Everything Unknown Appears Magnificent

Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he. “I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it, after all.” “I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’ you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. The Red-Headed League - Arthur Conan Doyle

I have been working on a new book about the history of AI, which is not a well-kept secret. If everything goes according to plan, I should have the book's first version and the first revision completed by the end of this summer. In the past four months, I have read ten books about AI and its history. I'm researching a lot.

When I penned 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge,' I aimed to write a book about Dr. Deming in a style akin to the storytelling of Michael Lewis and Bill Bryson. I had two specific readers in mind - Ben Rockwood and my mother-in-law Dixie. Unlike Ben, Dixie was unfamiliar with Operations Research, Deming, Ohno, and Shingo before she read my book. Dixie, who reads 30 books yearly, found my book enjoyable, as did Ben.

With my new book, 'History of Thinking Machines - Working Title,' Dixie remains a key reader. However, I also aspire to engage Dr. Fei Fei Li, making her a target reader. This morning, I found an interesting reference to Sherlock Holmes that mentioned the Latin quote, "Omne ignotum pro magnifico," which roughly translates to "everything unknown appears magnificent." One of the goals of my new book is to explore the human quest to create thinking machines. This is an excellent starting point for understanding how artificial intelligence differs from human intelligence. Holmes makes an interesting point: what makes something "clever."

Stay tuned...