Comments by "k98killer" (@k98killer) on "Talks at Google" channel.

  1. Brilliant guy, but he got a few things wrong. First, neural networks have come a long way since he gave this talk. Now, LSTM networks/neural Turing machines are the major brains behind NLP. Google Translate, for example, is a series of networks that can each translate a human language into a series of vectors representing meaning, share them across a neural interface, and then translate back into a human language. Second, dinosaurs didn't go extinct: tens of thousands of them fly around to this day. Birds and mammals survived the K-T event because they were adaptable. If you look at corvids, they have language skills that far exceed that of all non-human apes; they have more advanced skills in making and using tools than most apes; and they are able to teach others in their flocks about things, perpetuating knowledge through multiple generations. Corvids have a very different brain structure without a neocortex, but their evolutionary history converged upon the same abilities. It is unfortunate that he dismissed both neural networks and non-neocortical brain structures, but he will probably change his opinions.
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