10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 7

Read Part 6: Galileo's Gravity Experiment

4. Monkeys and Typewriters

You probably have heard about the thing about monkeys and typewriters, it is called the “infinite monkey theorem,” also known as the “monkeys and typewriters” experiment. the theorem states that "a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare."

Sounds absurd? Counter-intuitive? That's for sure. But this is all about probability and infinity. The key idea is that even though the probability of such a thing happening is very, very tiny, the probability still exists.

In 2003, science students at a zoo in the U.K. “tested” the infinite monkey theorem when they put a computer and a keyboard in a primate enclosure. Unfortunately, the monkeys never got around to composing any sonnets. According to researchers, all they managed to produce was five pages consisting almost entirely of the letter “s.” Then the lead male began bashing the keyboard with a stone followed by other monkeys urinating and defecating on it.

The monkeys were supposed to be "random generators". And there's the possibility that randomly generated things might turn out to be good things. In Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning research, genetic algorithms and evolution algorithms are important tools/methods to try to find good solutions in vast state spaces where an exhaustive search is not possible. Such algorithms do need a little bit of "luck" and some extended time to compute, although they are not completely random, but use the help of fit functions to try to go toward the right direction of the solution. They also follow the greedy approach where any step that moves toward the direction of the goal is a good step (this is, however, not necessarily true for the optimal solution). So in a sense, we are systematically generating lots of digital "monkeys" to try to find that piece of wonderful work of Shakespeare. The idea behind this is that maybe given the limited time, we won't be able to achieve Shakespeare, but even if we can get something comparable to a 3rd-Grade level composition, it's a great success, because the creation of such work had no human involvement, it all came from AI.

Interestingly enough, some music writers and composers are prone to the idea of using computer software applications to randomly generate small pieces of music and help these random creations might give them ideas or inspirations of creating their own quality work. Of course the software-generated music were first filtered using AI to get rid of most of the obviously meaningless or bad sequences.


It is worth mentioning that one of the projects I've always want to complete is a Rap Lyric Generator. The idea is that given a music sequence (e.g., Twinkle Little Star music) and a topic (e.g., Robots are awesome), the program would automatically find words, sentences on the Internet that matches the given topic and also rhyme with each other, and then automatically generate lyrics and sing the lyrics using Rap style autonomously. Can you see that this also uses the idea of "digital monkeys" and "invisible typewriters"? However, just like many of my other great ideas, someone will probably beat me to it before I ever find time to work on it.


Read Part 8: The Chinese Room


Video of the Day:

Can monkeys make good coffee?

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 6

Read Part 5: The Ship of Theseus

5. Galileo's Gravity Experiment

In order to refute Aristotle’s claim that the speed of a falling object is dictated by its mass, Galileo devised a simple thought experiment:

According to Aristotelian logic, if a light object and a heavy object were tied together and dropped off a tower, then the heavier object would fall faster, and the rope between the two would become taut. This would allow the lighter object to create drag and slow the heavy one down. But Galileo reasoned that once this occurs, the weight of the two objects together should be heavier than the weight of either one by itself, therefore making the system as a whole fall faster. This contradiction proved that Aristotle’s hypothesis was wrong.

One of the most famous stories about Galileo is that he once dropped two metal balls off the Leaning Tower of Pisa to prove that heavier objects do not fall faster than lighter ones. In actuality, this story is probably just a legend. However an astronaut did perform this famous Galileo test with a hammer and a feather in vacuum with low gravity on the surface of the moon (see video below).

So what can I learn from this thought experiment? As a Computer Science researcher, many times it is easier for me to just sit down and code up experiments. But sometimes it might be a good idea to stand up and then write down the math formulations on the whiteboard. Simplifying the math calculations or jog down some proofs can actually dramatically reduce the amount of coding I have to do and also improve the performance of my algorithms. Of course, if I could do all these in my head it would be wonderful, but I am no Galileo, and I also have severe short-term memory deficit -- a strong sign and that I am almost ready to graduate!

Read part 7: Monkeys and Typewriters



Video of the Day:

Air Swimmers -- a fun "robot" toy for parties! You can get them here.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 5

Read Part 4: Einstein's Light Beam

6. The Ship of Theseus

One of the oldest of all thought experiments is the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus, which originated in the writings of Plutarch. It describes a ship that remained seaworthy for hundreds of years thanks to constant repairs and replacement parts. As soon as one plank became old and rotted, it would be replaced, and so on until every working part of the ship was no longer original to it. The question is whether this end product is still the same Ship of Theseus, or something completely new and different. If it’s not, at what point did it stop being the same ship? The Philosopher Thomas Hobbes would later take the problem even further: if one were to take all the old parts removed from the Ship of Theseus and build a new ship from them, then which of the two vessels is the real Ship of Theseus? For philosophers, the story of the Ship of Theseus is used as a means of exploring the nature of identity, specifically the question of whether objects are more than just the sum of their parts.

I couldn't help but think of the story about Steve Jobs and his Mercedes Benz. Steve was able to exploit a hole in Californian law and roved the Silicon Valley in a Mercedes without license plates:

It turns out there's a provision in California regulations that give one six months to get license plates for a new car, and Jobs took advantage of it. Yes, he leased a silver Mercedes SL55 AMG, said Callas -- and every six months he traded it in for a new one.

