On Jeff Hawkins' Latest.....

At D3 this week, Jeff Hawkins shares his new vision behind Numenta, a new Menlo-Park gig, that is developing a new type of computer memory system modeled after the human neocortex. The applications of this technology are broad and can be applied to solve problems in computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning.

They plan to build a set of tools that will allow people to build memories where you can apply data……and then, they plan to build a community. Says Jeff, “We’re going to let people have access to the tools and the source code to the tools and build an ecosystem around it.”

So what is “this exactly?” I’m still not sure I can figure it out. Jeff says, “I’m going to show you something that has never been done before. It’s an unsolved problem. It’s a proof of concept for the theory.” Slow down, I need visuals, I’m thinking. Fascinating but not easy to digest for the few right brains in the audience.

As he gives us a quick overview, Jeff shows us a brain. “The neocortex is responsible for all high level thought. Everything you have ever learned is in your neocortex,” he explains. He then holds up prop 2 – a dinner napkin. The audience laughs as he says to Walt, “My 30 billion cells are talking and yours are listening.”

So, why is this development so important and what is it good for? Jeff shows us a slide that outlines the why and value-add:

1. Pattern recognition
2. Finding causes in sensory data, i.e., perception
3. Predicting the future – it can do this because it saves sequences of patterns
4. Generating behavior – as patterns come down and up the hierarchy, they unfold into sequences and more sequences. Sequences unfold into patterns. This system is the core of human behavior.

Jeff, did I get any of this right?  I need more visuals and yeah, I need to read your book.

“So, what can we do with this?” Jeff addresses the audience.

--Vision robotics language – an understanding what’s being done…..
--Self-driving cars – you can embed this into cars so you can understand roads, traffic and how people drive, etc.
--Resource exploration
--Weather prediction, such as hurricanes. He says that they can build a memory system that can predict weather much better than humans can today……and build machines that are smarter than humans.

“We’re not talking about building humans that have emotions,” says Jeff. “We’re not talking about building self replicating machines but we are talking about building super intelligent machines.” He thinks that not only will this be a profitable business but a great technology for the world.

How long is this all going to take? No one really knows. Jeff explains, “I wasn’t sure we could build this and scale it up when I started this business. Our plan is to have a developer conference next spring or early summer.”

On how long it will be before we see product roll-outs? His prediction, “maybe two years, maybe five – it’s hard to say today.” It’s always interesting to watch what Hawkins is up to. He continues to fascinate me again and again.