Rainy Saturday

I guess, for anyone who reads this blog, I don't need to mention what I've been thinking a lot about, this week. It's been some serious thought, and the stress of contemplating it has (I think) had an effect on the blood sugar numbers, which have skyrocketed. All I can do is plan, and react. I suppose, in a way, thats all anyone can do, in any situation. Unless, they're Buddha advocates, in which case they'll sit quietly on a lotus leaf, becoming one with it all. Whick reminds me of that old joke about Buddha ordering at a fast food place.

This morning, though, I woke up thinking about artificial intelligence and robotics. I like to flagellate myself for being unable to come up with ways to use these disciplines to solve real-world problems. That, even if I had a perfect fit between tool and problem, it'd not matter, because I'm not in a position to make the merge happen, that doesn't bother me. Well, doesn't bother me a lot. I simply like to think about it. Since my thinking rarely comes up with a solution -- occasionally thinking a neural net could resolve this is the extent of it -- I've come to realize that probably the people who do make these linkages don't do it by looking for a way to 'use AI' or 'use robotics', and they probably don't go trawling through problems to see if there's a match - can I use AI to shave this morning? Can I use robotics to make my lunch? (Actually, as I write that, I think well, maybe they do.) But what I think is the genesis for the creation of a match between a problem and an AI or robotics solution is an ability to see the solution as a characteristic, something that extracts the nature of those solutions, and holds that awareness ready when a problem presents itself. You know the old paradigm about If all you have is a hammer, then all problems tend to look like nails. I suspect that in this case it is If all you have is a tool that (insert solution-unqiue characteristic here), then all problems tend to look as if they would respond to that characteristic. Sorry that I'm not able to put that better. Hey, is that an AI problem?

Of course, sometimes a match just happens -- as it did for these RFID-enabled pigs. It would appear to be a 'survival of the fittest' situation, and solution.

This morning, we may be going over to the hospital to see my mother -- quite possibly literally just see; as she may be sedated and asleep; even if she isn't, she'll have the respirator tube in her mouth and be unable to talk. That's got to be a terrifying feeling that I'd bet permeates you even if you're sedated. Then tonight, my daughter's going to the homecoming dance, which to me is a rite of passage. She's not going to the dance with a date; rather, she's going to a friend's house, getting dressed there, then all going to the house of a guy she's known for years, and they're all having dinner there, and proceeding to the dance. I told her that I'm assuming she will figure out how to get home, and will call me if she needs a ride. It took a certain leap of trust for me to do that, since we always nail these things down in advance. Will I be staying up until she gets home? Count on it.