Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Computing

ARTIFICIAL  INTELLIGENCE:  THE  FUTURE  OF 

COMPUTING

Consider this scenario: You are working in a company where all the work which can be done by human labour is done by robots. Next you come home to find the house all cleaned and tidied by a machine. Everything is done by just waving your hand or on the press of a button. No, this not a part of a sci-fi movie and neither a part of your imagination. This all will be a part of daily life in the next 8-10 years. Don’t believe me? Sorry guys this is true, all thanks to Artificial Intelligence(AI).  

This topic brings back images in my mind about a movie having the same title. A movie directed by Steven Spielberg in 2001. The tagline was: ‘His love is real but he is not.’ This is the main objective of scientists and researchers working on AI. That is, to build smart machines and computers which can understand human emotions and react to them. So let’s know about AI. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also the name of the academic field of study which studies how to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behavior.

McCarthy created the term "artificial intelligence" and was a towering figure in computer science at Stanford most of his professional life. In his career, he developed the programming language LISP, played computer chess via telegraph with opponents in Russia and invented computer time-sharing. 

Artificial intelligence gives machines the ability to solve a problem. The history of artificial intelligence (AI) began in antiquity, with myths, stories and rumors of artificial beings endowed with intelligence or consciousness by master craftsmen; as Pamela McCorduck writes, AI began with "an ancient wish to forge the gods”.
The seeds of modern AI were planted by classical philosophers who attempted to describe the process of human thinking as the mechanical manipulation of symbols. This work culminated in the invention of the programmable digital computer in the 1940s, a machine based on the abstract essence of mathematical reasoning. This device and the ideas behind it inspired a handful of scientists to begin seriously discussing the possibility of building an electronic brain.

Among the traits that researches hope machines will exhibit are reseaning knowledge, planning, learning communication, perception and ability to move and manipulate objects.

Artificial Intelligence research uses tools and insights from many fields including computer science psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics, Ontology, Operation Research, Economics, control Theory, probability, Optimization, and logic. AI research also overlaps with tasks such as robotics, control system, scheduling, data mining, logistics, speech recognition, facial recognition and many others.

ROBOT DOG

Sony’s Aibo robotic dog was introduced in 1999. It uses advanced computer software to give it abilities that seem natural. Aibo’s basic instincts are to sleep, explore, exercise, and play. It can also express joy, sadness, anger, surprise, and fear with lights, sounds, and gestures. Aibo recognizes its owner and comes when it is called.

FACE RECOGNITION PROGRAM

Face recognition programs on computers work by measuring prominent features of the face, such as the pupils of the eyes and the tip of the nose. The distances and angles between these are different for every face. By looking at enough features, the program can spot a known face even when the image is poor or the person is disguised.

COG

COG is a robot without legs that learns how to move by handling objects. Its intelligence comes from several computer programs that work together like parts of the brain. Rodney Brooks, director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, started the COG project in 1994 to see how artificial intelligence is affected by experience in the real world.

KISMET

Kismet was one of the first robots that responded to people in a natural way. It was designed by US engineer Cynthia Breazeal in 1999. The robot can move its ears, eyebrows, eyelids, and jaw, and can bend its lips up or down to smile or frown. It also responds to speech with babbling sounds.

Let’s see some of the emerging trends and interesting facts about Artificial intelligence and how it will change the future.

Deep Learning

                                   

The brain’s neural networks are a wonderful creation. “Deep learning” Typically uses the stimulation of Brain’s neural networks replicating to neurons neocortex. The stimulation mimics neurons in the brain. They associates content instead of just analyzing the huge pool of data and arrive at the final result with great success.

Deep learning can be viewed as a method that makes a computer solve a problem independently by going through multiple level of learning. Instead of writing a code that instruct how to solve the problem. Computer can solve the problem on their own by studing simple basic concepts. It is much like human understanding where in several hierarchical levels of cognitive abilities are needed to completely understand a particular object\thing and relate it to something else in a meaningful way.

Stimulating Feeling

The virtual face react reacts exactly like a normal baby would do in real time.It is ground breaking advancement in human robot interaction. The Nurochemical reactions are stimulated in the baby’s stimulated brain which in turn drive facial expression. The baby gets upset and cries if we move out of reach and gets happy if we are around. Oxytocin, Cortisol & Dopamine levels are stimulated and vary depending on its social connection. Many such experiments hae been going on that could make human to robot interaction look more lively and real.

