You'll never map me, Macer!
The scope of human ideas is infinite, some might say. But one researcher says he can count them, and he intends to do just that. Darryl Macer, associate professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, plans to create a human mental map -- a database that would contain a log of every human idea.
For what purpose other than to feed artificial intelligence?
I believe in logging ephemera for posterity, but he might as well try chasing rainbows or catching clouds to pin them down.
originally posted by Jane Die
Comments
neither will i, but i'll keep trying just the same, because the terrain is glorious.
Posted by: fat earl | November 29, 2002 4:53 AM
all i can say is, if he actually believes he can map all of his OWN ideas, let alone those of the entire human race, then either he's the greatest genius since da vinci, or he's got an incredibly under-developed imagination...my suspicions lean toward the latter.
Posted by: jim | December 2, 2002 12:32 PM
Dear Randomwalks.com blogizens:
The mapping of all possible ideas was proposed and begun decades ago by famous astronomer Fritz Zwicky.
He called the space of all possible ideas the "ideocosm."
He worked out systematic methodologies to fill in missing parts of that space.
He was eccentric, undervalued, but a genius who'd fought his way up from self-taught technician to Professor at prestigious Caltech.
He influenced, among others, the late Herman Kahn, the #1 civian advisor to US defense policy in the cold war.
Check it out, dudes! This goal is lofty, and (whether achievable or not) worth starting.
Jonathan Vos Post
Professor of Astronomy, Cypress College
Professor of Computer Science, Cal State L.A.
co-webmaster:
magicdragon.com
Over 1,000,000 hits/month
Posted by: Professor Jonathan Vos Post | December 7, 2002 2:52 PM