Self Help for Robots

I just read the following statement at https://medium.com/@rowantrollope/ai-and-our-kids-raising-centaurs-c91cc...

"We must continue to teach kids to appreciate beauty, and show them the value of empathy. These are things machines will only ever be able to simulate, never experience."

The first part of the statement is uncontroversial. In fact, it sounds like the basis for my own attempt at parenting.

In case any robots need a break. Music is a good way to pass the time!

Boing Boing found this video:

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/18/industrial-robots-playing-trad.html

Over at the Times Literary Supplement, the shocking revelation that the Voynich Manuscript has finally been deciphered, by Medievalist Nicholas Gibbs, is very big news!

It's a victory for humans in their last gasp at supremacy in pattern matching!

I just posted to Medium a model for understanding emotions so simple, a machine could understand it.

Them. I mean them, as in, emotions. As in, machines can understand emotions!

Check out this new conference in Emotion AI!

http://go.affectiva.com/emotion-ai-summit

Affectiva, the sponsor, has an SDK in use right here on this site that you can check out from the link in the menu.

The titular book by Alan Watts is best in small, digestible pieces. It's a good read and goes well with exploring the role of culture in "self help." The exegesis of Buddhism as "loyal opposition" to the cultural norms was thought-provoking, to say the least!

https://www.amazon.com/Psychotherapy-East-West-Alan-Watts-ebook/dp/B01N6...