In order to preserve nihilism as a meaningful concept, it's necessary to distinguish it from pessimism, cynicism, and apathy.

By: Nolen Gertz

Nihilism, not unlike time (according to Augustine) or porn (according to the U.S. Supreme Court), is one of those concepts that we are all pretty sure we know the meaning of unless someone asks us to define it. Nihil means nothing. -ism means ideology. Yet when we try to combine these terms, the combination seems to immediately refute itself, as the idea that nihilism is the ideology of nothing appears to be nonsensical. To say that this means that someone believes in nothing is not really much more helpful, as believing in something suggests there is something to be believed in, but if that something is nothing, then there is not something to be believed in, in which case believing in nothing is again a self-refuting idea.

It is easy therefore to fall into the trap of thinking Everything is nihilism! which of course leads to thinking Nothing is nihilism! Thus in order to preserve nihilism as a meaningful concept, it is necessary to distinguish it from concepts that are often associated with it but are nevertheless different, concepts such as pessimism, cynicism, and apathy.

If optimism is hopefulness, then pessimism is hopelessness. To be a pessimist is to say, Whats the point? Pessimism is often likened to a Glass is half empty way of seeing the world, but since its only half empty this scenario might still be too hopeful for a pessimist. A better scenario might be that, if a pessimist fell in a well, and someone offered to rescue him, hed likely respond, Why bother? In the well, out of the well, were all going to die anyway. In other words, pessimism is dark and depressing. But it is not nihilism.

If a pessimist fell in a well, and someone offered to rescue him, hed likely respond, Why bother? In the well, out of the well, were all going to die anyway.

In fact, we might even go so far as to say that pessimism is the opposite of nihilism. Like nihilism, pessimism could be seen as arising from despair. The fact of our death, the frustration of our desires, the unintended consequences of our actions, the tweets of our political leaders, any or all of these could lead us to either nihilism or pessimism. However, where these two roads diverge is over the question of whether we dwell on our despair or hide from it.

To be with a pessimist is to know that you are with a pessimist. But you can be with a nihilist and have no idea. Indeed you could yourself be a nihilist and have no idea. Such a lack of awareness is the point of nihilism, as nihilism is all about hiding from despair rather than dwelling on it. This difference was illustrated by Woody Allen in his movie Annie Hall (1977) when his alter ego Alvy Singer has the following exchange with a couple he stops on the street for advice:

ALVY (He moves up the sidewalk to a young trendy-looking couple, arms wrapped around each other): You-you look like a really happy couple. Uh, uh are you?

YOUNG WOMAN: Yeah.

ALVY: Yeah! So h-h-how do you account for it?

YOUNG WOMAN: Uh, Im very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say.

YOUNG MAN: And Im exactly the same way.

ALVY: I see. Well, thats very interesting. So youve managed to work out something, huh?

YOUNG MAN: Right.

Alvy Singer is a pessimist. The man and woman are nihilists.

What is most illuminating about this scene is that it shows how a pessimist can reveal the identity of a nihilist, just as it might be argued that the pessimism of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer helped reveal to Nietzsche his own nihilism. Before they are confronted by Alvy, they are just a happily shallow and happily empty couple. However, when he asks them to explain their happiness, they are no longer shallow and empty; they are instead forced to awaken from their reverie and to become self-aware. It is not that they are happy that reveals their nihilism; rather it is their attempt to explain to a pessimist why they are happy that reveals their nihilism. On the surface, they are soul mates who have found each other. But surface is all that they are. The attempt to go any deeper reveals that there is nothing deeper. And it is precisely a pessimist who, when confronted with such a happy couple, would ask the Why? that reveals their nothingness.

If, as I suggested earlier, nihilism and pessimism are opposites, then nihilism is actually much closer to optimism. To see the glass as half full is to think that we should be happy with what we have rather than focusing on what is missing. But being happy with what we have can also be a way of remaining complacent, of ignoring what is missing so as to avoid having to seek change. Similarly, to believe that everything will work out in the end, that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, is to believe that life is teleological, that there is some goal or purpose whether God or Justice operating invisibly behind what we experience.

It is by believing in the existence of superhuman goals and superhuman purposes that we lose sight of human goals and human purposes. Likewise, when we elevate someone like Martin Luther King Jr. to the status of a saint or a prophet, we see him as more than a mere mortal, thus freeing ourselves from the responsibility of trying to emulate him since we simply have to be hopeful that someone like him will come again. If optimism leads us to be complacent, leads us to wait for something good to happen, or for someone else to make something good happen, then optimism leads us to do nothing. In other words, it is not pessimism but optimism that is similar to nihilism.