So to Steve, the car was still The Car of Jobs, but to the Californian DMV, the car was a different one.

It might not matter too much if this thing we talk about is just a physical thing like Steve Jobs' car. What if it is an intangible object, for example, a song. If we move up or down the pitch of all notes in the song, is it still the same song? If you think the answer is yes, then what if we move the pitch to a range where human can no longer distinguish them?

Now let's think about robots. US Soldiers in Afghanistan have being using remotely-controlled robots to detonate road-side bombs. As unintelligent as these robots are, many soldiers have developed close affection toward these devices. When damaged robots are sent in for repair, the normal procedure is to simply send back a replacement unit because it is most time-efficient and cost-efficient. However, many soldiers demanded the exact same unit or robotics device to be repaired and sent back because they have assigned a personal identity to the robot as a teammate and friend.

Let's think one step further. With robots that are more intelligent, especially ones that learn from past experience, it is still possible for us to duplicate the programs and memory of the robot (with the exception of Johnny 5) and then load the same programs and memory into an identical robot. Now we run into a real identity crisis -- both for the robots and the users. Both robots will think they are the original robot, and to the user, both robots are the original robots with the same memory, same logic, and same appearance. (Why do I keep thinking of the movie The 6th Day?) What problems will this create?

I also can't help but think of all the protagonists in these reincarnation novels (like the Joy of Life story I am translating, for example). Are these persons still the same persons? Probably not! But why not?

That's enough philosophical discussion for today! Have a good day!


Read part 6: Galileo's Gravity Experiment


Video of the Day:

Enjoy this beautiful song The Velocity of Love, and the beautiful video while you struggle with philosophical thought experiments!

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 4

Read Part 3: The Ticking Time Bomb

7. Einstein's Light Beam

According to his book Autobiographical Notes, Albert Einstein’s famous work on special relativity was inspired by a thought experiment he conducted when he was only 16 years old. He thought about chasing a beam of light as it traveled through space, and reasoned that if he were able to move next to it at the speed of light, he should be able to observe the light frozen in space as “an electromagnetic field at rest though spatially oscillating.” For Einstein, this thought experiment proved that for his imaginary observer “everything would have to happen according to the same laws as for an observer who, relative to the Earth, was at rest.”

The video below gives a good example of special relativity.

I can't think of how this relates to AI, but the lesson here is that simple thought experiments can lead to extraordinary findings. Therefore I'll keep running all kinds of thought experiments in my head like how properties of intelligence should remain the same regardless of what species is displaying intelligent behaviors.

Read Part 5: The Ship of Theseus


 

I love staring at the starry sky, because that lets me stare right into the past.






BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 3

Read Part 2: The Gettier Problem


8. The Ticking Time Bomb

Imagine that a bomb or other weapon of mass destruction is hidden in your city, and the timer on it will soon strike zero. You have in your custody a man with knowledge of where the device is planted. Do you resort to torture in order to get him to give up the information?

Sounds like an action movie? It's only another thought experiment called "ticking time bomb". Like the trolley problem, the ticking time bomb scenario is an ethical problem that forces one to choose between two morally questionable acts.

Thanks to many fictional movies and TV shows, the ticking time bomb scenario is one of the most discussed thought experiments. The US government has laws against torturing prisoners (Although we all know how well that law is being followed. Think Abu Ghraib.), but would breaking the law be justified if large number of people's lives can be saved? A British news article extended the scenario and asked if one would be willing to resort to torturing the man's wife and children as a means of extracting the information from him. This sounds really scary now!

According to Wikipedia:

In September 2002, when reviewing Alan Dershowitz's book, Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge, Richard Posner, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, wrote in The New Republic, "If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Times Square, torture should be used--and will be used--to obtain the information.... No one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility."

Morgan from the Center for American Free Thoughts gave an interesting discussion in the video below (sorry, I can't find a commercial-free version, so this will do).

I don't know which side I should support. It is quite a dilemma. However, I am one hundred percent sure that we shouldn't allow the government to easily slap the title of "terrorists" on innocent citizens and then torture him/her or take away their basic rights and claim it is "justified".

Read Part 4: Einstein's Light Beam


Picture of the Day:

This spectacular photo looks like it is coming out of a Sci-Fi movie. It is actually taken by a Russian girl who snuck into a Russian military rocket factory.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 2

Read Part 1: The Trolley Problem


9. The Gettier Problem (The Cow in the field)

One of the major thought experiments in epistemology (the field of philosophy that deals with knowledge) is what is known as “The Cow in the Field.” It concerns a farmer who is worried his prize cow has wandered off. When the milkman comes to the farm, he tells the farmer not to worry, because he’s seen that the cow is in a nearby field. Though he’s nearly sure the man is right, the farmer takes a look for himself, sees the familiar black and white shape of his cow, and is satisfied that he knows the cow is there. Later on, the milkman drops by the field to double-check. The cow is indeed there, but it’s hidden in a grove of trees. There is also a large sheet of black and white paper caught in a tree, and it is obvious that the farmer mistook it for his cow. The question, then: even though the cow was in the field, was the farmer correct when he said he knew it was there?


