Can you huddle?

A recent study from the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics demonstrates that penguins that face harsh Antarctica winters huddle optimally. There are two important findings. First, even though each individual penguin is driven by a selfish motivation to capture maximum available heat for itself, the ultimate outcome appears to result in democratic allocation of aggregate heat among the participants. And second, the shape of the societal huddle seems to be utility maximizing if all uncertainties are taken into account.

These findings have multiple implications. It reinforces the idea that a system, in which individual participants are local utility maximizers, tend toward societal optimum. Many have been concocting theories to explain the behavior of complex systems top down and they get lost in the process as the complexity of their own theories overtake them. The efficient market hypothesis, that argues prices tend toward optimal levels by the actions of selfish participants has been objected to those who think it is too simplistic. Similarly, the origins of planned and socialistic societies follow a consistent disbelief in the actions of the selfish individual and a misplaced trust in a few, who govern them.

Those who do not believe in the power of free markets, trade and societal organizations, may want to look South, where those less endowed have constructed better systems.

Hardware or software?

A recent study seems to argue that the remarkable intellectual abilities demonstrated by Einstein are related to the unusual characteristics of his brain. The asymmetric shapes in prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices of his brain may have contributed to his success, the study portends. This may be premature.

By comparing the shape and structure of a singular brain against a cross section of ordinary brains, the study seems to find oddities. However, the cause and effect are not established. More importantly, the question will be whether such odd shapes exist in larger populations and if so, why such brains have not been able to push imagination to the limit. An alternative hypothesis has to be that the hardware of the brain has little to do with the demonstrated abilities of a human. It is the software – both the installed operating system – culture and societal effects and the applications – experience and curiosity that make each brain unique. It is neither the capacity to memorize nor the ability to process information fast that lead to remarkable innovations and discoveries.

Ordinary men and women will perish cutting and dicing a remarkable organ but finding nothing important. Meanwhile, the imagination that propelled the beautiful mind to eternity will wither away.

Occam’s razor

In every field, from science to psychology and from education to entertainment, those with simpler ideas and fewer assumptions seem to do better. Theories that can be expressed on simpler terms, educational institutions with fewer constraints and movies, music and dramas, with simpler and enjoyable plots seem to win. Yes, economy and parsimony, terms considered anathematic by those reaching for the stars under city lights, may rule again. A complex theory that fails to explain what is observed certainly is inferior to one that is simple and equally incompetent. If observed complexity in a system can be attributed to a singular origin, such as God or dark matter, then one could argue that it is in a favorable direction to Occam’s razor. In a world basking in statistical noise from pharmaceuticals to astrophysics and from Wall Street to the forgotten alleys, one could anticipate a break from mediocrity but that is not certain. It is dangerous to open one’s mind in the middle of an open field in the midst of a storm and lightning.

Those who anticipate the impending singularity may be better advised to attempt to make sense out of confusion.

Reality bites

Recent news that the Chandra observatory has produced data showing the Milky Way is embedded in a vast halo of hot gas extending many hundreds of thousands of light years and possibly forming a bridge across the Local Group, may help reintroduce reality and less fanciful speculation in Astrophysics. The field has been dominated by those adept at concocting undefined constructs – dark matter, energy and flow - to account for the missing baryons and the inexplicable tilt of the universe for many decades. Such a simple explanation – that one has to look harder to find the thin veil – if proven correct, may inject a much needed reality check, with many positive effects.

Occam’s razor rules and those who forget it in any field are not progressing knowledge, just introducing noise to constrain it. One can never underestimate the power of simplification and this is especially true in a regime of exponentially increasing data, driving every scientist into analysis-paralysis and pattern finding. Empiricism and speculation without a mathematical framework are unlikely to be useful. The tendency has been either to take the status-quo equation as sacrosanct and reject observations that do not fit or to use observations to create hypotheses without a mathematical foundation.

Next time, perhaps, it is better to seek simpler explanations for exotic phenomena and badly behaving equations.

Green Brain

Recent news from the universities of Sheffield and Sussex (1) about a highly ambitious project to replicate a honey bee brain, in an attempt to advance the stagnant field of Artificial Intelligence, is encouraging. Brains, driven largely by instincts are likely more amenable to replication by currently available techniques. However, such replication is closer to automation than intelligence. Research in this direction is useful to build more intelligent automatons. Adding a layer of cognition to machines could be useful. If this can be considered different from the larger vision of AI – an ability to replicate the human brain in all its grandeur, we may be able to advance both fields faster.

The engineering concept of Artificial Intelligence has been stuck, attempting to connect brain replication with automation, for many decades. One of the primary reasons is that the structure and semantics of contemporary software are not amenable to modeling holistic phenomena. It is easier to build an airplane or a robot from component parts systematically. Engineers have been trying to extend this basic idea to brains with very little success.

Advancing contemporary AI techniques to creating brains with high programmability, such as the honey bee brain, is a useful exercise to advance robotics. But it is unlikely to advance our understanding of complex brains.

(1) 'Green Brain' project to create an autonomous flying robot with a honey bee brain. Published: Monday, October 1, 2012 - 11:07 in Mathematics & Economics