DTN 014: Toward Hyperdimensional Computing

A New Approach to Computation Reimagines Artificial Intelligence

“Olshausen and others argue that information in the brain is represented by the activity of numerous neurons. The same set of neurons, firing differently, could represent an entirely different concept (a pink Cadillac, perhaps)….This is the starting point for a radically different approach to computation known as hyperdimensional computing. The key is that each piece of information, such as the notion of a car, or its make, model or color, or all of it together, is represented as a single entity: a hyperdimensional vector.” (Quanta Magazine)

Robot Lawyers Are About to Flood the Courts

“Debt collection agencies are already flooding courts and ambushing ordinary people with thousands of low-quality, small-dollar cases. Courts are woefully unprepared for a future where anyone with a chatbot can become a high-volume filer, or where ordinary people might rely on chatbots for desperately-needed legal advice.” (Wired)

Students set to launch self-built rocket into space

“The Hybrid Engine Development (HyEnD) student team at the University of Stuttgart has spent around three years developing, manufacturing, and testing its hybrid rocket. In mid-April, the rocket will be launched into space from the Esrange rocket launch site near Kiruna in Sweden. If all goes well, the students will set a new world altitude record for student-built rockets. (University of Stuttgart)

Open source is fueling the future of nuclear physics

“There’s a history of secrecy in the field. Most fusion and fission software used to be proprietary,” says Paul Romano, the project lead for OpenMC and a computational scientist working in nuclear fusion at Argonne National Laboratory. “But as open source has exploded over the past decade, it plays an increasingly important role in research, both in the public and private sectors.” (Github)