive system, e.g. when participating in some activity for the first time. To take an example, a goal of being on average //slightly less tense every day//, may be all that is needed for someone to get rid of sore muscles. Identifying the non-desired state, muscle soreness, inferring potential causes, and generating a plan with a root goal to reduce or remove those causes, is a necessary function of any AGI. The source of the need for the new goal should not matter: Without the //general ability// to perform this feat, a cognitive system is less likely to be an AGI. |
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| Attention is of course closely related to an AGI's ability to select the correct tasks to perform, attend to the right details, control sensory apparatuses appropriately in light of present goal(s). By the term "attention" is meant a rather broad set of skills and abilities relating to managing a cognitive system's resources. Like learning, the attention process -- or more appropriately, processes must be applicable not only to information which has its origins outside of the system, but also to processes inside it. Attention is a "helper" function to learning, to a system's ability to perform tasks and achieve goals, yet it is a central function without which any AGI would be unable to focus on the right information sources (and, conversely, filter out unwanted information and noise), stick to the right goals for sufficiently long to achieve them, and yet stay open to interruptions to appropriate levels. | Attention is of course closely related to an AGI's ability to select the correct tasks to perform, attend to the right details, control sensory apparatuses appropriately in light of present goal(s). By the term "attention" is meant a rather broad set of skills and abilities relating to managing a cognitive system's resources. Like learning, the attention process -- or more appropriately, processes must be applicable not only to information which has its origins outside of the system, but also to processes inside it. Attention is a "helper" function to learning, to a system's ability to perform tasks and achieve goals, yet it is a central function without which any AGI would be unable to focus on the right information sources (and, conversely, filter out unwanted information and noise), stick to the right goals for sufficiently long to achieve them, and yet stay open to interruptions to appropriate levels. |
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| ====== How Does Architecture Matter? ====== | ===== How Does Architecture Matter? ===== |
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| Main points: | Main points: |
