One of the first AI proposals was from Oliver Selfridge. He called it Pandemonium because it was a set of demons (into processes) and the loudest demon was successful.
In response, Paul Smolensky made the “Harmonium”—which was the first restricted Boltzmann machine. There whichever process produces the most harmony among the elements was successful. It’s still a really great paper.
Harmony maximization was the same as free energy minimization. When Smolensky and Hinton collaborated (they were both Postdocs under David Rummelhart and Don Norman at UCSD), they called it “goodness of fit.” Still used today!
I’ve been curious about the topic of distributed cognition and non-individualism in philosophy. When we don’t think that we have a single unified soul/psyche/self, then a lot of really interesting and fairly practical things happen. It’s easier to change one’s mind, for instance—and even death is less of a concern (since the essential parts of one’s self are still rather living).
In response, Paul Smolensky made the “Harmonium”—which was the first restricted Boltzmann machine. There whichever process produces the most harmony among the elements was successful. It’s still a really great paper.
Harmony maximization was the same as free energy minimization. When Smolensky and Hinton collaborated (they were both Postdocs under David Rummelhart and Don Norman at UCSD), they called it “goodness of fit.” Still used today!