Comments on: MemoryNet

MemoryNet

Gyan — Mon, 24 May 2004 19:00:21 -0800

By: jeffj

jeffj — Mon, 24 May 2004 19:35:12 -0800

Exciting stuff. Go small-world networks!

By: jjray

jjray — Mon, 24 May 2004 20:00:44 -0800

Small world networks are pretty cool right now. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find anything else about this project. However, it was just a matter of time before someone applied the "small world" or "scale free" network formalism to neural networks. Actually, searching the recent literature for "small world neural network" shows a few hits. This makes me wonder what makes this study unique. Interesting stuff, though, Gyan. Here is a short description of so-called small world networks. Also, a collection of links about small world and scale free networks.

By: solistrato

solistrato — Mon, 24 May 2004 21:01:57 -0800

THE MACHINES ARE COMING FOR US

By: spazzm

spazzm — Mon, 24 May 2004 21:08:01 -0800

Way cool.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 24 May 2004 21:12:44 -0800

We're slaves to machines operateing on machine (clock) time ever since the start of the industrial revolution. In a fractal sort of way it would be interesting the external networks people build socially mirrors the internal network structure of the brain. It hints at some greater universal order of things.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Mon, 24 May 2004 21:30:49 -0800

Thanks for the links, jjray stalbach, for the crimes of: 1. Using the term "We're slaves to machines" and 2. Using the term "a fractal sort of way" you have been sentenced to termination. A cadre of soul-less killing machines will be by to pick you up shortly, please stay put. BOOO!

By: Hildago

Hildago — Mon, 24 May 2004 21:37:09 -0800

Via jjray's link, this New York Times contained an analogy that helped an unmathematical person visualize what they mean when they talk about a small world network: Among people, the short cuts are well-connected individuals -- those who know many people from other countries, different disciplines or unusual subcultures. Such highly connected people establish surprising interconnections between groups that seem impossibly distant from one another, like Iowa farmers and Kalahari bushmen. For example, sometimes a farmer's son will join the Peace Corps in Africa and thus unexpected links are born.

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Tue, 25 May 2004 05:53:09 -0800

Testing: can one post a comment from www.metafilter.com:8080 (the new improved, apache-served, MeFi)? Sorry, Gyan.

By: snarfodox

snarfodox — Tue, 25 May 2004 08:16:05 -0800

Processing spazzm's directive... presuming "a fractal sort of way" is a reference to Mandelbrot's "fractional dimensionality". Referenced sentence still makes very little sense. Killbots dispatched. The neat trick is in getting self-sustaining operation in a simple network with several available stable states using a mechanism that could feasibly evolve without somebody poking it with a stick. The solution that they're using (looping back the excitatory links in that way) means that John White's "rigorous mathematical description" will have to deal with self referential functions... where a formal description can require non-linear differential equations... which would probably have biomedical engineers like Dr. White waking up screaming in the middle of the night.

By: daver

daver — Tue, 25 May 2004 08:52:16 -0800

Hildago, I think the article is about something different than the social networks you mention. The basic issue here is that researchers have been able to model the behaviour of neurons with a very simple mechanism. The behaviour is persistent 2 statefulness or 'bistability'. The characteristic of the networks which makes this happen and also makes them 'small world' networks turns out to be internal connections, not external connections. The way I understood it was that the networks are internally connected: a to b, b to c, and c to a. The internal connections are what give the persistent state, and also allow the states to be switched.

By: daver

daver — Tue, 25 May 2004 09:26:12 -0800

post-preview: Doh, I think snarfdox nailed it...