IBM, AI and MegaMinds

The June 20 NY Times had an interesting story about IBM's new supercomputer, Watson, a venture in artificial intelligence (AI) that wins in the popular TV game show Jeopardy. The project is headed by David Ferrucci and works by matching key words and cross-checking over time and space. While not in all respects as intelligent as a deeply educated and experienced human, progress is being made towards the Singularity. For more on this see chapters 5 and 6 of my new book MegaMinds: How to Create and Invent in the Age of Google.

Focus on the Practical When Seeking to Invent

When you're inventing, focus on the practical, useful, needed and beautiful. Very often inventions and other creations start out answering to a major need or a broads interest. Then the project morphs into a personal passion with little or no market value. Whether you're a garage tinkerer or Thomas Edison, ultimately your commercial success depends on developing something which economically fills a real need and which looks attractive to potential buyers. As you develop prototypes, theories or compositions, show them to people in the market for overall attractiveness feedback.

The Education of Inventors and Entrepreneurs

I have encountered many entrepreneurial technicians and engineers who hit a brick wall because they didn’t know the physics or chemistry involved in their inventions. It is very difficult to catch up in deep technical areas later in life. They should have studied more science and math in schools and universities. The areas of significant technical invention today usually are much more complex than in Edison’s day, so prospects are much dimmer for the essentially self-taught entrepreneurs.

Equally a stumbling block is the lack of communication abilities on the part of these entrepreneurial hopefuls. They can’t seem to explain in understandable language what they are thinking or proposing. They can’t read published information that is required to support their project. They can’t write down their findings and notes for their associates and followers.

Our schools apparently have the reference resources students need in terms of both technical education and communication skills, but this knowledge often doesn’t seem to be getting through to the students. Three things need to be done:

1 – Get children interested in creative accomplishment at an early age and keep them focused on this throughout their lifetimes. This requires teachers who love what they are doing. Teachers who are on fire. Teachers who love science and really want their students to absorb it.

2 – Make sure that the fundamental knowledge needed has been presented and learned. If teachers do not know their course material, replace them with ones who do.

3 – See that the students who are interested in innovation, invention and entrepreneurship don’t drop out of school prematurely, foregoing the additional technical education and communications skills that they will need.

We will need many graduates who are hooked by the challenge of the unknown. They will be captivated by the wonder of unknown and the goal of making a unique contribution to its understanding.

This motivational process starts at the top—with the President of the United States—and carries through political and business leaders, parents, clergy, educators and many others. When Russia launched the first orbiting satellite, there was frenzy in the United States not to fall behind in the technological race. We put our man on the moon first, and this goal has faded out. Now the world is faced with larger and sometimes irreversible problems of environment, climate, food, water and energy, and a new sense of mission must be developed.