In Ancient Greece, a Cynic was someone who lived like a dog (the Greek kynikos means doglike), or, to be more precise, was someone who lived by the Cynic philosophy of staying true to nature rather than conforming to what that person saw as social artifice. Today, a cynic is similarly someone who looks down on society and sees it as fake, though not because the cynic sees society as unnatural, but because the cynic sees the people who make up society as fake. To be cynical is to assume the worst of people, to think that morality is mere pretense, and to suppose that even when people seem to be helping others they are really only trying to help themselves. Believing in only self-interest, the cynic appears to others to believe in nothing. Consequently, cynicism can appear to be nihilism. But it is not nihilism.

A cynic can even enjoy life. In particular, a cynic can take pleasure in mocking those who claim that altruism exists, or that politicians are self-sacrificing public servants, and especially finds laughable the idea that we should try to see the good in people.

Cynicism, like pessimism, is about negativity. However, whereas pessimism is about despair, about the feeling that life is pointless in the face of death, cynicism is instead much more about disdain than despair. A cynic wouldnt say that life is pointless but would just say that what people claim about life is pointless. A cynic can even enjoy life. In particular, a cynic can take pleasure in mocking those who claim that altruism exists, or that politicians are self-sacrificing public servants, and especially finds laughable the idea that we should try to see the good in people.

Pessimists are not nihilists because pessimists embrace rather than evade despair. Cynics are not nihilists because cynics embrace rather than evade mendacity. A key part of evading despair is the willingness to believe, to believe that people can be good, that goodness is rewarded, and that such rewards can exist even if we do not experience them. But to a cynic such a willingness to believe is a willingness to be naive, to be gullible, and to be manipulated. The cynic mocks such beliefs not because the cynic claims to know that such beliefs are necessarily false, but because the cynic is aware of the danger represented by people who claim to know that such beliefs are necessarily true.

A skeptic waits for evidence before passing judgment. A cynic, however, does not trust evidence because the cynic does not trust that anyone is capable of providing evidence objectively.

A skeptic waits for evidence before passing judgment. A cynic, however, does not trust evidence because the cynic does not trust that anyone is capable of providing evidence objectively. The cynic would prefer to remain dubious than risk being duped, and thus the cynic sees those who do take such risks as dupes. For this reason the cynic is able to reveal the nihilism of others by challenging people to defend their lack of cynicism, much like how the pessimist reveals the nihilism of others by challenging people to defend their lack of pessimism.

Perhaps the best example of the revelatory abilities of a cynic is the argument between Thrasymachus and Socrates in the opening book of Platos Republic. Thrasymachus is first introduced as mocking Socrates for questioning others about the definition of justice and then demands that he be paid in order to tell them what justice truly is. Once appeased, Thrasymachus defines justice as a trick invented by the strong in order to take advantage of the weak, as a way for the strong to seize power by manipulating society into believing that obedience is justice. Thrasymachus further argues that whenever possible people do what is unjust, except when they are too afraid of being caught and punished, and thus Thrasymachus concludes that injustice is better than justice.

When Socrates attempts to refute this definition by likening political leaders to doctors, to those who have power but use it to help others rather than to help themselves, Thrasymachus does not accept the refutation like the others do, but instead refutes Socratess refutation. Thrasymachus accuses Socrates of being naive and argues that Socrates is like a sheep who thinks the shepherd who protects and feeds the sheep does so because the shepherd is good rather than realizing that the shepherd is fattening them for the slaughter. Socrates is never able to truly convince Thrasymachus that his definition of justice is wrong, and indeed Thrasymachuss cynicism is so compelling that Socrates spends the rest of the Republic trying to prove that justice is better than injustice by trying to refute the apparent success of unjust people by making metaphysical claims about the effects of injustice on the soul. Socrates is thus only able to counter cynicism in the visible world through faith in the existence of an invisible world, an invisible world that he argues is more real than the visible world. In other words, it is Thrasymachuss cynicism that forces Socrates to reveal his nihilism.

Here we can see that nihilism is actually much more closely related to idealism than to cynicism. The cynic presents himself or herself as a realist, as someone who cares about actions, not intentions, who focuses on what people do rather than on what people hope to achieve, who remembers the failed promises of the past in order to avoid being swept up in the not-yet-failed promises about the future. The idealist, however, rejects cynicism as hopelessly negative. By focusing on intentions, on hopes, and on the future, the idealist is able to provide a positive vision to oppose the negativity of the cynic. But in rejecting cynicism, does the idealist also reject reality?

