Can a computer be a better artist than a human? After seeing the deep learning demonstration by Facebook at Nvidia’s 2016 GPU Technology Conference, it isn’t a huge leap to think supercomputers already have 99% of us beat when it comes to artistic ability. In the above interview, Micah Blumberg, who is involved at the intersection of deep learning, virtual reality and neuroscience, provides his thoughts on the various developments seen at this year’s event.
As he alludes to, Nvidia demonstrated a range of deep learning solutions from the palm-size Jetson for bringing deep learning and vision to autonomous machines to the supercomputer in a box, the 2 petaflop per rack, DGX-1. Echoing Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang’s comments about supercomputing providing superhuman capabilities, Blumberg points out that computer vision exceeds human vision and it doesn’t get distracted.
Not getting distracted is one of the potential benefits of self-driving cars. Nvidia, demonstrated via video, (scenes of which are displayed in the above interview) how they used computer vision and deep learning to create a self-driving car that effectively taught itself how to drive in a month (similar to how George Hotz single handedly developed a self-driving car). A potential societal benefit to the integration of self-learning is the creation of highly accurate and constantly updated maps.
And to paraphrase the Moody Blues, thinking may end up being the best way to travel, as Blumberg sees virtual travel as one application for the virtual reality technology which was showcased in many of the booths at the exhibit hall. He suggests a use-case where one would map out their vacation before the physical trip.
He points out that some day, with the advances in detecting brain waves, artificial neural nets will directly connect to real neural nets for a hands-free human machine interface. This future may not be too far off, as we have already seen multiple examples of “touchless” and “voiceless” interfaces begin to appear as part of the consumer electronic experience. At the point when the artificial and real neural nets connect directly, thinking may indeed be the best way to travel or do many other things.
Note: Some of the groups Micah is involved with include:
Gear VR 10,086 Members https://www.facebook.com/groups/gearvr/
Oculus Rift 10,844 Members https://www.facebook.com/groups/oculuscreative/
Virtual Reality 13,364 Members https://www.facebook.com/groups/virtualrealitys/
The Matrix 60,004 Members https://www.facebook.com/groups/The.Matrix.of.Knowledge/
Women in VR 1,615 Members https://www.facebook.com/groups/womeninvr/
http://www.meetup.com/virtualreality/messages/77407361/
and an excellent article he wrote on the importance of high refresh rates in virtual reality headsets
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