Presented by: Vedanta Sutra dasaIdeas by: HG Lila Purushottama dasaHG Rasaraja dasaHolistic Modelof Sound Perception

THOSTMay 2015Semantic ProcessingArtificial general intelligence (AGI): a machine can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can.from understanding language to writing award-winning booksfrom comprehending music to composing bandishes in different ragasSource: WikipediaSemantic ProcessingWhat are our computers doing ??At present, digital computers only perform token manipulation (0/1 bits).It does not lead to understanding or cognition.The computers manipulate the symbols using a form of syntax rules, without any knowledge of the symbol's semantics (that is, their meaning).Source: Gomatam R., 2009State of the Art - what is lacking?Computers can perform complex computations at lightening speeds. E.g.,finding logarithmscomputing square rootsoptimization using gradient algorithmsThey do not feel exhausted or bored by this labour

State of the Art - what is lacking?Computers can perform complex computations at lightening speeds. E.g.,finding logarithmscomputing square rootsoptimization using gradient algorithmsThey do not feel exhausted or bored by this labour

But they are only performing bit operations, they way they have been programmedState of the Art - what is lacking?What about AI ?Automatic temperature controlAutomatic OCR (optical character recognition)Adaptive signal processingAutomatic music transcriptionGPS navigation

State of the Art - what is lacking?What about AI ?Automatic temperature controlAutomatic OCR (optical character recognition)Adaptive signal processingAutomatic music transcriptionGPS navigation

Only a bit more sophisticated programmingThey are only doing as they have been programmedState of the Art - what is lacking?Automatic OCR (optical character recognition)pixels of 0/1learn features which are again 0/1Source: CS, Boston University

Machine does not know the goal of optimization process, it is just following the instructionsState of the Art - what is lacking?Hierarchy of simple computational models give rise to complex understanding

same simple units functioning in different levelsState of the Art - what is lacking?Hierarchy of simple computational models give rise to complex understanding

This is REDUCTIONISM, an old argumentIt has brought some empirically successful systems upto certain accuracy, but no understanding of understanding itselfjust simulating cognition or intelligenceState of the Art - what is lacking?What about a computer program defeating a human grandmaster in playing chess?

Source: Deutsch D., 2012State of the Art - what is lacking?What about a computer program defeating a human grandmaster in playing chess?

The algorithms used by human and computer are not even remotely similar.The grandmaster can give exciting reasons for his steps and can write a bestseller book on the game. But a computer does not even know what it is doing apart from following a set of instructions.Source: Deutsch D., 2012Semantic ProcessingBut no brain on Earth is yet close to knowing what brains do in order to achieve any of that functionality. The enterprise of achieving it artificially the field of artificial general intelligence or AGI has made no progress whatever during the entire six decades of its existence. Source: Deutsch D., 2012Is it possible?: two viewsMachine can only act like it thinks and has a mindAGI is not possibleMachine can think and have a mindAGI requires a major breakthroughI call the core functionality in question creativity: the ability to produce new explanationsSource: Deutsch D., 2012Goals of Semantic ProcessingCreativity: the ability to produce new explanationsCausal Reasoning: for taking decisionsCurrent Sound ProcessingWe singAir column vibratesDiaphragm of microphone vibratesVibration converted to electric signal

Electric signal moves the coilDiaphragm of speaker vibratesAir column vibratesWe hearCurrent Sound ProcessingWe are processing in the visual domain, not the sound domain [Sir]Even touch is playing an intermediary role

Corollary: frequency, phase are an artifact

Can we process sound in the sound domain?Law of the Instrument: if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail - Abraham MaslowQuantifying ExperiencesExperience is irreducible/holisticModern science tries to reduce it to elementary entities. Why? Quantifying ExperiencesExperience is irreducible/holisticModern science tries to reduce it to elementary entities. Why? May be the main motivation for this is to be able to QUANTIFY the experiences.Quantification gives better understanding (notes of music/raga)portability (reproducing the experience)control (manipulability)E.g., the experience of seeing an elephant can be represented as numerical values corresponding to color, shape, size, etc. Once this is done, it opens the world of unlimited ways this information can be utilized, be it for image processing, object detection, tracking, animation and so on.A Gap in the UnderstandingThe machine can do speech recognition, then how are we different?Machine can do symbol manipulation, not semantic one. It can recognize symbols/shapes, but it does not know what to recognize; we have to tell it what to look for. But humans can automatically detect what to recognize or learn, because they know the meaning associatedE.g. One can speak a sentence in many ways - low pitch, high pitch, whisper, alaryngeal etc. But no one has to train me how to make sense out of it. But a system has to be trained separately that this signal (symbol) corresponds to this phoneme (another symbol)Humans can reach meaning even with fragmentary inputjust simulating cognition or intelligenceA GAP in the UnderstandingThe modern sound processing methods can manipulate lower level handles like frequency, phase, etc.Music theory can manipulate/explain higher level concepts like instrumentation, pitch, etc.There is a big gap in betweenNo single theory can explain all the levels coherently

Goals of Semantic ProcessingCreativity: the ability to produce new explanationsCausal Reasoning: for taking decisions

Single theory for explaining different levels of perception

E.g. a note is important because it gives a different form to the composition, and not because of statistics of notesHow is it possible?Form vs SubstanceEvery instrument has a form which identifies it. This form manifests through the audio that we hear.A message has a form which manifests through the alphabets written on paperForm is simultaneously same and different from the substanceModern science is good in manipulating substance, but no idea of formSource: Gomatam R., 2014How is it possible?Hierarchy of formAlphabet, word, sentence, article, ideaNote, composition, raga, idea/moodSimilar to the levels of sabda in Vedic understandingThe higher level guides the lower level, not the other way round

Modeling the formLet the form be modeled by a mathematical entity called infon Infon carries the information from the source to the perceiver

Modeling the formLet the form be modeled by a mathematical entity called infon Infon carries the information from the source to the perceiver

SOURCEOBSERVERGROSS MEDIA CARRYING INFONINFONPROJECTED FROM PERCEPTUAL SPACEINFONPROJECTED TO PERCEPTUAL SPACEModeling the formAn Infon is a relationship - between different objects, sense experiences Model (MQM?)infon as a wave functioninformation transfer as projection operator

INFORMATION is a scalar measure associated with an INFONModeling the ExperienceEarth, water, fire, etc. are gross media to carry infonsThe medium has some infon (form)The source puts its infon onto the medium, resulting in a different infonThe observer has own perceptual spaceThe infon in medium gets projected onto the perceptual space of the observer

How to define Information?According to the present understanding, information is defined w.r.t. the quantity the observer is interested inE.g. in Shannons information, the probabilities are the ones associated with the patterns the receiver is expectingE.g. given a green tennis ballRed vs GreenTennis vs Ping-pongSize

Further directionsDimension of infon?Can we model it completely?ConclusionPresent computation (AI) is syntactic, not semanticAGI requires creativity and causal reasoningDistinction between substance from formModel form as infon, which carries informationExperience as projection on perceptual spaceInformation depends on what the perceiver is interested inHigher level in the hierarchy guiding the lower levelBhagavat Sankhya approach of H.G. Rasaraja PrabhuSyntactic TOKENS to Semantic SYMBOLSA different world view: we are interpreting things as TOKENS, but they can also be conceived of as SYMBOLSphysically characterize macroscopic objects in terms of their relational properties, as SYMBOLS with semantic contentSource: Gomatam R., 2009