Nihilism is actually much more closely related to idealism than to cynicism.

The idealist, as we saw with Socrates, is not able to challenge the cynics view of reality and instead is forced to construct an alternate reality, a reality of ideas. These ideas may form a coherent logical story about reality, but that in no way guarantees that the ideas are anything more than just a story. As the idealist focuses more and more on how reality ought to be, the idealist becomes less and less concerned with how reality is. The utopian views of the idealist may be more compelling than the dystopian views of the cynic, but dystopian views are at least focused on this world, whereas utopian views are, by definition, focused on a world that does not exist. It is for this reason that to use other-worldly idealism to refute this-worldly cynicism is to engage in nihilism.

Along with pessimism and cynicism, nihilism is also frequently associated with apathy. To be apathetic is to be without pathos, to be without feeling, to be without desire. While we are all occasionally given choices that do not particularly sway us one way or another (Do you want to eat Italian or Chinese?), such disinterestedness is what someone who is apathetic feels all the time. To be apathetic is thus to be seen as not caring about anything. The pessimist feels despair, the cynic feels disdain, but the apathetic individual feels nothing. In other words, apathy is seen as nihilism. But apathy is not nihilism.

The pessimist feels despair, the cynic feels disdain, but the apathetic individual feels nothing.

Apathy can be an attitude (I dont care about that) or a character trait (I dont care about anything). However, in either case the apathetic individual is expressing a personal feeling (or, to be more precise, feelinglessness) and is not making a claim about how everyone should feel (or, again, not feel). The apathetic individual understands perfectly well that other people feel differently insofar as they feel anything at all. And because the apathetic individual feels nothing, the apathetic individual does not feel any desire to convince others that they should similarly feel nothing. Others may care, but the apathetic individual does not, and because they do not care, the apathetic individual does not care that others care.

Yet apathy is still often seen as an affront, as an insult, as a rebuke by those who do care. For example, in MTVs Daria (19972002) a show about a highly apathetic high schooler Daria Morgendorffer and her friend Jane Lane have the following conversation:

DARIA: Tragedy hits the school and everyone thinks of me. A popular guy died, and now Im popular because Im the misery chick. But Im not miserable. Im just not like them.

JANE: It really makes you think.

DARIA: Funny. Thanks a lot.

JANE: No! Thats why they want to talk to you. When they say, Youre always unhappy, Daria, what they mean is, You think, Daria. I can tell because you dont smile. Now this guy died and it makes me think and that hurts my little head and makes me stop smiling. So, tell me how you cope with thinking all the time, Daria, until I can get back to my normal vegetable state.

DARIA: Okay. So why have you been avoiding me?

JANE: Because Ive been trying not to think.

The apathetic individual can thus, like the pessimist and the cynic, reveal the nihilism of others, though, unlike the pessimist and the cynic, the apathetic individual does this without actually trying to. Whereas the pessimist and the cynic challenge others to explain their lack of either pessimism or cynicism, the apathetic individual is instead the one who is challenged, challenged by others to explain his or her lack of pathos. In trying to get the apathetic individual to care, the person who does care is forced to explain why he or she cares, an explanation which can reveal just how meaningful (or meaningless) is the reason the person has for caring.

The apathetic individual doesnt care. However, not caring is not the same thing as caring about nothing. The apathetic individual feels nothing. But the nihilist has feelings. Its just that what the nihilist has feelings for is itself nothing. And indeed it is because the nihilist is able to have such strong feelings, strong feelings for something that is nothing, that the nihilist is not and cannot be apathetic. Nihilists can have sympathy, empathy, and antipathy, but they cannot have apathy.

Not caring is not the same thing as caring about nothing. The apathetic individual feels nothing. But the nihilist has feelings.

Nietzsche tried to demonstrate the feelings at work in nihilism in his argument against what he called the morality of pity. The morality of pity holds that it is good to feel pity for those who are in need, and it is especially good to be moved by such pity to help those who are in need. But, according to Nietzsche, what is often motivating the desire to help is how we are able to see ourselves thanks to how we see others in need, in particular how we see ourselves as capable of helping, as powerful enough to help.

The morality of pity is for Nietzsche not about helping others, but about elevating oneself by reducing others, by reducing others to their neediness, to a neediness that we do not have and that reveals how much we do have by contrast. Pity is nihilistic insofar as it allows us to evade reality, such as by allowing us to feel that we are better than we are, and that we are better than those in need. Consequently, we are able to avoid recognizing that we have perhaps only had better luck or have been more privileged.

