Taught by Patrick Hebron at ITP, Fall 2016
Week 11:
Technical Questions:
We will start today's class by answering any questions that arose from your final project work or continued explorations of TensorFlow, LaunchBot and Docker.
What is Learning?:
Discussion:
In Week 1, we started our study of machine learning with a discussion of the questions listed below:
We use the terms learning and intelligence often, but what do they mean?
- When a squirrel buries an acorn, does that require intelligence or mere instinct?
- What about when an ape uses a stick to extract ants from an anthill? Does that require intelligence?
- Is intelligence required for a calculator to perform a complex mathematical operation?
- What's the difference between rote operations, instinctual behaviors and learned behaviors?
- Does learning begin at birth or can it be inherited?
- When we say intelligence do we really mean human intelligence?
- Is it possible to provide universal definitions for the concepts of learning and intelligence?
With the semester now coming to a close, how has our study of machine learning impacted our understanding of the nature of learning and intelligence in general?
From Iteration to Reflection on Process:
Project Development Exercise:
- What did you learn in the process that might have changed your initial approach?
- What would you do exactly the same way?
- How were your high-level concepts impacted by low-level technical or design considerations?
- Think about the tools you used to develop your project:
- In what ways did these tools aid your creative process?
- In what ways did they hinder your process?
- How did these tools shape your overall vision for the project?
- Were there things about these tools that seemed more challenging, confusing or limiting than was necessary?
- Were there things you were hoping to achieve that you couldn't because of limits in the underlying tools?
- What would have been required to get around these limits?
- How did implementing machine learning algorithms from scratch inform your project ideas and process?
- How did working with higher level machine learning tools inform your project ideas and process?
- When is a project finished? Is this project finished?
Homework:
Assignment:
- Prepare you project for final presentation. Be ready to:
- Discuss your project and development process
- Give a brief demonstration of the project
- Exchange feedback with your classmates