One of the biggest mental sinkholes into which AI students can get trapped is not quite understanding the fundamental difference between how our two basic “building block” networks operate: the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), trained with backpropagation (or any form of gradient descent learning), and the (restricted) Boltzmann machine (RBM), trained with contrastive divergence. It’s easy… Continue reading When a Classifier Acts as an Autoencoder, and an Autoencoder Acts as a Classifier (Part 1 of 3)
Strategizing Your Research Project: Developing Your Portfolio Elements
When life gets hard, and you still have to get your research project done, sometimes it’s hard to focus and figure out the “most important thing.” Blog Update: How to Get More Focus and More Time Dear All – this is an update, added Sept. 22, 2022. Building your Portfolio is a BIG THING. Just… Continue reading Strategizing Your Research Project: Developing Your Portfolio Elements
Entropy in Energy-Based Neural Networks – Seven Key Papers (Part 3 of 3)
If you’ve looked at some classic papers in energy-based neural networks (e.g., the Hopfield neural network, the Boltzmann machine, the restricted Boltzmann machine, and all forms of deep learning), you’ll see that they don’t use the word “entropy.” At the same time, we’ve stated that entropy is a fundamental concept in these energy-based neural networks.… Continue reading Entropy in Energy-Based Neural Networks – Seven Key Papers (Part 3 of 3)
Understanding Entropy: Essential to Mastering Advanced AI
Have you been stumped when trying to read the classic AI papers? Are notions such as free energy and entropy confusing? This is probably because ALL areas of advanced AI are based, to some extent, on statistical mechanics. That means that you need to understand some “stat mech” rudiments to get through those papers. One… Continue reading Understanding Entropy: Essential to Mastering Advanced AI
The Great Career-Boosting Reading List: Book #5: “Wild Mercy”
Taking your “sabbaths” – on a regular basis – might be the most important thing that you can do for your overall career success. This week’s YouTube discusses sabbaths, and identifies how many very successful authors point out the need for “sabbath” – or resting from work – is essential to our productivity and to… Continue reading The Great Career-Boosting Reading List: Book #5: “Wild Mercy”
The Great Career-Boosting Reading List: Books 4(a) & 4(b)
Are you making a career transition? This is the situation that many of us are in these days – especially for those who are graduating this week from Northwestern University’s School of Professional Services (SPS) Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) program. As we move into our career transitions, it is SO HELPFUl to… Continue reading The Great Career-Boosting Reading List: Books 4(a) & 4(b)
Mai Tai Thursdays, Coming Soon!
But first, a decent coffee … Hello, darling – I hope you’re well. The Backyard Roosters of Hawai’i As I write to you, it’s 6:10 AM on the Big Island of Hawai’i, it’s still dark out, and the roosters are in full crow.MULTIPLE roosters. All asserting their very strong, dominant “rooster-ness.”It’s been going on for… Continue reading Mai Tai Thursdays, Coming Soon!
How Backpropagation and (Restricted) Boltzmann Machine Learning Combine in Deep Architectures
One of the most important things for us to understand, as we come into the “deep learning” aspect of AI (for the first time), is the relationship between backpropagation and the (restricted) Boltzmann machines, which we know comprise the essential core of various “deep learning” architectures. The essential idea in deep architectures is this: Each… Continue reading How Backpropagation and (Restricted) Boltzmann Machine Learning Combine in Deep Architectures
What It’s Like – Getting Very Close to the Edge (New Scientific Breakthrough) Part 1 (of Several)
Well, the best thing that I’ve got going for me right now is that the offerings on Netflix are so d*** boring that doing research is MUCH more interesting. I’ve read and re-read all my light, fun reading around the house … about three to four times each, over these past two years. My fave… Continue reading What It’s Like – Getting Very Close to the Edge (New Scientific Breakthrough) Part 1 (of Several)
Merry Christmas from Hawai’i!
Poinsettias. They’re the ultimate Christmassy-image of Hawai’i, if you live on the mainland. And back when I lived on the mainland, poinsettias were something that I got at the grocery store or hardware store, starting around Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until I’d moved here … it was that first Christmas season, and I was driving down… Continue reading Merry Christmas from Hawai’i!