I have been reading the book "Creation", by Steve Grand - a welcome return to nonfiction - now that there is a final wane in schoolwork volume as graduation approaches. Grand describes a model for artificial life that approaches the task from a novel point of view - a view of the universe as a laboratory for persistent phenomena and emergence. In this way, everything from atoms to ecosystems are really just stages (or levels?) of the same process. His other important diversion from the traditional A.I. blueprint is a better understanding and application of the principles that allow neural networks to function as learning machines (no surprise, through the same principles of emergence, persistence, and patterns of feedback). I'm excited to finish his book and try out the game that he created using his principles - Creatures.
I think that after this book, I will move on in a logical progression to another book I bought years ago (around the same time as Creation): "Consciousness: An Introduction". I have been scared of that book for some time (not wanting to totally remove the sacredness from my childhood universe). But, there is a time for everything, and bravery begets personal growth.
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