历史与人物nautil.us
那个试图用逻辑拯救世界的人
The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic
2015 — 2021，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇 Nautilus 长文讲述了 Walter Pitts 的传奇与悲剧人生：一个离家出走的少年天才，与 McCulloch 合作提出第一个神经网络数学模型（McCulloch-Pitts 神经元），参与控制论的开创，最终因导师 Wiener 与他决裂而在忧郁中烧毁自己多年的博士论文手稿。文章也勾勒了冯·诺依曼、维纳等人如何用逻辑与计算的思想去理解大脑和世界。
为什么经久不衰：它把神经网络和控制论的起源讲成一段跌宕起伏的人物史，多次登上 HN 首页，对理解今天 AI 的思想源头依然很有启发。
HN 评论精选
Wiener 不加查证就与 Pitts 决裂，对悲剧负有责任
多么令人心碎的故事——因为一个愤怒女人的谎言，多年心血付之一炬。不过 Wiener 也难辞其咎：一个人不该不经查证就对朋友下判断。
javajosh查看英文原文
Having read _Principia_ did Pitts read Kurt Goedel[1]? I would very much like to know what he thought of it! What an incredibly sad story - burning years of work in meloncholy, all thanks to the lies of an angry woman. Wiener, though, shares a great deal of blame - a man should not pass judgement in on his friends without inquiring into the truth of the matter. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems
推荐相关传记，并提醒文中决裂原因只是推测而非定论
这是个人和世界的双重悲剧。强烈推荐文中提到的书《信息时代的黑暗英雄：寻找控制论之父诺伯特·维纳》。有一点让我不安：书中把 Wiener 与他们决裂的原因作为推测呈现，而这篇文章却当作事实来陈述。
carapace查看英文原文
Such a terrible tragedy, both personal and for the world. I highly recommend the book referenced: "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics". R.I.P. Walter Pitts (One thing that troubles me slightly: this article mentions a possible cause of the break between Wiener and the others which is presented as speculation in the book, if I remember correctly, but stated here as a bald fact. In any event I wish that Wiener hadn't acted so rashly.)
从符号计算到现代 AI 的思想脉络令人着迷
太精彩了。我以前不知道冯·诺依曼机是对一种心智模型的外推；更有趣的是，符号计算机器的出现反而让纯符号认识论变得不可能。如今现代 AI 正是在这个实现上加倍下注，试图在其上构建新的智能。
xmonkee查看英文原文
This article is fascinating. I had no idea that the Von Neumann machine was an extrapolation of a mental model. Even more fascinating, that the existince of a symbolic computation machine made the possibility of purely symobolic epistimology impossible. It's like they abstracted a lever higher than they wanted to and then made a cleaner, simpler implementation of it. And now with modern AI we are doubling down on that implementation and trying to build a new kind of intelligence no top of it.
神经网络思想与计算史同龄；Pitts 的经历宛如《心灵捕手》
有意思的是，神经网络在计算时代之初就已存在——McCulloch、Pitts 和冯·诺依曼从一开始就在思考连接主义路线。Pitts 的结局太悲惨了，他就像《心灵捕手》里的威尔：完全的局外人、自学成才的天才、坎坷的出身和挥之不去的心魔。
UncleOxidant查看英文原文
It's interesting to see that neural nets were there from the beginning of the computing age. McColloch, Pitts and von Neumann were thinking of a connectionist approach from the start. Such a sad end for Pitts. I couldn't help thinking that he was kind of like Will in Good Will Hunting - a complete outsider, a self-taught genius with a very rough upbringing and lots of demons from that past.
贫困埋没了无数潜在的天才
15 岁离家出走后再也没见过家人。想想世界上 80% 的人每天生活费不足 10 美元，有多少出身贫寒的天才永远无法向世界展现才华？如果这些人都能成为科学家、哲学家、数学家，世界会美好多少。
islon查看英文原文
"But three years later, when he heard that Russell would be visiting the University of Chicago, the 15-year-old ran away from home and headed for Illinois. He never saw his family again." Assuming that 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day, and are, therefore, poor, I can just imagine the number of geniuses born poor that will not ever be able to show their geniality to the world. Imagine how the world would be a better place with all these people working as scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, etc.
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