Chewing Big Data

                          

Big data refer to the collection of huge amount of data that cannot be processed with conventional database system. Usually it is a lot of unstructured data. This might include data such as images, status updates, profile etc that are spread out in the social networking sites. Google used its deep learning on its vast collection that made computers to identify pictures on their own.

Blue Brain

                          

Blue Brain aims in reverse engineering a biological brain & recreates it using a computer solution. The solution will be accurate at cellular level. The scope of blue brain project includes improvement in fields of healthcare to advanced computing & better A.I.

Nuromorphic Approach

                                   

Neuromorphic Engineering aims in replicating the brain but there is a slight difference between this approach and the ones that use muscular super computers. Neuromorphic computers are sophisticated computer system

similar in size, speed and energy consumption to that of human brain. Neuromorphic Engineering aims in creating electronic circuits that fire nurons.

Mind Uploading

                           

 Mind uploading involves transferring our brain to a digital storage medium and moving conscious memory from one to another. Although it sounds too fictional, but scientists claims that humans will be able to upload their entire brain to computers and become digitally immortal.

Transportation

Traffic is everywhere even on the internet. To control traffic we use traffic signals. Studies reveal that traffic signal system controlled by human brain is very efficient congenital system. Since the human brain is good traffic stuff, researchers are building “Machine Learning” Artificial Intelligent traffic control system that could control the traffic efficiently. They also look forward to the future where vehicles will be equipped with GPS and Wi-Fi to make traffic control a simple task.

Self Improving A.I.

Since the basic nature of intelligence allows future creation & invention a super intelligent system would further evolve through recursive self improvement. It’s a symbol of strong Artificial Intelligence. 

A research suggests that a computer will be as smart as a human being within this century. But, what if a machine becomes smarter than we are a day?
Robots can fall in love with you

Debates on AI are hotter than ever these days. Some are thinking that it is a big leap forward for human civilization while some are believing it may be the end of humanity.

Once humans develop Artificial Intelligence, it would take over on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate said Stephan Hawking, declaring his concerns about AI studies during an interview at BBC last year. Some agreed with Hawking some did not. Nick Bostrom, the director of "Future of Humanity Institute" at the University of Oxford, points out the risks of AI studies. He says that machine intelligence is the last thing that human civilization ever needs to come up with. The common concern of naysayers is that the trend may eventually end with an initiative takeover by machines for human life. It seems like science fiction, but it's not a remote possibility when we look at what is happening right now. There are lots of questions to answer before achieving a final judgment. The first and maybe the most important question "Can a machine think?" The question was first proposed in 1950 by Alan Turing, a British computer scientist and a mathematician. Turing suggested that if a human being were given a task to interrogate a human and a computer that are both hidden behind a screen, it is reasonable to assume that the computer is as conscious as the human being if the interrogator cannot distinguish the computer from the human being. But this assumption is highly controversial. Thus passing the "Touring Test" cannot be concluded as an indication of a genuine intelligence. So what do we mean by thinking? Thinking is an intentional mental act. Intentionality is the aboutness of thinking act, and it allows humans to think about whatever they want. A beautiful girl, a weekend activity, a new business, etc. So there comes another question: "Do computers have intentionality?" Actually they don't. They just have a kind of secondary intentionality that allows them to perform things dictated to them by programmers and users. But what if a machine decides to promote itself to primary intentionality?

