TechforTheTechie: What Exactly is “Intelligence”?

Musings of a restless mind

Disclaimer: This is not a post about artificial intelligence... but it kind of is ;)

It's hard to read any tech-related article these days, without seeing in print, the well flogged and frankly overused buzzword (or phrase), “Artificial Intelligence” … AI for short.

There. I did it too.

I didn't even get past the first paragraph.

Did I hear you say epic fail? Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. ;)

Okay, I've had my fun….

INTELLIGENCE

What is it?

Is it wholly qualitative?

Is it possible to wholly quantify?

Why do we care?

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Let's start with the "what".

Before we attempt to define, build, apply artificial intelligence, strip away the first word. What does it truly mean on its own?

This is the part where the blogger quotes Merriam-Webster, OED or some other fancy dictionary.

I prefer to take the non-scientific and modern approach here and quote Wikipedia. Simply because it's definition is one of the most apt I came across in all of my 5 minutes of research.

According to Wikipedia, Intelligence has been defined in many ways to include the capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, and problem solving.

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The above definition hints at quite a few intrinsic factors.

Is intelligence qualitative? Yes.

Wholly? No.

Some parts of intelligence are clearly more qualitative than quantitative.

Creativity and emotional intelligence fall into this category.

Self-awareness could possibly be lumped in here as well.

They are all fairly difficult to measure.

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One’s ability to think or demonstrate the capacity to think logically, solve several types of problems, plan, and understand what they learn are more quantifiable traits of intelligence.

The former traits are much more difficult to quantify.

It is very difficult to say a classically trained pianist is more creative that a digital artist by a factor of say 10 or 15.

The intelligence quotient or IQ for short on the other hand, attempts to standardize methods for measuring and determining the latter traits or characteristics of intelligence.

The term was made popular by German psychologist and philosopher William Stern (born Ludwig Wilhelm Stern) in a publication in 1912.

It attempts to rank most humans “intelligence” on a normalised scale. The majority of people or the population average will usually be a score close to 100.
95% percent of the world population tends to score somewhere on the order of 2 standard deviations from the mean, either side of 100. (That's 95% of humans with an IQ ranging anywhere between 70 to 130.

Albert Einstein (in comparison) is said to have had an IQ somewhere on the order of 160!

NOT Albert Einstein

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PS: Don't envy anyone on the far right of the spectrum. It's actually a painful existence. Google the words "Tortured genius" and go down that internet rabbit-hole.... after you finish reading this post. :)

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Most IQ tests though tend to focus more or less on one or a few of the more measurable sides of the latter traits and hence, results can be skewed.

A good example would be a test I recently took (today actually) which was composed of 20 questions which mostly were of the sort you would see in basic psychometric tests where one has to figure out patterns in an array of shapes and colours, arrange in series or matrices and deduce the missing shape in the pattern(s).

There were also a few number series type questions where one has to compute the patterns and figure out which is the next number in the series, or even more tricky, which is the rogue number that was deliberately included to throw you off track.

I scored a decent 127.

I don't care that much.

IQ tests are subjective and have been known to give widely varying results.

To prove my point, I did another (entirely different test) 20 minutes later. (& for some reason got significantly bored with it halfway through).

I scored 9 points better! Surely I didn't get smarter in 20 minutes did I?

You get the gist of it.

Intelligence is somewhat measurable, but not exact.

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Any good scientist or analyst worth their mettle would at this point admonish me… “2 data points does not a sample size make”.

Yes, I know.

Forgive my laissez-faire attitude to science on this one occasion. I only did it to prove a point.

In fact, writing this blog post came as an afterthought.

I ramble.

Anyway, why do we care?

1. Survival
2. Leadership
3. Finding a mate
4. Inventions
5. Success in life / career
6. Creativity and the joys of the creative arts
7. …
8. ...
9. (fill in the blanks, I get bored easily)
10. …
11. …
12. (keep filling in the blanks)
13. …
14. Evolution
15. …
16. Super intelligent killer robots & the AI revolution
17. ….
18. Bio-hacking and the super human “Homo Deus"
19. …
20. Obviate the singularity and don't get killed by the robots
21. ...

You're smart.

You get the point.

I added the first few points in all seriousness, the last few as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek paradoxical act.

I kept to my word. Sort of.

This has not been an article on AI.
(Clearly one of my favourite subjects to talk about)!

Intelligence is key for the sustained survival of the human race.

Intelligence as we know it today will continue to evolve as we are.

As we try to mimic human intelligence in machines, let's be sure we actually know what it is and understand all the ramifications of our actions before we (the human race) begin to find ourselves on the wrong side of the bell-curve as compared to the intelligent of the "artificial" kind.

