ChapterZero

Have *you* heard about the NannieBot? Supposedly a guy named Jim Wrightman wrote up a wonderful AI chat program for flushing out pedophiles in IRC chatrooms. I’ve seen several ‘transcripts’ of conversations with the bot; based on the utter realism of these ‘transcripts’ I think this is definitely a hoax. How could one man, working in isolation, come up with such ground-breaking technology? Even more strange, if he came up with this technology, why is he not disseminating it in some way, whether free or for charge? Hmm… here’s what he has to say (via http://overstated.net/04/03/22-my-chat-with-a-nanniebot.asp:

The difference with the approach I’ve taken to create this tech and with the academic approach is (I feel) primarily down to me treating this as a programming problem rather than an academic one. At the end of the day, its smoke and mirrors time isn’t it? Tricking humans into believing they are talking to a human?

Also, and I think this is a big factor too, I am a diagnosed Obsessive Compulsive and Social-Phobic who is undergoing treatment. I’ve had both of these things all my life - which means my commitment to programming AI stems from not only an interest but an ingrained, mentally deficient need for friendship, companionship and conversation. I have no friends, I never have had. When I wrote an AI construct when I was 13 it was so I had a friend…since then I’ve developed and developed until I have this bot.

Its not perfect - its far from it. At times its too ’smart’, there are lots of bugs, it crashes a lot, its slow…but with the support of people like Cameron (whether he believes it to be a real bot or not) we can move forward and try and get this into the public domain without treading on too many toes.

I feel for you Jim, but I won’t believe it until I know the code has gone open.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have the thought to search online for a book on computer algebra until tonight. And since I’ve had that thought, I haven’t been able to locate one.

I have been reading the book “Symbolic Integration I: Transcendental Functions” for the past three days by Manuel Bronstein, and am finding it good going. The first chapter provides a fast paced, intensive review of the algebra definitions and theorems needed in the rest of the book, albeit without much explication. But if you’ve ever had exposure to rings or fields, that review should be sufficient to grasp the concepts necessary to proceed reading the rest of the book.

So far, I have only read the section on the generalized euclidean algorithm, as applied to polynomial rings over fields. Just reading this has motivated me even more to attempt to get some sort of system working so I can play around with polynomials, gcds, diophantine equations, and the like. Unfortunately, the parsing problem is still there. Oh, Manuel Bronstein also has a pdf tutorial on symbolic integration available online (cf. citeseer).

Spring Break is over today; back to school on Monday. More teachers’ dirty looks…

I think my sister and I are becoming obsessed with losing weight. She’s always saying how she needs to lose weight– just last night, we were watching Extreme Makeover, and she commented that if she doesn’t lose weight, she’ll soon need one of those. I, on the other hand, don’t talk about it so much, but I think about it. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing well, just by virtue of limiting my sugar intake, but then I look at my reflection of the glass enclosed walkway that connects the two engineering buildings and think I have huge thighs. Whatever. I could lose weight if I really try.

Ha ha! Via Kuro5hin, a timely Simpson’s quote:

[Little Boy]   Hey, who left all this garbage on the steps of Congress?
[Amendment]   I’m not garbage
I’m an amendment to be
Yes, an amendment to be
And I’m hoping that they’ll ratify me
There’s a lot of flag-burners who have got too much freedom
I want to make it legal for policemen to beat ‘em
‘Cause there’s limits to our liberties
At least, I hope and pray that there are
‘Cause those liberal freaks go too far
[Little Boy]   But why can’t we just make a law against flag burning?
[Amendment]   Because that law would be unconstitutional
But if we change the constitution -
[Little Boy]   - Then we could make all sorts of crazy laws!
[Amendment]   Now you’re catching on!
[Little Boy]   But what if they say you’re not good enough to be in the constitution?
[Amendment]   Then I’ll crush all opposition to me!
And I’ll make Ted Kennedy pay
If he fights back, I’ll say that he’s gay
[Congressman]   Good news, amendment! They ratified you!
You’re in the US Constitution!
[Amendment]   Oh, yeah! Door’s open, boys!

I’m anticipating that this summer I’ll be participating in the Texas A&M REU in Wavelets and Matrix Theory. From the program description, if I get in, I’ll have a blast, learning about wavelets and matrices; here’s a clip from the webpage:

Focus of this Program. There is a fascinating interplay between wavelets, frames, and operator theory (i.e. the theory of linear maps between vector spaces). This interplay will be the key topic of investigation during this summer program. We shall investigate the role of wandering vectors for unitary systems, both in finite and infinite dimensions. Related topics include introductory ideas in frame theory, sampling theory, and operator algebras, again both in finite and infinite dimensions. Additional topics include wavelet sets and minimally supported frequency wavelets. This special class of wavelets has an interesting internal structure, but also provides concrete examples of important ideas that will be discussed. Finally, we will investigate several interesting intrinsic problems dealing with wavelet sets.

Proposed Research Problems:

• Open problems regarding wandering vectors for unitary systems acting on Rn or Cn.
• Open problems concerning finite frames and their relationships with matrix analysis and operator theory.
• An open problem on the reflexivity of finite dimensional operator algebras which is purely algebraic in nature.
• Characterize interpolation pairs of minimally supported frequency wavelets.
• How can a wavelet set be perturbed to give rise to an interpolation pair?
• Does there exist a wavelet set in the support of the Fourier transform of any wavelet?
• An open problem in sampling theory.

In an amazing happenstance, it turns out that one of the profs I asked to write me a recommendation is friends with one of the head researchers in the wavelets and matrix theory REU, and wrote me a strong recommendation. So I think I have a very good chance of getting in.

Lovely!