Microsoft Concept Graph
This is a thing I think about often which I always conclude is not currently possible in the way I wish it were.<p>While we can make a concept graph, what I often wonder is whether it's really possible to make a computer <i>think</i> of a thing, truly have an <i>idea</i> of it in their "head" the way it is for a person.<p>When you think of an apple, you don't just connect to a text description of it and a picture and a bunch of links to "fruit" and "seed" and "food." You sort of see it and feel it and taste it and know its value. It's rendered in senses, not in text.<p>I am not confident that it will be possible for a computer to understand something that way for a very long time. I think until we understand how that information is encoded in our own minds, getting a machine to truly understand it the same way will be elusive.<p>When I was recently considering this, the fundamental difference I came down to was this: a living thing <i>wants things</i>, <i>needs things.</i> So long as a computer does not have any desires, I just don't see how it could ever understand the world the way we do. What would anything matter to you if you didn't eat, drink, sleep, feel, get bored, get curious?<p>I think those aspects of a living thing drive our understanding of everything else. Without that, it's all just text.<p>But of course I do understand perfectly that I am speaking of a longer timeline sort of project and that a Probase-like component is still a big part of it and can still independently move things forward quite a bit.