The morality of pity drives us to feel pity and to feel good for feeling pity. Having such feelings is worse than feeling nothing, for if we feel good when we feel pity, then we are motivated only to help the individuals we feel pity for rather than to help end the systemic injustices that create such pitiful situations in the first place. Whereas apathy may help us to avoid being blinded by our emotions and to see situations of injustice more clearly, pity is instead more likely to motivate us to perpetuate injustice by perpetuating the conditions that allow us to help the needy, that allow us to see ourselves as good for helping those we see only as needy.

This is not to suggest, however, that we should try to achieve apathy, that we should try to will ourselves to feel nothing. Popular versions of Stoicism and of Buddhism advocate for calmness, for detachment, for trying to not feel what we feel. To force oneself to become apathetic is nihilistic, as to do so is to evade our feelings rather than to confront them. There is thus an important difference between being apathetic and becoming apathetic, between being indifferent because that is how one responds to the world and becoming indifferent because we want to be liberated from our feelings and attachments. Similarly, to become detached, not because of Stoicism or Buddhism, but because of hipsterism, is still to try to detach oneself from oneself, from life, from reality. So pursuing irony can be just as nihilistic as pursuing apatheia or nirvana.

Nolen Gertz is Assistant Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and author of Nihilism, from which this article is excerpted.

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What Nihilism Is Not - The MIT Press Reader

The key to success has less to do with obsessing over consuming the 'right kinds' of materials and more to do with how you use what you learn.

January 17, 2020 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

"I realized that becoming a master of karate was not about learning 4,000 moves but about doing just a handful of moves 4,000 times. Chet Holmes

How can we make learning our default mode?

According to Holmes, its not about amassing random knowledge or memorizing copious amounts of information. Its about turning what we absorb into strategic action.

Many entrepreneurs get stuck believing they should acquire as much knowledge as possible or become a human Wikipedia. Its now easier than ever to Google anything our heart desires, but all of this rapid browsing gives us the illusion that were processing more than we actually are. True learning, on the other hand, goes far beyond hoarding facts.

In fact, Plato made the case against simply memorizing data: Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion, obtains no hold on the mind, he said.

Its not the same thing to spend a single afternoon studying how to meditate, for example, as it is to make it a daily practice. Sheer knowledge alone is often powerless. Bruce Lee understood this more than anyone: Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Thats why we cant settle for skimming over the surface of information, we have to cultivate the habit of digging deep and immersing ourselves in new experiences.

This is what allows our thinking to grow more elastic and less rigid, and which ultimately lets us generate new and original ideas.

Related: How Studying History Brings Success

A Harvard Business Review story by John Coleman illustrates the need to prioritize learning. He writes: Were all born with a natural curiosity. We want to learn. But the demands of work and personal life often diminish our time and will to engage that natural curiosity.

As someone who is constantly pulled in every direction, I know what its like to end up pushing things to the backburner. In the early days of building JotForm, having a busy calendar meant that I was always balancing my personal life with working toward my dream.

All of my free time went toward my family or company, and precious few hours were dedicated to reading and practicing what I absorbed. But its important to remember that creating anything of meaning comes from continuous, deliberate learning of what we take in on a daily basis.

For a long time, I made excuses for not reading and researching material that wasnt related to my work. But at a certain point, I realized that in order to become a more open-minded, creative and innovative leader, I had to make learning a lifelong habit. Here are four ways to do it.

Related:Don't Learn More, Learn Smarter. A Quick Guide to Agile Learning.

What are some concepts, thoughtsand practices youd like to explore? Having a variety of passions plays an important role in maintaining our interest, but the goal of learning should be to push us beyond our comfort zone. Part of this involves discomfort, and thats a good thing.

In order to manage and overcome mental barriers, we should have a firm understanding of our own limitations, and what wed like to change.

Heres something to keep in mind: you should learn more about the things that matter to you. What excites you. But also about what challenges your beliefs and previous ways of thinking.

Instead of spending your free time catching up on the latest Netflix show, actively seek out opportunities to stay up-to-date with growth opportunities.

Getting rid of distractions is a good rule of thumb when learning new material, but also focus on setting aside small, regular time allotments. This means setting up realistic goals like leaving your phone in another room for a 30-minute block of time.

Consuming knowledge in these bite-sized quantities gives your mind time to process and recover from intense concentration.

But remember: its the repetition that counts. The most successful entrepreneurs all share the same trait: they focus on a handful of practices and rinse and repeat until gaining mastery. American essayist and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, agrees:

That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.