The Cow in the Field was first used by Edmund Gettier as a criticism of the popular definition of knowledge as “justified true belief”—that is, that something becomes knowledge when a person believes it; it is factually true; and they have a verifiable justification for their belief. In the experiment, the farmer’s belief that the cow was there was justified by the testimony of the milkman and his own verification of a black and white object sitting in the field. It also happened to be true, as the milkman later confirmed. But despite all this, the farmer did not truly know the cow was there, because his reasoning for believing it turned out to be based on false premises. Gettier used this experiment, along with a few other examples, as proof of his argument that the definition of knowledge as justified true belief needed to be amended. The video below shows another example of the Gettier Problem.

A robot or an AI agent can acquire knowledge in several distinct ways. The easiest one (at least for the programmer) is to memorize facts. For example: the capital of the United States is Washington D.C., earth is a sphere, and a triangle has three sides. These are beliefs we forcefully inject into the agent's brain and the agent might blindly take them in as faith. AI agents are great at storing facts and can store large quantities of facts. This is similar (roughly) to us human learning in elementary schools.

Another way of acquiring knowledge is to learn the rules and then apply rules to different problems. For example: don't run into an obstacle. Abstracting and representing rules can be quite challenging for designers, that's why robots today don't have a lot of rules programmed into them. Having too many rules can also exponentially increase the computational complexity can cause internal conflicts, unless the robot is designed to ignore rules at times or only apply rules that can help optimize or maximize certain utilities, like how we humans do at our convenience. However, once the rules are implemented, robots are great at executing them (as long as the rules are clearly defined). For example, we already have AI agents that can solve or generate proofs for very complicated math problems, even better than the human counterparts. This method is similar (roughly) to us human learning in middle schools. Learning by demonstration probably falls under this category as well.

A third way of acquiring knowledge for robots and AI agents is by the means of traditional machine learning using existing data sets. Whether supervised learning (where records in a data set are labeled by human) or unsupervised learning (no labels), the basic idea is that the agent would try to "rationalize" the data sets and then find some consistent properties, or "insights", in the data sets, and then be able to apply them to new information (generalize). This is similar (roughly) to us human learning in college where we are exposed to a lot of facts, but we have to come up with general senses of these facts and then conclude with our own, newly identified rules. Agents are normally bounded by "features" identified by human who provided the data sets. However, few smart agents can try to come up with "features" of their own and it falls under the name of "Active Learning".

Yet another way of acquiring knowledge for these artificial beings is through Bayesian networks (logical nodes interconnected like a neural network). Given that a good Bayesian network exists (or one that's pretty good at self-evolving), the agent first have some a priori beliefs of things (e.g., sky is blue and grass is green) acquired either through previous mentioned methods or simply non-informative (e.g., a woman is probably just as lazy as a man). Then through observations, the agent learns from experience and obtain a posteriori knowledge. The new knowledge might be completely opposite to the a priori beliefs, therefore the agent modifies its beliefs of the existing rules, previous facts, and the world and everything in the universe. You probably already see where I am going. This is similar (roughly) to us human beings learning in grad schools.

Not to ridicule things, by the time the agent becomes really imaginative and start to question everything simply based on reports from lower-level agents (hmm...grad school robots?), we make it a professor. (I hope my advisor is not reading this...)

Anyway, back to the original topic, IMHO, we can't always rely on justified true beliefs, but isn't at least trying to justify the belief better than blind beliefs? Of course when it comes to authority, my robots don't have to justify its beliefs, because to them, I am God!

Read Part 3: The Ticking Time Bomb


Video of the Day:

Great examples of illusions. So we shouldn't trust what we see with our eyes. Does this mean we shouldn't trust everything we see?

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Random Thoughts: A Few Brain Teasers

Sharing some brain teasers I found interesting. See how many you can figure out yourself:

Problem 1: The Missing Dollar
==========================

Image credit: Canvas

Three guests check into a hotel room. The normal charge for one night is $30, so each guest pays $10. Later the owner said that there's a promotion and the bill should only be $25. To rectify this, he gives the bellhop $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room, the bellhop realizes that he cannot divide the money equally. As the guests didn't know the total of the revised bill, the bellhop decides to just give each guest $1 and keep $2 for himself.
Now that each of the guests has been given $1 back, each has paid $9, bringing the total paid to $27. The bellhop has $2. If the guests originally handed over $30, what happened to the remaining $1?


Problem 2: Cut the Loss
==========================

Image credit: iStockPhoto

One day a customer came to Tom's store. He collected $20 worth of merchandize, and then gave Tom a $50 bill. Since Tom didn't have enough change, he went to Charlie's store next door and exchanged the $50 bill into changes. Then he gave the customer $30 change. Shortly after the customer left, Charlie came to Tom and told him that the $50 bill was counterfeit money. So Tom immediately gave Charlie another $50 bill in exchange. So after all, how much money did Tom lose from this incident? Was it $50, $80, or $100?


