IntelliGenesis in the Media

Christian Science Monitor, September 4, 1998, "Wall Street Bankrolls New Artificial Intelligence Software" (excerpts from the parts we liked best).

'The mathematician's efforts to develop artificial intelligence software for Wall Street traders is just a way to bankroll his first love - 'getting to the heart of thought.'

'WebMind is based on software designed along structures of the human brain in all its aspects - a first in artificial intelligence, if it works.'

"...But Goertzel's vision reaches far beyond the realm of Wall Street. ...he is embarking on a largely unexplored path toward what he terms "the worldwide brain ... a self-organizing, emergent intelligence vastly exceeding that of any single human, encompassing humanity without denying us our freedom."

Not surprisingly, the mathematician's ideas have been categorically dismissed by experts from rival AI fields, while drawing the admiration of others working in similar areas. Mark Watson, an Arizona-based AI expert and author, says the young scientist "both inspires and sets the imagination wild."

"Scientists who can step outside of the boundaries of current methodologies are the creators of great new inventions and technologies," he adds. Goertzel "at least has a chance of success," Dr. Watson says, and even if his AI fails, it can help move the field forward."

CIO Magazine, August 1, 1998, "The Brain of the Outfit' (excerpt from the interview with Dr. Ben Goertzel).

'...there are certain abstract mathematical equations that capture the essence of intelligent thought and explain how intelligent structures emerge from information-rich, complex systems. Take an environment with information richness and processing power, and intelligent dynamics can emerge from it. That's what corporate intranets should be all about.

...Right now, most corporate intranets feature a bunch of information sitting in databases, document archives and file directories. Companies use data mining tools to analyze the information or text search terms to access static data storage. In the human mind, memory is inherently integrated with processing. That allows for intelligence. Corporate intranets are programmed for either storage or a communications channel. They are not programmed to generate their own knowledge and answer questions based on the knowledge they generate. The key to doing that is establishing a long-term memory--of being able to integrate textual and numerical information, combine anecdotal information and draw conclusions based on context.'

Microelectronics Technology Alert, June 19, 1998, featured IntelliGenesis Corporation in an article titled 'CAN CONSCIOUS NETWORK FIND ANSWERS?'

Wall Street Journal, May 22, 1998, The Front Lines column (excerpt).

'AMONG A SMALL circle of scientists, [IntelliGenesis co-founder] Dr. Ben Goertzel became known for a mathematical model describing the mind as collection of processes, and processes within processes, all continually transforming one another as if they were a community of sorcerers. In the interaction among parts and wholes, consciousness arises spontaneously in a process known as emergence, as when cells self-organize into organs, organs into organisms and organisms into organizations.'

'In 1995, as a research fellow at the University of Western Australia, he was stunned to see his model of the mind taking physical shape as the Internet, a vast, complex, self-organizing system. Potentially, each Web page was a neuron cluster, each hypertext link a synapse, every human user a sense organ. If these elements could interact seamlessly --combining, evolving and transforming one another, like the sorcerers in his model of the mind -- then perhaps a new global intelligence, a Web mind, could emerge.'

'With the advent of Java as a universal programming language for the Web, Dr. Goertzel began creating software agents that would roam across networks, seeking patterns in numbers, words and, above all, in the behavior of other agents. He was convinced such a network could eventually recognize context, nuance and concepts, even teaching itself the rules of grammar.'

'Then, in late 1996, a veteran Wall Street currency analyst named Lisa Pazer surfed into an Internet site describing Dr. Goertzel's research. She was electrified. There was no reason, she thought, why his WebMind system couldn't do for corporate intranets what Dr.Goertzel envisioned for the entire Internet. It could propel data-mining and document management to a new level, particularly if people could communicate with intranets in everyday language. Recognizing that Wall Street firms pay top dollar for even the slightest trading edge, she also thought that WebMind's ability to synthesize data and text might bridge the gap between fundamental and technical stock trading.'

"I would keep my eye on Ben," says William Sulis, a psychiatrist who heads the Collective Intelligence Laboratory at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. "At the very least, he may provide us with a wholly new approach to interacting with the Internet."