Tag: Learning

Machine Learning Security Principles Now Available as an Audiobook

I love to provide people with multiple ways to learn. One of the more popular methods of learning today is the audiobook. You can listen and learn while you do something else, like drive to work. Machine Learning Security Principles is now available in audiobook form and I’m really quite excited about it because this is the first time that one of my books has appeared in this format. You can get this book in audiobook format on the O’Reilly site at https://www.oreilly.com/videos/machine-learning-security/9781805124788/.

After listening to the book myself, I have to say that the audio is quite clear and it does add a new way for me to learn as well. If you do try this audiobook, please let me know how it works for you. I’ll share any input you provide with the publisher as well so that we can work together to provide you with the best possible book materials in a format that works best for you. Please let me know your thoughts at [email protected].

Considering the Four Levels of Intelligence Management

One of the reasons that Luca and I wrote Artificial Intelligence for Dummies, 2nd Edition was to dispel some of the myths and hype surrounding machine-based intelligence. If anything, the amount of ill-conceived and blatantly false information surrounding AI has only increased since then. So now we have articles like Microsoft’s Bing wants to unleash ‘destruction’ on the internet out there that espouse ideas that can’t work at all because AIs feel nothing. Of course, there is the other end of the spectrum in articles like David Guetta says the future of music is in AI, which also can’t work because computers aren’t creative. A third kind of article starts to bring some reality back into the picture, such as Are you a robot? Sci-fi magazine stops accepting submissions after it found more than 500 stories received from contributors were AI-generated. All of this is interesting for me to read about because I want to see how people react to a technology that I know is simply a technology and nothing more. Anthropomorphizing computers is a truly horrible idea because it leads to the thoughts described in The Risk of a New AI Winter. Another AI winter would be a loss for everyone because AI really is a great tool.

As part Python for Data Science for Dummies and Machine Learning for Dummies, 2nd Edition Luca and I considered issues like the seven kinds of intelligence and how an AI can only partially express most of them. We even talked about how the five mistruths in data can cause issues such as skewed or even false results in machine learning output. In  Machine Learning Security Principles I point out the manifest ways in which humans can use superior intelligence to easily thwart an AI. Still, people seem to refuse to believe that an AI is the product of clever human programmers, a whole lot of data, and methods of managing algorithms. Yes, it’s all about the math.

This post goes to the next step. During my readings of various texts, especially those of a psychological and medical variety, I’ve come to understand that humans embrace four levels of intelligence management. We don’t actually learn in a single step as might be thought by many people, we learn in four steps with each step providing new insights and capabilities. Consider these learning management steps:

  1. Knowledge: A person learns about a new kind of intelligence. That intelligence can affect them physically, emotionally, mentally, or some combination of the three. However, simply knowing about something doesn’t make it useful. An AI can accommodate this level (and even excel at it) because it has a dataset that is simply packed with knowledge. However, the AI only sees numbers, bits, values, and nothing more. There is no comprehension as is the case with humans. Think of knowledge as the what of intelligence.
  2. Skill: After working with new knowledge for some period of time, a human will build a skill in using that knowledge to perform tasks. In fact, very often this is the highest level that a human will achieve with a given bit of knowledge, which I think is the source of confusion for some people with regard to AIs. Training an AI model, that is, assigning weights to a neural network created of algorithms, gives an AI an appearance of skill. However, the AI isn’t actually skilled, it can’t accommodate variations as a human will. What the AI is doing is following the parameters of the algorithm used to create its model. This is the highest step that any AI can achieve. Think of skill as the how of intelligence.
  3. Understanding: As a human develops a skill and uses the skill to perform tasks regularly, new insights develop and the person begins to understand the intelligence at a deeper level, making it possible for a person to use the intelligence in new ways to perform new tasks. A computer is unable to understand anything because it lacks self-awareness, which is a requirement for understanding anything at all. Think of understanding as the why of intelligence.
  4. Wisdom: Simply understanding an intelligence is often not enough to ensure the use of that intelligence in a correct manner. When a person makes enough mistakes in using an intelligence, wisdom in its use begins to take shape. Computers have no moral or ethical ability—they lack any sort of common sense. This is why you keep seeing articles about AIs that are seemingly running amok, the AI has no concept whatsoever of what it is doing or why. All that the AI is doing is crunching numbers. Think of wisdom as the when of intelligence.

It’s critical that society begin to see AIs for what they are, exceptionally useful tools that can be used to perform certain tasks that require only knowledge and a modicum of skill and to augment a human when some level of intelligence management above these levels is required. Otherwise, we’ll eventually get engulfed in another AI winter that thwarts development of further AI capabilities that could help people do things like go to Mars, mine minerals in an environmentally friendly way in space, cure diseases, and create new thoughts that have never seen the light of day before. What are your thoughts on intelligence management? Let me know at [email protected].

Continuing Education

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m continually asking questions in my blog posts. In fact, you can find questions in a few of my books and more than a few readers have commented when I ask them questions as part of my correspondence with them. I often get the feeling that people think I should know everything simply because I write books of various sorts. In fact, I had to write a post not long ago entitled No, I Don’t Know Everything to address the issue. Experts become experts by asking questions and finding the answers. They remain experts by asking yet more questions and finding yet more answers. Often, these answers come from the strangest sources, which means that true experts look in every nook and cranny for answers that could easily elude someone else. Good authors snoop more than even the typical expert—yes, we’re just plain nosy. So, here I am today asking still more questions.

This year my continuing education has involved working with the latest version of the Entity Framework. The results of some of my efforts can be found in Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework Step by Step. You can also find some of my thoughts in the Entity Framework Development Step-by-Step category. I’ve been using some of my new found knowledge to build some applications for personal use. They may eventually appear as part of a book or on this blog (or I might simply choose to keep them to myself).