Problem 3: Green Onion Vendor
==========================

Image credit: The Virginian Pilot

A customer came to the green onion vendor and asked about the price of the green onions. The vendor said that the green onions sell for one dollar per pound. Since he had a total of 100 pounds, it would cost one hundred dollars to buy them all. The customer then asked if the vendor would consider selling green onion stems and leaves separately. The vendor told him that the green onion stems would sell for 70 cents and the green onion leaves would sell for 30 cents. The customer then decided to buy 50 pounds of green onion stems and 50 pounds of green onion leaves. The vendor then calculated as the following:


50 x 0.7 = 35, 50 x 0.3 = 15, 35 + 15 = 50

So the customer paid $50 and left. Now the green onion vendor was very confused: how come the customer was able to take away his $100 worth of green onions for only $50?


Problem 4: Find the Odd Ping Pong Ball
==========================

Image credit: 123RF.com

You have 12 ping pong balls. One of them is slightly heavier OR lighter than the others. You also have a balance scale. How can you find the odd ball out, and if it is heavier or lighter, in only 3 weighings. Please help!


Problem 5: Silver Utensils Problem
==========================

Image credit: Shutterstock

Bill wanted to buy some silver utensils, so he went to the utensil store and then found out that he only had enough money to buy 21 forks and 21 spoons, or 28 knives only. Since he needs to buy the same number of forks, spoons and knives to make complete sets, and he would really prefer to use up all the money he had brought, can you help him out?


Check out the answers to these problems here.



Video of the Day:

A great review of year 2011 based on what people searched in Google:

Random Thoughts: Sharing Some Mini-Stories

Sharing some mini-stories I read on the Internet. Hope you enjoy!

He was three when he peed his pants. She took her own pants off and gave it to him. "Remember to give it back to me," she said.
He was thirteen when he was courting a beautiful girl. She shoved her wallet into his hands. "Remember to give it back to me," she said.
He was thirty-three when he lost his ring. She took off the identical ring from her finger. "Remember to give it back to me," she said.
He was forty-three when the plane was about to crash. She strapped the parachute on him and waved. "You don't have to give it back to me this time," she said with a smile.

**********

Many years after the breakup they met again by chance.
Man: "How are you doing?"
Woman: "Good."
Man: "How is he doing?"
Woman: "Good."
"How about yourself?" the woman asked.
"Good."
Woman: "How about her?"
Man: "She just told me she is good."

**********

Everyday I would take the subway together with my girlfriend to go to work. Then one day and every day after she always found the handsome young man waiting for her outside of the station leaned on his sports car and looking at her with a big smile. At first she simply ignored him. But the handsome man and his sports car consistently showed up on time every day. Gradually she treated me with less and less enthusiasm until the day when the handsome young man confronted her with a large bouquet of red rose and asked, "Will you leave him, please?" "Of course!" she said with excitement. "She no longer loves you," the young man turned to me, "be my boyfriend, will you?" I accepted the bouquet.

**********

She climbed in the taxi and then recognized him. They had been intimate lovers ten years ago and had decided to go separate ways under the heavy pressure from their parents, never seeing each other again.
"How are you?"
"I am good, you?"
"Good."
She noticed the watch on his wrist was still the same one she had given him.
When she was getting off, he heard the jingles from the bell strapped on her handbag, the one he had given her.

**********

It was night. The boy had the girl on the back of his motorcycle.
Girl: "Can you slow down? I am scared."
Boy: "Isn't this fun?"
Girl: "Please! I am scared."
Boy: "Alright. Tell me you love me."
Girl: "Fine. I love you. Can you slow down now?"
Boy: "Can you take off my helmet and put it on. It's making me very uncomfortable."
The next day in the news: One death and one survivor in a motorcycle crash. Malfunctioning brakes to be blamed.

**********

In the United States.
"Hello...oh, hi mom, what is it?"
"Nothing, I just miss you."
"Alright, mom. I am really sleepy. It's early in the morning here. How many times have I told you. Don't forget the 12 hours timezone difference."
"Oh, I forgot. Go back to sleep..."
Five minutes later.
"Gosh, who's calling this early again!"
"This is your uncle. Your mom's apartment building is on fire!"
Dialing back immediately.
"Mom! Mom! Pick up the phone!!"
Ring...ring...ring...

**********

She works in a highrise building in the jungle of the city. He works in the office in the same floor just across the street. Everyday she would secretly watch him, imagining his joy and sorrow and then record them in her blog. Then one day he disappeared suddenly. She felt as if a chunk was missing from deep inside her heart. "He left. I miss him but he doesn't know." she wrote in her blog. A new comment quickly popped out. "Silly! I just moved to the floor above."

**********








Appreciate what you have before they are gone!

