How to be Artificially Intelligent

Mind blown at every corner of this book... and I'm only at the introduction!

The title already awakens curiosity: "Computational Logic and Human Thinking: How to Be Artificially Intelligent", by Robert Kowalski

The Language of Thoughts

Each of us have our own "private language", the language that our own thoughts speak, and when we communicate we are actually translating this language into a "public language" which is understood through an external set of rules and vocabulary. As I'm writing this I notice that I'm actually doing just that, translating Danielish to English!

"If our private language and public language were the same, we could literally just say what we think. Even that wouldn't be enough. Our listeners will still need to relate our thoughts to thoughts of their own."

As it's expected the reverse process happens on the other end: the listener is translating this public language into their own private language, with its own logic, its own nuances, possibly ending up in an idea that was not exactly the one intended originally. Logic then allows us to communicate in a way that is easier for the listener to translate our thoughts into thoughts of their own, which is one of the aims of this book: improving human thinking and behaviour.

Improving Our Thinking and Behaviour

Based on this there's a phrase that particularly resonated with me: "An agent (any entity, artificial or from the real world) uses its goals and beliefs to control its behaviour". What strikes me about this idea is that those days where I totally slack off, when I don't eat healthy, I oversleep, don't exercise, or treat others with respect... what are the goals motivating that behaviour I ask myself.

My answer to this question is that I'm not keeping my goals present at those moments, or they are not clear enough. This awareness helps me actually go back on track. Reafirm my goals and interests, who do I want to become? I better understand how important it is the journaling technique where you write down your goals repeatedly every day, even if your words are always exactly the same. Our mind can be wavery and our logic can become... fuzzy.

Becoming More Logical?

If such a thing is possible, becoming more logical then using "backward reasoning" and "inference", would allow us to choose better courses of action confronted with difficult decisions in our life. Also, it can improve our relationships:

"Thinking of other people as computing agents can help us to better appreciate our common nature and our individual differences. It highlights our common need to deal with the cycle of life in an ever-changing world; and it draws attention to the fact that other people may have other experiences, goals and beliefs [...] which are equally worthy of understanding, tolerance and respect."

It's satisfying to find those books that make you think and trigger that process of generating your own ideas and realizations, where you get knowledge that transfers to many other fields, and which is applicable in our daily life, whether that's our job, our family or otherwise. My intention in reading this book was to improve my programming skills, though I'm getting much more.

• Improving relationships by understanding we each have our "private language"
• Achieving our goals by picking better courses of action
• Being more in harmony with our environment

In what ways programming improves your life in general for you? Do you know of any other book that you'd like to recommend this way? I also wonder... what did you learn today?