However, my main technical focus has been on browser-based application technology. I think the use of browser-based application technology will make it possible for the next revolution in computing to occur. It certainly makes it easier for a developer to create applications that run anywhere and on any device. You can find some of what I have learned in two new books HTML5 Programming with JavaScript for Dummies and CSS3 for Dummies. Of course, there are blog categories for these two books as well: HTML5 Programming with JavaScript for Dummies and Developing with CSS3 for Dummies. A current learning focus is on the SCAlable LAnguage (SCALA), which is a functional language (akin to F# and many other languages of the same type) based on Java.

Anyone who knows me very well realizes that my life doesn’t center on technology. I have a great number of other interests. When it comes to being outdoors, I’ve explored a number of new techniques this year as I planted some new trees. In fact, I’ll eventually share a technique I learned for removing small tree stumps. I needed a method for removing stumps of older fruit trees in order to plant new trees in the same location.

I’ve also shared a number of building projects with you, including the shelving in our larder and a special type of dolly you can use for moving chicken tractors safely. Self-sufficiency often involves building your own tools. In some cases, a suitable tool doesn’t exist, but more often the problem is one of cost. Buying a tool from the store or having someone else build it for you might be too expensive.

The point I’m trying to make is that life should be a continual learning process. There isn’t any way that you can learn everything there is to learn. Even the most active mind picks and chooses from the vast array of available learning materials. No matter what your interests might be, I encourage you to continue learning—to continue building your arsenal of knowledge. Let me know your thoughts on the learning process at [email protected].

 

Methods of Learning

More than a few readers write me about the best way to learn. Many of them are asking about the best way to learn how to become a programmer-a topic I discuss in my Becoming a Programmer post. However, more and more often, readers are asking me about learning in general. The fact is that I can point you to different techniques for learning, but I can’t determine what will work best for you. You’re the only person who can make that determination and you won’t know until you try a number of techniques. In a society ever more devoted to success at all costs, learning requires that you fail in order to make gains. When you fail, you learn what doesn’t work and possibly why it doesn’t work. So, trying various techniques is the only way to discover what works best for you and that process involves some level of failure. This is a philosophy that educational providers like Venture Lessons embody, interactive lessons that you can fail in will teach you so much more than lecturers.

I imagine that my answer frustrates a lot of people because they don’t want to fail at something, so they ask what works best for me. Mind you, what works for me probably won’t work for you. I personally learn best by working through examples written by other people. When it comes to programming, I rely on application examples written by other developers and scrutinize them intensely using the debugger so that I can see precisely how they work. Then I create applications of my own that use those techniques to ensure I actually do understand how things work. Likewise, I use examples from other woodworkers, gardeners, or other professionals as a basis for my own hands on learning experiences. In addition to these hands on techniques, I also read a large number of books and articles every year. Often, all I really need to learn a new technique, is a good explanation of it. I read books and magazines in every area that interests me-everything from application development and computer hardware to new gardening techniques and animal husbandry. In some cases, I also attend lectures and seminars to augment my learning, but given that lectures and seminars tend to be expensive, I focus on my primary means of learning new things whenever possible.

Don’t limit yourself to what I use though. There are many other ways of learning that are just as viable and just as important. The only requirements of learning is comprehension (the ability to understand what you’ve learned) and retention (the ability to remember what you have learned). How you achieve your goal is up to you. Here are a few other methods you might consider trying in addition to those that I commonly use.

 

  • Instructor Led Training: There is a good reason that children go to school. An instructor (teacher) can answer questions about a particular skill immediately and fully. The interactive communication that occurs helps the student learn faster and with fewer problems.
  • Tutorials: A tutorial is essentially a set of precisely written procedures meant to guide the student along a particular learning path. It’s a combination of reading and doing that helps someone develop a skill quickly.
  • Interactive Media: This is a newer form of the tutorial that relies on sight and sound to convey meaning. Interactive media includes animations and graphics that help a viewer visualize the content better. Hands on exercises included with the interactive media help the student know when a particular training goal is achieved.
  • Observation: The subtle art of observation isn’t mentioned very often anymore-probably because people are too busy or impatient to use it. I know that I’ve learned more than one new task though simply by watching someone else do it. Observing someone means watching and thinking about what they’re doing. You don’t necessarily ask any questions (and may annoy the person you’re observing when you do).
  • Experimentation: Of all of the methods used to learn, this method provides the highest gains when successful, but also incurs the greatest amount of failure. It’s a matter of asking a question, deciding on how best to answer that question, and then creating an environment in which to determine the answer. In order to ensure that the question is answered correctly, you often have to repeat the experiment a number of times in various environments. Experimenters often discover new knowledge or rediscover lost knowledge, but at the cost of failing a lot.
  • Cooperation: A cooperative learning environment is one in which two peers have part of an answer and choose to share their part with someone who has another part of the answer. The exchange benefits both parties because both now have two parts of the answer. Of course, a cooperative learning environment requires trust on the part of both people.
  • Dissection: When I was younger, I couldn’t be bothered to keep anything in one piece. I dissected everything in an attempt to discover how it worked. Often, that meant not putting the item back together because the dissection process is destructive. Even so, you’d be amazed at how many things you can learn by dissecting an object to see how it’s put together.


This list is incredibly short. Over the years I’ve seen people learn an amazing array of knowledge using all sorts of techniques that boggle the mind. In every case, the successful learner has experimented with various techniques until he or she finds the techniques that work best. These techniques won’t work best for someone else, but they work best for you. I encourage you to fail in order to learn. Don’t be afraid of trying something and then discovering it doesn’t work because that’s the only real way to learn anything. Let me know about your favorite learning technique at [email protected].