Machine Intelligence
AI history. Ideas about how knowledge is acquired. Data compression patents. The idea that LLMs have human-like intelligence is misguided. John Searle revealed semantic errors in Turing's theory of symbolic intelligence. LLMs haven't solved the semantic problems preventing understanding.
Personal
Family history against corruption
I was hoping for a quiet retirement, but I've been beaten up by a government yet again - even in New Zealand. I've often wondered why I react against corruption, but I guess it's the way I was brought up admiring the character of recent ancestors.
Charles Trompf. My maternal twice-great grandfather was a miner in the Eureka Stockade during the 1854 armed rebellion against cruel British colonial rule. MORE
Walter Smith. My paternal grandfather led the first force, 5,000 at full strength, deployed to Papua during the 1942 Kokoda Campaign. He struggled against corruption in supply and incompetence in intelligence then threatened to table in Parliament the American Supreme Commander's orders for needless sacrifice. He was deleted from official Australian military history. MORE
John Smith. My father, industrialist then mayor, fought local government corruption in Sydney then Coffs Harbour mainly related to land rezoning and infrastructure development. MORE
Rodney Smith. In 1969, I joined the 1st Battalion, Commando Regiment, military intelligence regional headquarters, Victoria Barracks, Sydney, when an unofficial military surveillance program was running at universities. I was suspected of complicity in an attack that destroyed an Army armoury. Desperate for dirt to use against the Labor Party in the run-up to the 1972 general election, Army investigators used an American Army Intelligence torture method earlier used in France.
Moved to NZ. Entered the computer industry and made some genuine advances in data compression. On retirement I didn't need the pension, called Superannuation, but it was granted then corruptly withheld by the Ministry of Social Development. Current challenge: getting MSD to pay the pension arrears. The extensive corruption was something I couldn't ignore. In my 9-year struggle against the corruption, the only person to display moral character was the Prime Minister. Background.
New Zealand has a well-deserved reputation for decency, but that's the general population. The management level of the public service that makes decisions directly affecting people is deeply rotten. It's corrupt not in the sense of taking money for favours but in protecting the tribe - the public service - no matter what.
I'm adding details day by day.