Emanuel Diamant

Emanuel Diamant

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were devised as a tool for Artificial Intelligence design implementations. However, it was soon became obvious that they are unable to fulfill their duties. The fully autonomous way of ANNs working, precluded from any human intervention or supervision, deprived of any theoretical underpinning, leads to a strange state of affairs, when ANN designers cannot explain why and how they achieve their amazing and remarkable results. Therefore, contemporary Artificial Intelligence R&D looks more like a Modern Alchemy enterprise rather than a respected scientific or technological undertaking. On the other hand, modern biological science posits that intelligence can be distinguished not only in human brains. Intelligence today is considered as a fundamental property of each and every living being. Therefore, lower simplified forms of natural intelligence are more suitable for investigation and further replication in artificial cognitive architectures.

Emanuel Diamant

We are at the dawn of a new era, where advances in computer power, broadband communication and digital sensor technologies have led to an unprecedented flood of data inundating our surrounding. It is generally believed that means such as Computational Intelligence will help to outlive these tough times. However, these hopes are improperly high. Computational Intelligence is a surprising composition of two mutually exclusive and contradicting constituents that could be coupled only if you disregard and neglect their controversies: "Computational" implies reliance on data processing and "Intelligence" implies reliance on information processing. Only those who are indifferent to data-information discrepancy can believe that such a combination can be viable. We do not believe in miracles, so we will try to share with you our reservations.

Emanuel Diamant

Over the past decade, AI has made a remarkable progress due to recently revived Deep Learning technology. Deep Learning enables to process large amounts of data using simplified neuron networks that simulate the way in which the brain works. At the same time, there is another point of view that posits that brain is processing information, not data. This duality hampered AI progress for years. To provide a remedy for this situation, I propose a new definition of information that considers it as a coupling between two separate entities - physical information (that implies data processing) and semantic information (that provides physical information interpretation). In such a case, intelligence arises as a result of information processing. The paper points on the consequences of this turn for the AI design philosophy.

Emanuel Diamant

Over the past decade, AI has made a remarkable progress. It is agreed that this is due to the recently revived Deep Learning technology. Deep Learning enables to process large amounts of data using simplified neuron networks that simulate the way in which the brain works. However, there is a different point of view, which posits that the brain is processing information, not data. This unresolved duality hampered AI progress for years. In this paper, I propose a notion of Integrated information that hopefully will resolve the problem. I consider integrated information as a coupling between two separate entities - physical information (that implies data processing) and semantic information (that provides physical information interpretation). In this regard, intelligence becomes a product of information processing. Extending further this line of thinking, it can be said that information processing does not require more a human brain for its implementation. Indeed, bacteria and amoebas exhibit intelligent behavior without any sign of a brain. That dramatically removes the need for AI systems to emulate the human brain complexity! The paper tries to explore this shift in AI systems design philosophy.

Emanuel Diamant

Video Surveillance is a fast evolving field of research and development (R&D) driven by the urgent need for public security and safety (due to the growing threats of terrorism, vandalism, and anti-social behavior). Traditionally, surveillance systems are comprised of two components - video cameras distributed over the guarded area and human observer watching and analyzing the incoming video. Explosive growth of installed cameras and limited human operator's ability to process the delivered video content raise an urgent demand for developing surveillance systems with human like cognitive capabilities, that is - Cognitive surveillance systems. The growing interest in this issue is testified by the tens of workshops, symposiums and conferences held over the world each year. The IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal-Based Surveillance (AVSS) is certainly one of them. However, for unknown reasons, the term Cognitive Surveillance does never appear among its topics. As to me, the explanation for this is simple - the complexity and the indefinable nature of the term "Cognition". In this paper, I am trying to resolve the problem providing a novel definition of cognition equally suitable for biological as well as technological applications. I hope my humble efforts will be helpful.

Emanuel Diamant

We are now on the verge of the next technical revolution - robots are going to invade our lives. However, to interact with humans or to be incorporated into a human "collective" robots have to be provided with some human-like cognitive abilities. What does it mean? - nobody knows. But robotics research communities are trying hard to find out a way to cope with this problem. Meanwhile, despite abundant funding these efforts did not lead to any meaningful result (only in Europe, only in the past ten years, Cognitive Robotics research funding has reached a ceiling of 1.39 billion euros). In the next ten years, a similar budget is going to be spent to tackle the Cognitive Robotics problems in the frame of the Human Brain Project. There is no reason to expect that this time the result will be different. I would like to try to explain why I'm so unhappy about this.

Emanuel Diamant

Traditionally, semantics has been seen as a feature of human language. The advent of the information era has led to its widespread redefinition as an information feature. Contrary to this praxis, I define semantics as a special kind of information. Revitalizing the ideas of Bar-Hillel and Carnap I have recreated and re-established the notion of semantics as the notion of Semantic Information. I have proposed a new definition of information (as a description, a linguistic text, a piece of a story or a tale) and a clear segregation between two different types of information - physical and semantic information. I hope, I have clearly explained the (usually obscured and mysterious) interrelations between data and physical information as well as the relation between physical information and semantic information. Consequently, usually indefinable notions of "information", "knowledge", "memory", "learning" and "semantics" have also received their suitable illumination and explanation.