Human IQ Normal Distributions by % of population. Source: Hand in Home Homeschool

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P.E II

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NB: If you want to have some fun with this, feel free to take the test I took.
Link here: http://www.free-iqtest.net/

Obviously, this is the link to the 2nd one I scored higher on ;)

Post your score in the comments. Take multiple ones if you want. It would be fun to see how much people's scores vary when they take the 2nd test and let me know what you think.

_____________________________
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TechforTheTechie - on AI: A brief discussion on Artificial Intelligence, Bias and Subjectivity

When we think of artificial intelligence, the common image that comes to mind is one of humanoid robot overlords, realising that the worst thing to ever happen to mankind is mankind, and thus we need to be enslaved to save ourselves from ourselves.
You know... Terminator / Skynet - type visions of the future.

In fact, AI and Machine Learning are more commonplace than we think and affect our lives every day.

When you get a recommendation on a pair of shoes or the next gadget to purchase on eBay or Amazon, that's not done by a person sat behind a screen poring through troves of data about you. That's AI in action.

When you get a friend recommendation on Facebook, suggestions on Instagram posts you would like, that next YouTube video or Netflix series, that's all AI.

Now let's get a bit more serious.

The decision taken by an HR team based on algorithmic filtering of hundreds to thousands of applicants as to whom should be initially screened from the application process for a highly-in-demand job? ....could be based on AI algorithms (and in fact, these days, increasingly is!)

The decision as to whether you qualify for that loan?.... interest rates you get on your mortgage? ...again, potentially (and highly likely in most cases to be) influenced by AI.

So, if an artificially intelligent system is advising on serious life-impacting decisions we then make our final decisions from, how can we trust that the 'decisions' made by our AI are free from bias... racial? gender bias? wealth class? religious?

Are the decisions being made 'Ethical'? Equitable? Fair?

Can the AI give us fully explainable reasons as to how it arrives at its decisions? This is an area that gets even more complex when you talk about neural networks and deep learning applications.

Unintended bias may even be more difficult to identify.

If a machine learning algorithm, say for example, a supervised learning technique such as a bayesian linear regresssion model, is used to predict how likely a criminal is to re-offend, how can we tell whether these predictions are free from bias? If the predictions are deemed 'accurate' or 'correct' based on the dataset that was used to train the ML model, are we certain that certain parameters in a new dataset will still hold true and give us 'expected' results?

You will need to define and redefine what are deemed "correct" outcomes in this and other contexts where artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied. There is a common phrase used by us data scientists "correlation does not necessarily infer causation". Unfortunately, in certain forms of supervised and non-supervised machine learning, algorithmic logic and neural networks will make assumptions that may hold true for the test datasets used to train the model, but may not always be "correct" in every real life example. In short, the wrong 'causal' relationships between data dimensions may be assumed to be "correct".

For example, the decision as to whether a first time criminal is likely to re-offend is based on multiple data points, in some cases and jurisdictions, including their "credit score"! (bearing in mind that not everyone has a credit score, this could be very bad news for any such demographic caught on the wrong side of such a law enforcement system... recent immigrants for instance).

When "machines" make decisions on our behalf, (or become our 'wise' consultants), it is imperative that we understand the assumptions used to arrive at what appear to be "correct" decisions.

In many cases, the data we feed our machine learning models is data which (unfortunately) may have some form of hidden inherent bias or another. In some cases, maybe a potentially key correlational factor may have been overlooked, which may actually be of highly important causal impact, and thus may not be even included in AI, ML models at the onset. (You know, "unknown unknowns").

I won't ramble on... I'll simply say as AI models learn, and relearn, and constantly redefine the parameters of what they term "correct" outcomes and predictions, it is of utmost importance that we keep up and ensure it is all happening within the realms of what is fair and equitable to all, as well as, not least important, applicable data laws and regulations.

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TechforTheTechie Review: The OnePlus5

The budget super-phone you never knew you wanted… until now!

THE PITCH

If you're racing to catch a bus or train, or just glancing for 2 mins at your phone, here's my elevator pitch…

Grunt. Speed. Elegant styling. Ridiculously quick. Super-affordable. Sexy-in-Black. And, Oh the camera(s) on this device... Crisp quality pictures, and an even sleeker 'portrait mode’. Easily kills all of the competition on the majority of benchmarks, and all that for a comparatively 'diet' price point.

Buy a OnePlus now!
Need further convincing? Read on.

