X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhUAjOdoLTTXM4N39hH9P8nMc1CK47ACFFfx5WpWLr4onIvRuaXsPi21XpJP From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 19:09:46 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: RHIZOME_RAW: what is important and what is irrelevant --WebTV-Mail-1525657491-374 --WebTV-Mail-1525657491-374 [207.79.35.91]) by postoffice-122.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.5/po.gso.24Feb98) mailsorter-101.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 15:49:11 -0400 Reply-To: meta@null.net Originator: list@rhizome.org Sender: list@rhizome.org From: /m/e/t/a/ To: xcruz@webtv.net Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: what is important and what is irrelevant Microsoft Recruits Sea Slugs by Niall McKay 6:00pm 10.Sep.98.PDT Even the most primitive creature is more complex than the most advanced computer system. This is why Microsoft Research and the University of Washington are working together on a new project to study and analyze the behavior of basic organisms, such as sea slugs. The idea for the research project came from the 1998 University of Washington and Microsoft Research Summer Institute in August, when computer scientists from the software giant met with biologists from the university. "We in computer science have been trying figure out how to get a computer to decide what is important and what is irrelevant," said Dr. Eric Horvitz, head of Microsoft Research's decision theory and adaptive systems group. "Well, it turns out that Mother Nature already does that very well." To study how organisms make these decisions, microprocessor specialist Dr. Chris Diorio and biologist Dr. Dennis Willows from the University of Washington are collaborating with Horvitz to implant a tiny silicon chip in a sea slug. Diorio will build the processor, Willows will insert it, and Horvitz will analyze the data, using complex techniques that have been developed for artificial-intelligence systems. Until now, Dr. Willows has had to implant electrodes into single nerve cells, slowly collecting information from each; also, the electrodes impair the slug's movement, which in turn limits the amount of information that is collected. "We believe that with a microprocessor we can let the sea slug swim freely and collect up to 64 megabits of data [over the course of a week]," said Willows. What the researchers are trying to determine is not so much how a creature decides what information is important, but how it discards what is useless. Researchers believe they can apply the methods used by slugs to prioritize information on computer systems. Microsoft Research is already working on intelligent-agent software that will help users browse the Web. "The software will read the links on a Web page and automatically prefetch selected pages into cache, which the user is likely to want to read next, thus saving the user download time," said Horvitz. "What we now need to figure out is how to get the computer to decide what is relevant and what is not." Professor Malcolm Borrows of Cambridge University in England recently learned that a grasshopper sends signals from its brain to its limbs telling the limbs what to expect when the insect is walking. This frees up the insect's nervous system and brain -- likened to network bandwidth and a microprocessor -- so that it can focus on more important matters. The researchers think the same could be true for slugs. So, what does all this have to do with running Windows 95, 98, or 2001? For one, such information could help the software giant build systems that can see, speak, and hear. "One of the problems associated with a speech-recognition system is that the computer needs to discern its users' commands and what is coming from its own CD player," said Horvitz. Researchers, he said, could apply this knowledge of grasshoppers to computing. For instance, a system could send out a signal to its limbs -- the microphone, video camera, and speakers -- telling them what to expect and would thus avoid sending useless information back to the central processing unit (CPU). This information could also be used in a sophisticated video-surveillance system, he said. While it may be obvious what benefits computer science will gain from biology, the trio of scientists also point out that it's a two-way street: Computer scientists can tell biologists what steps are taken in the thinking process, giving them clues about what to look for in an organism's behavior. "The real point of this exercise for Microsoft Research is to build systems that only attend to the most important needs of the user -- like a very smart, very intuitive English butler," said Horvitz. > "The real point of this exercise for Microsoft Research is to build systems that only attend to the most important needs of the user -- like a very smart, very intuitive sea slug," said Horvitz. > "The real point of this exercise for Microsoft Research is to build systems that only attend to the most important needs of the user -- like a very smart, very intuitive user," said Horvitz. > + + + -> RHIZOME COMMUNICATIONS -> post: list@rhizome.org -> questions: info@rhizome.org -> answers: http://www.rhizome.org + + + posts to RHIZOME RAW are subject to the terms set out in the Subscriber Agreement available online at . --WebTV-Mail-1525657491-374--