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 6

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 5

第十一式打躬击鼓

接上式，右脚落地，起身向右转90度，右脚向左脚收半步，距离与肩同宽，成下蹲势。 两手抬至头侧后方，掌心按压两耳，周身放松，中、食、无名指稍屈，轻轻叩击枕骨处，两手交替进行，各叩击七次，谓之”鸣天豉”。 鸣豉后双手抱后脑，缓缓向前弯腰，头垂于裆间至最大程度，膝挺直，如打躬状。 鸣天豉时身体先向左转90度，再向右转180度，再向左转90度。 弯腰垂头时牙关咬紧，作细微自然呼吸。 重复做三遍。

11^th Stance: Bowing Down and Beating the Heavenly Drum

Continue from the last stance. Put the right foot down to the ground and stand back up. Turn 90 degrees to the right to return to facing front. Move right foot half step toward the left foot so they are at shoulder width and then squat. Raise both hands above your head and then lower them behind the head until your palms cover your ears. Relax the whole body. Slightly bend the index fingers, the middle fingers, and the ring fingers and gently tap the occipital bone with alternating hands. Tap seven times with each hand. This is called “Beating the Heavenly Drum.” After beating the drum hold the back of the head with both hands and slowly bent forward until your head cannot go any lower between your crotches. Keep the knees straight as if you are bowing down. When beating the heavenly drum, turn your body 90 degrees to the left first, next turn 180 degrees to the right and then turn 90 degrees to the left. Clench your teeth while bending forward and take small breathes naturally. Repeat three times.

第十二势：掉尾势

两腿开立，双手仰掌由胸前徐徐上举至头顶，目视掌而移，身立正直，勿挺胸凸腹；十指交叉，旋腕反掌上托，掌以向上，仰身，腰向后弯，目上视；然后上体前 屈，双臂下垂，推掌至地，昂首瞪目。呼气时，屈体下弯，脚跟稍微离地；吸气时，上身立起，脚跟着地；如此反复21次。收功：直立，两臂左右侧举，屈伸7 次。

12^th Stance: Swinging the Tail

Stand with legs spread open. Slowly raise your hands past your chest and above your head, palms facing upward. Fix your stare on your palms as they move. Keep your body upright and don’t pull back shoulders or hold out your bosom. With ten fingers crossed, rotate your wrists and then lift upward with palms facing up. Extend the upper body and bend your waist backward while looking up. Then bend your body forward with both arms stretching out on the side and touch the ground. Lift your head and open your eyes wide. When exhaling, bend forward and at the same time lift the back heels off the ground slightly. When inhaling, return upper body back to standing position and land the back heels back to the ground. Repeat 21 times. To finish the exercise, stand in upright position and raise your arms from the side. Bend and extend the arms 7 times.

Again, please see how our friendly Mr. Bruce Wen demonstrate these two stances and explain things in English. Remember, Mr. Wen's version might be slightly different from the version I translated.

This concludes the entire Twelve Stances of the Yi-Jin-Jing. The following video shows a different flavor of the Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing demonstrated by a Shaolin monk in one smooth continuous form.

Video of the Day:

A National Geography documentary on the subject of Shaolin Kung Fu.

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 5

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 4

第九式青龙探爪

接上式，左脚回收于右脚内侧，成立正姿势。 左臂屈肘收回于左腰间。 同时右肘微屈，吸气，上体向左扭腰转体，右手向体前探爪抓去，并吐气发出“嘘”声，此时要求腰腹放松。 右手回收，向左46度方向做第二次探爪，再收回向左90度方向做第三次探爪。 然后，头带动躯干沿逆时针方向转动一小周，右手随之书一小圆（上图）。 两眼随右爪瞭望，如寻食状。 每次探爪均发出“嘘”声。 探爪时右臂一伸一缩，身体随之转后。 然后右手收回腰间，左手以同样动作向右探爪（下图）。

9^th Stance: Green Dragon Waving Its Claws

Continue from the last stance. Retract left foot back next to the right foot in an Attention position (like in military drills). Bend the left elbow and retract left arm next to the left side of the waist. Meanwhile, bend the right elbow slightly, inhale, turn the upper torso to the left, reach forward with the right hand in a dragon claw, exhale and make a “Shu” sound. Remember to relax the waist and abdomen for this stance. Retract the right hand back and then reach out the second time 46 degrees to the left with a dragon claw. Retract again and then reach out a third time 90 degrees to the left. Next, let the head lead the torso and make a small circular movement counterclockwise. Then make a circular movement with the right hand (see upper figure). Glance following the left claw hand as if hunting for preys. Make the “Shu” sound each time when reaching out with the claw hand. Extend and retract the right arm when executing the dragon claw. Turn your body afterwards. Then retract right hand back to the waist side and reach out with the left hand in dragon claw to the right (see lower figure).

第十式卧虎捕食

接上式，左臂回收于腹前，右脚向右跨一步，同时向右转体90度，上体顺势前倾，两掌手心向右前方下扑，如卧虎捕食。 此时两掌落地，成右弓步，昂首环视（上图）。 然后以双手手指支撑全身重量，左腿屈膝成90度，左脚抬离地面，脚心朝上﹔两臂一伸一屈，身体上下起伏。 做三至五次。 而后两手离地，手心翻向上，体向左后转180度，两手掌再翻向下，再做卧虎捕食动作，唯方向相反（下图）。

10^th Stance: Crouching Tiger Hunting for Prey

Continue from the last stance. Retract the left arm back to the stomach. Take a step to the right with the right foot and at the same time turn 90 degrees to the right. Lean the upper body forward following the natural flow of the movement and pounce forward with both palms facing down like how a crouching tiger pounces on its prey. Both palms should reach the ground while the legs are in a right front stance. Raise your head and look around (see upper figure). Next use fingers from both hands to support your entire body weight. Bend the left knee to 90 degrees and lift the left foot off the ground and turn the bottom of the foot upward. One arm should be in extended position while the other one is bent. Shift your body up and down for three to five times. Then raise both hands with palms facing upward and turn your body 180 degrees to the left. Turn the palms to face downward again and execute the crouching timer pouncing on prey move, only in opposite direction (see lower figure).