STYLING AND DESIGN

The OnePlus5 in Matte Black (snippet of Carbon Fibre case top-right)

The OnePlus5 comes in a sleek black.
It has a very sturdy feel and design with an all metal chassis. And a burnished non-reflective matte coating.

It also has a decent weight to it while still feeling very light.

One particularly useful design cue is the side button for muting notifications. The left side of the OnePlus5 has a super-handy slider button for doing just that. And has three settings: one to mute all notifications, one to allow all notifications, and a mid-level to allow only priority notifications.

I've found this very handy and use this all the time especially when you're in those awkward moments where you quickly need to adjust this (like when someone else's phone rings out in the middle of a meeting)!

THE CAMERA(S)

The OnePlus5 is revolutionary in that of all the phones with dual cameras released around the same period (we're talking early to mid-2017), OnePlus decided,
“Nah, do you. We’ll do it differently”.

It comes loaded with a dual camera setup at the back of the phone.

Image Credit: Instagram.com/__uncle_paulie__

Image Credit: Instagram.com/__uncle_paulie__

One 20MP sensor and an accompanying 16MP sensor primarily to support 2X optical zoom with no loss of image fidelity. It also does pretty well for itself in low light shots.

It also has a very crisp 16MP front-facing camera for taking #Selfies

#PortraitMode uses some form of artificial intelligence algorithm to apply a blur effect on photos to make the subject stand out better and give it a more refined sense of depth-of-field in focus. It works automatically and all you need to do is just switch to that setting in camera mode and it does the rest for you.

Portrait Mode on the OnePlus5 really makes the subject standout

It does still need some work though as in some cases it tends to blur the edges of the primary subject as well or get confused by highly contrasting colours like black text on a light background. All-in-all, ‘Portrait Mode’ on the OnePlus5 does an amazing job most of the time.

Focus is sharper and Depth of field narrower in Portrait mode

SCREEN (Let's talk about Notch… baby)

So.This one doesn't have a notch (*phew*... the OnePlus 6 will though... pictured)

‘The notch’. Hate it or like it, is the next smartphone trend we’re seeing primarily in 2018. (I’ll blame Andy Rubin for even introducing the concept with the Essential phone in 2017. The iPhone X made this even more popular. A few other manufacturers have followed suite since… including OnePlus).

It’s that little dark portion at the top of some smart phone screens housing the front-facing camera and other sensors with phones where the manufacturers are beginning to push for less of a bezel at the top and the bottom.

It's the same reason why one key difference between the souped-up OnePlus5T and the OnePlus5, is that the fingerprint reader was moved to the back of the phone.

We all like the extra screen 'real estate’ this affords us. The notch, however is a very divisive issue. The good thing is, after some protests from the OnePlus faithful, Carl Pei and team decided to introduce a software option to hide the notch on the soon to be released OnePlus6. Effectively including bars of black pixels on either side of it to give the illusion of a flat-lined bezel.

So if you do not like the notch, rest easy. It isn't a problem on the OnePlus5. It won't be a problem on future OnePlus iterations.

Notch aside, You get a 5.5 inch amoled display on the OnePlus5. Generous for doing things like gaming, watching videos or even reading and editing documents on the go. It feels more natural than using a small screen and doesn't hurt the eyes having to strain excessively like you would on a smaller phone.

The OnePlus5 screen has a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution which ensures that you get a crisp, clear display at all times and in all conditions. Surprisingly, it's also very good in high-exposure to sunlight with minimal reflection (just remember to keep the auto-adjust setting on for screen brightness)

Video

Image stabilization is standard and works very well on the OnePlus5. You can also shoot crisp, clear 4K video easily. Just watch out for memory usage though if you will be shooting a lot of 4K video.

Split-Screen

Yup, it means what it says.

You can use two apps side-by-side (or one above the other depending on your phone orientation in portrait or landscape mode). Pretty cool feature. Although, haven't had many instances where this has been an absolute necessity. Feels to me in general like the sort of feature that you'd really find very useful on a much larger screen like on a tablet.

DASH CHARGE (A full days charge in 30 minutes!)

Shall I say more?
Okay.
I will.

If there's any good reason to get a OnePlus, it's for this reason. The OnePlus5 for instance in just a 30 minute charge, gives you enough power for a whole day!

Gone are the days of charging overnight. You can simply plug your phone in when you wake up, and by the time you're ready to leave for work, school, the school-run..(or whatever else gets you up daily), your device is charged up enough to get you through the day.

OnePlus proprietary Dash Charge technology means that it's still the best in the market in this area making it an easy decision to go for this device for that reason.