Nanowall 3D Technology

Nanowall 3D Technology to Improve         Touchscreen Experience

In a first, a team of researchers has used 3D print technology to create a new type of transparent electrode to enhance the display quality and touchscreen experience.
A research team led by Dimos Poulikakos, professor of thermodynamics at ETH University in Zurich, Switzerland, created a transparent electrode that takes the form of a grid made of gold or silver "nanowalls" on a glass surface.
The walls or electrodes, hardly be seen with the naked eye, have a higher conductivity and are more transparent than those made of indium tin oxide the standard material used in smartphones and tablets today - giving a better the screen quality and precision to the touchscreen.
Indium tin oxide is used because the material has a relatively high degree of transparency and the production of thin layers has been well researched, but it is only moderately conductive.
In order to produce more conductive electrodes, the team opted for gold and silver, which conduct electricity much better.
Since these metals are not transparent, the scientists had to make use of the third dimension.
If you want to achieve both high conductivity and transparency in wires made from these metals, you have a conflict of objectives. As the cross-sectional area of gold and silver wires grows, the conductivity increases, but the grid's transparency decreases.
To make the plan work, the team used metal walls only 80 to 500 nanometres thick. Since the walls are two to four times taller than they are wide, the cross-sectional area, and thus the conductivity, was found sufficiently high.
The researchers used printing process known as Nanodrip to produce these tiny metal walls.
Nanodrip, that Poulikakos and his colleagues developed three years ago, is a process in which they used inks made from metal nanoparticles in a solvent.
An electrical field draws ultra-small droplets of the metallic ink out of a glass capillary. The solvent evaporates quickly, allowing a three-dimensional structure to be built up drop by drop.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that sees the bright side of things. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health, and favourable results.
If we adopt this mental attitude, we teach our mind to expect success, growth and favourable outcomes.
“There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” – W. Clement Stone
Some people accept positive thinking as a fact, and believe in its effectiveness.
With a positive attitude we experience pleasant feelings, and we visualize the results we want to achieve. This brings brightness to the eyes, more energy and happiness. The whole being broadcasts good will, happiness and success. Even our health is affected in a beneficial way. We walk tall, our voice is more powerful, and our body language shows the way we feel.
Positive thinking means to approach the unpleasantness in a more positive way, actually it means approaching life's challenges with a positive outlook. Instead of ignoring reality in favuor of the silver lining, positive thinking belief in your abilities, a positive approach to challenges, and trying to make the most of bad situations. Bad things will happen. Sometimes we will be disappointed or hurt by the actions of others. This does not mean that the world is out to get you or that all people will let you down. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, positive thinkers will look at the situation realistically, search for ways that they can improve the situation, and try to learn from their experiences.
“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.” – Swami Vivekananda

Benefits of positive thinking

Researchers have shown effects of positive thinking and optimism on health and attitude, it includes:

• Less stress more happiness.
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

In order to turn the mind towards  the positive, some inner work is required, since attitude and thoughts do not change overnight.

1. The power of our thoughts is a mighty power that is always shaping our life. This shaping is usually done subconsciously, but it is possible to make the process a conscious one. Even if the idea seems strange, give it a try. You have nothing to lose, but only to gain.
2. Ignore what other people say or think about you.
3. Use your imagination to visualize only favourable and beneficial situations.
4. Use positive words in your inner dialogues, or when talking with others.
5. Smile a little more, as this helps to think positively.
6. Once a negative thought enters your mind, you have to be aware of it, and endeavour to replace it with a constructive one. If the negative thought returns, replace it again with a positive one. It is as if there are two pictures in front of you, and you have to choose to look at one of them, and disregard the other. Persistence will eventually teach your mind to think positively, and to ignore negative thoughts.
7. In case you feel inner resistance and difficulties when replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, do not give up, but keep looking only at the beneficial, good and happy thoughts in your mind.
8. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are at the present moment. Think positively, expect only favorable results and situations, and circumstances will change accordingly. If you persevere, you will transform the way your mind thinks. It might take some time for the changes to take place, but eventually they will.

Being a positive thinker is not about ignoring reality in favour of aspirational thoughts. It is more about taking a proactive approach to your life. Instead of feeling hopeless or overwhelmed, positive thinking allows you to tackle life's challenges by looking for effective ways to resolve conflict and come up with creative solutions to problems. It might not be easy, but the positive impact it will have on your mental, emotional, and physical health will be well-worth it. It takes practice; lots of practice. This is not a step-by-step process that you can complete and be done with. Instead, it involves a lifelong commitment to looking inside yourself and being willing to challenge negative thoughts and make positive changes.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

          ‘Where there is a will  

                There’s a way’

This is a very famous saying, which means that when we are determined to do a thing, however difficult it may be, and even apparently impossible, we shall find a way to do it.

The real reason why we do not try to do certain things or fail to do then when we try is often because we do not really want to do them or if we really want a thing, our desire for it is feeble. When we don’t really want to do it, we set to work to find excuses, and make mountains out of molehills. Every difficulty is exaggerated, and we so fill our minds with the obstacles in the way, that we think it is impossible of attainment. Our desire is like a thin, feeble stream of water, which is turned aside or blocked by every obstacle, but a rushing torrent simply sweeps rocks & trees & banks out of its way, and forces itself through or over every obstruction. In the same way a fierce desire, and a strong determination, will make light of difficulties, and will discover the way to success.

Many a man who became famous as a scholar, artist or businessman had a similar struggle against apparently insuperable obstacles. But their determination to succeed brought them success.

 That is why we say that ‘impossible’ means I’ m Possible and is a word that only found in the dictionary of fools.