|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mired in the Overacquired by Roger Hughes Why not just DO something? In his autobiographical novel, Galatea 2.2, Richard Powers tells the story of a project to model the human brain by means of computer-based neural networks. Early in the project, the engineer in charge discovers that by "lobotomizing" the neural networks - reducing rather than extending their connections - the learning algorithm begins to actually "get the picture:"
"Too much retention. It was learning. But learning gets swamped with its own strength. The creature was driving itself batty, holding on too tenaciously to everything it had ever seen. Dying of its own nostalgia. Mired in the overacquired." |