There are also no issues with heavy usage like calls and gaming while charging causing overheating. This is a known issue with most other smartphones. In the worst of cases, some even exploding and causing injury to the users.

This is another core difference between Dash Charge and other Fast Charge technologies as its energy use is way more efficient than others.

FINGERPRINT READER AND FACE UNLOCK

I will not elaborate. There is no need to. The fingerprint reader is quick. Very very quick. (Less than half a second). I have experienced absolutely no lag using it to unlock my phone.

Face Unlock seems even quicker. It has also been noted to easily be quicker than the iPhone X’s Face ID. It works, in fact, almost instantaneously!

It is worth noting also that from a security perspective, the iPhone X maps specific points on the face using LIDAR technology to create a 3D image.

The OnePlus Face Unlock on the other hand uses a flat 2D representation of your face. This doesn't mean it is easily fooled for instance by a photo for instance and in fact it is very difficult to trick it.

Try wearing dark glasses even and note that it doesn't unlock. There is a very detailed analysis of the facial biometrics that is done on every unlock attempt before access is granted.

Quick. Effective. Secure (Enough).

STORAGE, RAM & SPEED

I personally opted for and reviewed a 128GB onboard storage version with 8GB of RAM.

This phone has more processing power and memory than my work computer!

It is so ridiculously fast, and the OnePlus Oxygen OS so smooth to use, that I have genuinely forgotten what it's like to use a “laggy” phone.

There is a cheaper option as well with half the storage and memory, 64GB x 4GB RAM. For £50 extra, I think the extra memory and storage space is definitely worth it, especially for a super smartphone they costs you only £549.99.
Also, if you create a lot of media like pictures and videos you'll appreciate the extra storage even more.

ACCESSORIES

OnePlus, with every phone release, does a lot of work to ensure that there are good host of accessories available at launch. An added bonus is the very detailed styling and range of options made available (and designed) by OnePlus.

Over the years, the catchphrase “Designed by OnePlus” has come to be denoted with style, quality and elegance. Three words that are synonymous with the brand.
One of the all time favourites for OnePlus has been its carbon fibre case.

WARRANTY, REPAIRS & TECH SUPPORT

I had a slight issue with the volume rocker of my OnePlus5 getting stuck (sometimes) after just a few months use. Quite unusual.

Although support staff were very nice, unfortunately I was told that this was not covered in my warranty and I'd have to pay £100 to get this sorted. I found this a bit odd given than the volume rocker on any phone must be one of the most difficult things to actually damage, even if you were trying to.

All-in-all, not too fussed about it, however, this is one area in general (warranty and post sales support), that a few users have been known to complain about.

It wouldn't be fair of me not to give you the 'full picture” here.

I do know a fair few though who have had absolutely no issues with having repairs done with OnePlus.

FREE DELIVERY

As an added bonus, OnePlus delivers for all orders over £40 in the UK for free. A minor detail, but noteworthy.

WE TECHIES JUST LOVE ONEPLUS

OnePlus is a company that from day one has always striven to make themselves different. To be simply incomparable.

A good example of this ethos is in the innovative technology that is ‘Dash’ Charging.

As I write this review on a flight to Berlin, I am only able to do so on my OnePlus5 (with ample battery to spare), because I was able to juice up from 34% to just about 79% battery life in the 35 or so odd minutes it took me to wake up, freak out that I'd be late for my flight, get ready, pack my charger and bounce.

I work in a highly technology inclined environment. (So much so that the name of my team at work actually has the word 'Techology’ in it). I was one of the OnePlus pioneers in my team. (Myself and someone else I'll simply refer to as 'The Bearded One') 😉

I had a OnePlus2 at the time. The Bearded One stuck to a OnePlus1 - the first iterant of the device.

Over time, as more and more of my techie colleagues started to ask questions, handle our phones, play with them… we saw a shift.

In less than a year, almost all of my team, who would normally be iPhone or Core Android users have slowly come on board with OnePlus. We got to a point where there were even fewer people not using a OnePlus device.

This says a lot for the virtues of OnePlus devices in general for being very sturdy phones, but even more so, trusted by the tech community. (Another old friend of mine even went as far (and crazy) as configuring his OnePlus1 for cybersecurity penetration testing… (Yes. You can actually do that!).

I'm really looking forward to getting hands-on with the soon to be released OnePlus6. A killer device the OnePlus5 is and it's big brother the OnePlus 5T even more so. It's exciting and frankly mind-blowing to think how much more better the 6 will be considering how crazy-positive the OnePlus5 and 5T already are!

See you at the OnePlus6 launch event on May 16th!

https://www.oneplus.com/uk/launch-6

Paulie the Technophile

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