In the video below you can see our friendly Mr. Bruce Wen demonstrating these two stances and explain in English. Remember, Mr. Wen's version might be slightly different from the version I translated.

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 6


Picture of the Day: 

Although my 6-year old daughter Adeline has never learned the Tendon-Altering Sutra, although she is only a white belt, she certainly knows how to throw a beautiful kick!

10 Famous Thought Experiments That Just Boggle Your Mind Part 1

I ran into an interesting article in a forum (original in Chinese) that talked about 10 very famous thought experiments in the fields of philosophy, ethics, and psychology. Since I am getting a Doctor degree in Philosophy (hopefully), and also because I strongly believe these type of questions and experiments are very related in the research of artificial intelligence, I thought I'd share these with you together with my thoughts on the subject. Hope you enjoy!

10. The Trolley Problem

The trolley problem is a well known thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot, a British philosopher. Trolley is the British term for a tram. The problem goes like this:

A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are five people who have been tied to the track by a mad philosopher. Fortunately, you could flip a switch, which will lead the trolley down a different track to safety. Unfortunately, there is a single person tied to that track. Should you flip the switch or do nothing?

A common answer takes the utilitarianism approach where flipping the switch becomes the obvious option because saving five lives result in a higher utility than saving just one life. But critics of the utilitarianism believe that flipping the switch constitutes a participation in the moral wrong, making one partially responsible for the death when otherwise the mad philosopher would be the sole culprit. An alternative view believes that inactivity under such a circumstance is also unethical. The bottom line: whatever you do, it is unethical. You are doomed either way.

It is reasonable to guess that your choice might vary if the single person happen to be your kid and the group of five consisted of four complete strangers plus your mother-in-law. In that case, you are simply assigning different utility values to different people (with the possibility of a negative utility). You no longer assume all people are equal. And if the group of five also included two other kids of yours, you simply assign the utility values and do the math and then make the "logical" decision (man, I am so cruel here!). This reminded me of a famous darn question people always get asked: if both your mother and your wife fall into the river and neither one knows how to swim, who should you save first? If you ever are asked this question, here's one answer you could use:

I'll jump into the river and drown myself, and we'll all go to heaven together. Now are you satisfied?

When it comes to artificial intelligence, a lot of times the choice is made based on a utility computation. Maybe the utility is computed using some fancy statistical functions. More advanced algorithms might take into consideration of probability or utility functions derived from past observations. Even more advanced algorithms might allow the agent to dynamically change or evolve the utility functions as time progresses -- a sense of learning. The agent will simply compute the utility values following whatever formulas it comes up with and then choose the option that will result with the highest utility. This is why AI agents or robots are normally considered to be very logical and at the same time very inhuman.It would be a long time before an AI agent would find itself trapped in this moral dilemma. (Remember the big computer in the movie War Games? It eventually figured out that the best winning strategy of playing the game of Tic-tac-toe was to not play the game at all).

So how would you design the AI agent or robot to be able to deal with morality, especially when you are giving it a weapon and grant it the permission to fire the weapon? Even we humans don't have clear clues in situations like in the Trolley Problem. Can we expect or require the agent or robot to do better than us? Unfortunately no one knows the right answer at the present time, we can only learn from our mistakes. Let's hope these mistakes are not disastrous and recoverable.

[Update on 8/2/2019]

Ten years have passed since I first posted this blog article. Today, many "self-driving" cars are already running on our roads (have you noticed those napping drivers in Teslas right next to you?), and there are only more to come with VCs and auto makers pouring money into this field. Now the Trolly Problem is becoming as real as it can be. When a self-driving car is faced with the dilemma of making a choice between killing the person on the left or four persons on the right, or even worse, when it needs to decide if it should sacrifice you, the passenger, in order to save four pedestrians, how would you feel about its logical choice? What if you are not the passenger, but the pedestrian, instead? Don't ask me. I don't have an answer.

Read Part 2: The Gettier Problem


Picture of the Day:

You can go here to see more animated portraits like this one.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Lanny's 2012 New Year Resolutions

First of all, Happy New Year to you all! Wish you all a very productive year ahead of you!!

Well, it's that time of the year again -- time to make a new list of new year resolutions. So what are you putting on your list this year? But before you start, maybe it's a good idea to pause for a minute and think how well you did with your resolutions in the past year.

One thing is for sure, the year of 2011 went by too quickly!! There were many things I wanted to finish but didn't. I am still working on my dissertation and there are still a lot left to be done. I didn't translate as much as I wanted and I also didn't post as many blogs as I had hoped. But the good thing is that I did translate some and I also did post some blogs. =) I also designed the robot I want to build and bought most of the parts. Still need to put them together and write some code to drive that thing. Let's hope that gets completed this year!

