{"efta_number": "EFTA01955725", "page_count": 3, "url": "https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01955725", "pdf_url": "https://epstein-data.com/pdf/EFTA01955725.pdf", "pages": [{"efta_number": "EFTA01955725", "page_number": 0, "text_content": "Science Funder Jeffrey Epstein Launches Radical Emotional Software for the Gaming Industry. \nVirtual gaming is about to warp through a black hole, thanks to a band of scientists in Hong Kong and a \nhedge fundcr with a zealous science background, called Jeffrey Epstein. Indeed, game programming is \nmoving away from algorithmic robots to a twilight realm of emotional thinkers, taking online, video and \ntoy entrepreneurs, one step closer to Star Trek's 'Holodeck'. \nFor years, in virtual gaming, the only intelligent player was the person playing the game, responding to non-\nreactive obstacles. At most, opponents could blow up or morph into something else. Whatever the reaction, \nit was a simple linear or algorithmic response (if A, then B, if A+D, then C). \nBy the 1970's, opponents became more complex with the development of virtual chess, where the program \nresponded to a vast network of algorithmic possibilities: up to 10123 chess board variations to be exact. \nBut even in those scenarios, the program remains purely reactive and deterministic: it does not have any \ngoals, nor does it aim for check mate, but simply responds to a series of steps that lead to that direction. \nToday's gaming characters from virtual soldiers to Tinkerbell are also vastly more complex than their dash \nline tennis, Pac Man or Pong forbearers. Like the chess program, virtual soldiers can react to a wide \nvariation of landscape scenarios and respond in a myriad of ways, based on each case. \nThe Artificial Intelligence (Al) group in Hong Kong behind this new emotive software is called Open Cog. \nAs an open-source foundation, Open Cog ('Cognition for All') lead by co-founder Ben Goertzel, develops \nprogramming language for the Al community to share, in what is still a very fragmented field. However, in \nefforts to map the architecture of the human mind, Open Cog also programed three game characters, a \nghost, a robot and a girl that push past traditional gaming algorithms: \nEach character has programmed into them a database called an AtomSpace. AtomSpace consists of \nhundreds of 'atoms' which are knowledge concepts such as objects (chair, table, shelf), actions (sitting, \nrunning, singing) and feelings (anger, joy, fear). Every time an algorithm, called MindAgents, leads a \ncharacter to more than one an atom, the associative link gets stronger, influencing the characters' future \npathway choices. In this sense, a character builds and incorporates associative memory. At the same time, \nlinks can decay over time if not used by algorithms, weakening a character's memory. \nAnother unique feature is the use of several algorithms functioning at the same time, called, \"cognitive \nsynergy\". In this sense, each character is a compilation of multiple pathways, occurring simultaneously. \nThe theory behind this synergy is that humans have multiple thought processes going on simultaneously, \nsome prioritized over others in order to function. \nEFTA_R1_00428027 \nEFTA01955725\n", "char_count": 2985}, {"efta_number": "EFTA01955725", "page_number": 1, "text_content": "OpenPsi, inspired by Al scientist Joscha Bach in Berlin, is another program built into these novel \ncharacters. OpenPsi governs a character's motivations, its basic drives, emotions and thus decisions on \nwhich pathway to take. OpenPsi is also based on German psychologist Dietrich D0rner's theory that \nanimal behavior is driven by five basic needs: existence preservation (food, water, body \nintegrity—avoidance of pain), species preservation (sexuality, reproduction), affiliation (need to belong to \na group, social interaction), certainty (need to predict events and their consequences), competence (capacity \nto master problems and taks). Each of these drives gets filled or depleted based on time and interaction with \nvarious atoms. The status of these drives has a significant impact on which pathways a character chooses \nto take. For example, if the need for water is extremely high, a character will prioritize a water atom in its \npathway choice. \nFor entrepreneurs, Open Cog, together with M Lab from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, supplies a \nsoftware toolkit to incorporate their characters into whatever applications the market is using: from virtual \nlandscapes to toys and even robots. As a showcase, Open Cog has also developed its own 3D landscape for \nits characters to function in, inspired largely by the popular building game called Mindcraft. \nOpen Cog's goals differ from the gaming industry which is already lining up to exploit the new software. \nWhile it intends to make a profit, they are primarily interested in using a virtual platform to test their \nhypothesis about the mind. \"The disparity between these models and our experience of the mind is an \ninvaluable guide to follow,\" Jeffrey Epstein remarked, the financial guru behind this effort, along with the \nHong Kong government and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. \"It's somewhat like building a car, with \nno instructions, but our impression of what a car can do.\" \nOver the last ten years, Jeffrey Epstein has become one of the largest backers of cutting edge science \naround the world. Like Open Cog, he is motivated by learning more about the mind, versus creating a new \nstart-up product. He currently sits on the board of the Mind, Brain and Behavior Committee at Harvard. \nAccording to New York Magazine, Epstein has donated up to $200 million a year to eminent scientists, \nincluding: Stephen Hawking, Marvin Minsky, Eric Lander, George Church, and Nobel laureate physicists \nGerard 't Hooft, David Gross, and Frank Wilezek. In 2003, Epstein founded the Program for Evolutionary \nDynamics at Harvard University, with a $30 million dollar gift to the university. The Program studies the \nmathematical evolution of micro-biology and has made key discoveries into the treatment of cancer, HIV \nand other infectious diseases. \nWhile Open Cog's game software has not yet been commercialized, it is aimed for the market by the \nhalf of 2014. The software has already had an impact however on the robot industry where companies such \nas Hanson Robotics, developed by David Hanson, are incorporating it to advance the way their human-like \nrobots function and interact with people. \nEFTA_R1_00428028 \nEFTA01955726\n", "char_count": 3206}, {"efta_number": "EFTA01955725", "page_number": 2, "text_content": "While far from being a replica of the human mind, the result of Open Cog's software arc characters that \nhave needs, continuously adjusting and even evolving. And as scientists get closer to mapping the \nmechanics of the human mind, it's possible that we'll discover that we are more pm-determined than we \nthink: that pain is just an electrical impulse, and that free will, though weighing a million different neural \nfilaments or 'atoms', is set in genetic stone—but it's also known that the mind, as in the virtual world, \nchanges its own architecture, and thus will continue to change our destiny. \nEFTA_R1_00426029 \nEFTA01955727\n", "char_count": 634}]}