There are two very different methods of achieving success. One method is to really lower your expectations. For example, the Mars Rovers were only expected to work for 90 days, and now 6 years later, they are still working. What a great success. The other method is to set really high goals, and then even if you only accomplish a portion of what you set out to do, you would have already accomplished a lot. You'll probably find both methods applied in my new year resolutions.

Anyway, here's the resolution list for this year:

1. I will try my best to go to bed before midnight every day.
Maybe not getting enough sleep every day resulted in low performance and low efficiency. I'll make sure I get 7 hours of sleep each day this year! I also need more sleep because I'll be exercising more this year and I need the sleep to rejuvenate. (Method 2)

2. I will graduate before the world ends.
It has already been 5 years since I started grad school. Time is running out since my advisor's funding, my personal funding, and the world (according to the Mayan calendar) will all end soon. So I am DETERMINED to get my PhD before the world ends!! (Method 1)

3. I still hope I can post two blogs each day.
I actually started many drafts. The key is to complete them and publish! (Method 2)

4. I still plan to translate one page each day.
I actually translated quite a bit last year. Just didn't post them all because I wanted to mix robot related posts with translation related posts. I'll still try to stick to this plan this year! (Method 2)

It's 23 minutes past midnight already. Doh!! I better go to bed now! Wish you all have a great New Year Resolutions List and with you all stick to it!!



Video of the Day:

A great way to strength your lower back. Wish you a very healthy 2012! (And just love this mafia accent!)

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 4

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 3

第七式九鬼拔马刀

接上式，两臂分开成侧平举，手心向上。 然后右臂屈肘，右手至头后，腰略弯，头略左摆，食指中指第一关节夹住左耳垂，食指微提，中指微下压，并轻轻向右牵拉。 同时左肘弯曲，左手背贴背部上移于两肩胛之间，尽力上抬，手指向上，并向左转体；微屈膝，低头看右脚背。 而后身体慢慢恢复原势， ​​头左转向后看（左图）。 定式后约静立半分钟。 反方向再仿一次（右图）。

7^th Stance: Nine Ghosts Drawing the Saber

Continue from the last stance. Open your arms and move to the side at should height with the palms facing up. Then bend the right arm and reach your right hand behind your head. Bend your waist slightly and lean your head to the left slightly. Use the first joint of the index finger and the middle finger to grip the left earlobe. Lift gently with the index finger while pushing down gently with the middle finger and pull gently to the right. At the same time bend the left elbow and place the back of your left hand upward so it is between the two shoulders. Raise your left hand as high as possible. Point the fingers upward and turn your body left. Bend knees slightly and look down at the top of the right foot. Then slowly return body to the original position. Turn your head to the left and look behind your shoulder (see left figure). After completing the stance stand still for about half a minute. Then perform and stance in opposite direction once (see right figure).

第八式三盘落地

接上式，左脚向左跨一步，两脚尖外撇。 两臂侧平举，掌心向下。 而后两腿弯曲成骑马蹲裆势，同时两掌下按，与膝齐平。 然后两臂外旋，两手翻为仰掌，两腿同时缓缓伸直站立，两臂随之慢慢上抬成侧平举。 下按时呼气，意念两掌心，如按浮木﹔上抬时吸气，仿佛两掌心放有重物。 反覆做三至五次。

8^th Stance: Three Bases Dropping to the Ground

Continue from the last stance. Take a step left with the left foot and point the feet outward. Hold your arms out flat at the side of the body at shoulder height with palms facing down. Then squat down into a horse stance and pushing downward with both palms at the same time until they are at knee height. Then rotate both arms outward and turn both palms to face up. Slowly straighten both legs to stand up at the same time and naturally raise both arms so they are flat at the side of the body. Exhale when pushing down and set your mind on the center of the two palms as if you were pushing down floating logs in water. Inhale when raising the palms as if there were heavy objects inside the two palms. Repeat three to five times.

Again our friendly Mr. Bruce Wen happily demonstrates the two stances for you and explains what each  stance is good for. If he is right, then it is recommended that you perform these two stances at a location where a convenient restroom is nearby. Remember, Mr. Wen's version might be slightly different from the version I translated.

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 5


Picture of the Day:

 I wanted to check out Google's new 3D trip planner so I searched for driving directions from Orem, UT to China. It's really interesting that Google Map suggested "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean", and it only estimated 14 days and 5 hours for this feat! I figured that I might have a slight chance of accomplishing that if I can fully master the 12 stances of Tendon-Altering Sutra! LOL!

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 3

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 2

第五式倒拽九牛尾

接上式，左手由上经左侧至左胯外侧，掌心向上，手指内屈，右手由背后伸至肩高时屈肘，变成虚握拳，上体与左腿成一条斜线，与地面约成45度。 右脚向右跨一步，同时向右转体90度成右弓步势，右膝关节弯曲，膝盖不超过脚尖，外形动作似用力拉车状。 呼吸自然，意念两手心。 然后身体左转，左脚向前上一步，左手伸向前，右手伸向后，动作相同，方向相反（右图）。

5^th Stance: Pulling Nine Bulls by Their Tails

Continue from the last stance. Move left hand downward past the left side of your body until it reaches the outside of the left hip. Turn palm facing upward and bent the fingers inward slightly. Raise the right hand up from behind your back until the arm is at shoulder height, then bend the elbow and transform palm into a hallow fist. The upper body and the left leg should now be inclined to form a 45 degree angle with the ground. Move right foot one step to the right and at the same time turn your body right 90 degrees and from a front stance toward the right. Bend the right knee but the knee should not exceed the toes of the right foot. The posture resembles pulling hard on a wagon. Maintain natural breathing and focus your mind on the two palms. Then turn your body left and take a step forward with your left foot. Reach the left hand forward and extend the right hand back. The movements are the same just to the opposite direction (see right figure).

 

第六式出爪亮翅

接上式，右腿用力蹬地，向前上一步，落于左脚内侧，成立正姿势。 两臂均回收于腰间，拳心朝上。 然后两拳变掌，同时向前推掌，掌心向前，指尖与肩斋平。 向前推掌要重如推山。 推掌时意想推窗望月，返回时五指微张，慢慢收向两胁，意想海水返潮。 反覆七次。

6^th Stance: White Crane Spreading Wings and Extending Claws

Continue from the last stance. Firmly push the ground with the right leg and then take a step forward so the right foot lands next to the inside of your left foot and you are standing straight (the Attention position in military drills). Retract both arms back next to your waist still holding fists with the palm side facing upward. Then open the fists and shift hands into the palm form. At the same time push your palms forward. The centers of your palms should be facing forward, and the finger tips should be at shoulder height. Push palms forward as though you were pushing a giant mountain. Imagine that you are pushing windows open so you can appreciate the beauty of the moon when pushing palms forward. When retracting the arms, slightly separate the fingers and slowly retract arms back to the sides of your waist. Imagine the tidal waves retracting to the ocean. Repeat seven times.

Now let's see how Mr. Bruce Wen does it and explains it. Remember, it might be slightly different from the version I translated.

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 4


Video of the Day:

I also do this intense abs workout twice a day! It's a good one!

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 2

The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 1

第三式掌托天门

接上式，身体不动，两臂由两侧同时缓缓上举，举至正上方时与肩同宽，此时屈肘翻掌，手心向上，掌指相对，双臂成U字形状，并尽力上托，同时尽力提踵，并咬牙叩齿，舌抵上颚，咽津液下送丹田。 接看两脚跟外开，两臂缓缓下落至侧平举。 下落时由小指到拇指依次弯曲握拳，两脚跟随之下落，手足还原。 两臂由平举向上举时吸气，至托掌时略闭气或自然呼吸。 定式后约静停半分钟。

3^rd Stance: Palm Lifting the Heavenly Gate

Continue from the last stance.  While keeping the body static, slowly raise arms from the side until they are at shoulder width. Now bend the elbows and turn your palms so your palms are facing upward and the tips of your hands are pointing at each other. The two arms should be in a U-shape. Push hands upward with strength and at the same time raise your heels off the ground. Grit your teeth and push the palate with your tongue. Swallow saliva down to the Dan-Tian (lower abdomen) region. Then turn your heels outward and slowly lower your arms to the side until they form a straight line with your shoulders. While lowering the arms, bend your fingers inward in order, pinky first and thumb last, and lower your heels back to the ground. Inhale while changing your arm position from flat on your sides to a lifting position. Once reaching the lifting position hold your breath shortly or breathe naturally. After the stance is completed, hold the position for half a minute.

 

第四式摘星换斗

接上式，左臂由上经左下侧划弧，落于背后，手心向下，并尽力下按。 右掌心翻向内下，臂上举，掌心向下﹔同时脖子向右扭转90度，头上仰，目视右掌。 转颈时右脚跟提起内转与左脚成丁字步。 身体重心在左脚（左图）。 定式后静停约半分钟，仿三五次深呼吸。 然后右手下落，左手上举，向左做摘星换斗（右图）。

4^th Stance: Picking Off Stars and Change the Big Dipper

Continue from the last stance. Move left arm downward in a circular motion until it is behind your back with palm facing down and push palm down with strength. Turn the right palm downward and raises the right arm with palm facing down; at the same time turn your head 90 degrees to the right. Lift your head slightly to stare at your right palm. While turning your head, lift the right heel and rotate it so it makes up a T-step with your left foot. Keep your body weight on the left foot (see left figure). Hold the position for about half a minute and take 3-5 deep breaths. Then lower your right hand and raise your left hand to perform the stance on the other side (see right figure).

Again, here's a video of Mr. Bruce Wen demonstrating the two above-translated moves with English explanations. Note it is slightly different. I'll show a few other videos that match the translation better at the end of the series, but those videos won't have English dubbing or subtitles.

Watch out for the remaining stances translated in my future blog posts.



The Twelve Stances of Yi-Jin-Jing (The Tendon-Altering Sutra) Part 3

 

Video of the Day:

No, I don't do Tendon-Altering Sutra, although I am thinking about doing it. I do this intense chest workout twice a day instead.