Related:Why You Should Strive to Be a Lifelong Learner

No matter where you are on your journey, turning to a community of like-minded individuals can help make learning fun and exciting. Whether you participate in online or offline courses, you can gain more insight by connecting with other learners.

Engaging and participating in activities with people that are better than us can also give us opportunities to examine our beliefs and expand our thinking. Were also able to learn from others experiences and providevalue to them in return.

Make specific goals of joining a group or signing up for a formal class on what interests you. Knowing that you have a community to share notes with and provide you with feedback can keep you on track.

Lifelong learners understand that smart goal setting means increasing our learning agility, or our ability to take knowledge from one concept and apply it to another.

Understandably, most of us will automatically think that the knowledge and skills directly related to our work should take priority. If you stick to reading business books, the thinking goes, youll have better results.

But what Ive discovered about being a lifetime learner is that significant progress can only be made by translating diverse concepts and applying them to my role as a leader. Regularly practicing a few minutes of meditation every day, for instance, creates a domino effect by helping me cultivate patience and awareness in other areas of my business.

Its a lesson every founder can understand. The key to success has less to do with obsessing over consuming the right kinds of materials, and more to do with how you use what you learn. This is what ultimately gives us a fresh perspective.

Simply put: Keep growing and dont settle.

Or to quote Friedrich Nietzsche The doer alone learneth.

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Why Lifelong Learning is the Key to Entrepreneurial Success - Entrepreneur

A team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark let DeepMinds AlphaZero algorithm loose on a few quantum computing optimization problems and, much to everyones surprise, the AI was able to solve the problems without any outside expert knowledge. Not bad for a machine learning paradigm designed to win at games like Chess and StarCraft.

Youve probably heard of DeepMind and its AI systems. The UK-based Google sister-company is responsible for both AlphaZero and AlphaGo, the systems that beat the worlds most skilled humans at the games of Chess and Go. In essence, what both systems do is try to figure out what the optimal next set of moves is. Where humans can only think so many moves ahead, the AI can look a bit further using optimized search and planning methods.

Related:DeepMinds AlphaZero AI is the new champion in chess, shogi, and Go

When the Aarhus team applied AlphaZeros optimization abilities to a trio of problems associated with optimizing quantum functions an open problem for the quantum computing world they learned that its ability to learn new parameters unsupervised transferred over from games to applications quite well.

Per the study:

AlphaZero employs a deep neural network in conjunction with deep lookahead in a guided tree search, which allows for predictive hidden-variable approximation of the quantum parameter landscape. To emphasize transferability, we apply and benchmark the algorithm on three classes of control problems using only a single common set of algorithmic hyperparameters.

The implications for AlphaZeros mastery over the quantum universe could be huge. Controlling a quantum computer requires an AI solution because operations at the quantum level quickly become incalculable by humans. The AI can find optimum paths between data clusters in order to emerge better solutions in tandem with computer processors. It works a lot like human heuristics, just scaled to the nth degree.

An example of this would be an algorithm that helps a quantum computer sort through near-infinite combinations of molecules to come up with chemical compounds that would be useful in the treatment of certain illnesses. The current paradigm would involve developing an algorithm that relies on human expertise and databases with previous findings to point it in the right direction.

But the kind of problems were looking at quantum computers to solve dont always have a good starting point. Some of these, optimization problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem, need an algorithm thats capable of figuring things out without the need for constant adjustment by developers.

DeepMinds algorithm and AI system may be the solution quantum computings been waiting for. The researchers effectively employ AlphaZero as a Tabula Rasa for quantum optimization: It doesnt necessarily need human expertise to find the optimum solution to a problem at the quantum computing level.

Before we start getting too concerned about unsupervised AI accessing quantum computers, its worth mentioning that so far AlphaZeros just solved a few problems in order to prove a concept. We know the algorithms can handle quantum optimization, now its time to figure out what we can do with it.

The researchers have already received interest from big tech and other academic institutions with queries related to collaborating on future research. Not for nothing, but DeepMinds sister-company Google has a little quantum computing program of its own. Were betting this isnt the last weve heard of AlphaZeros adventures in the quantum computing world.

Read next: Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed to September (thank goodness)

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AlphaZero beat humans at Chess and StarCraft, now it's working with quantum computers - The Next Web

The recent commercial AI revolution has been largely driven by deep neural networks. First invented in the 1960s, deep NNs came into their own once fueled by the combination of internet-scale datasets and distributed GPU farms.

But the field of AI is much richer than just this one type of algorithm. Symbolic reasoning algorithms such as artificial logic systems, also pioneered in the 60s, may be poised to emerge into the spotlight to some extent perhaps on their own, but also hybridized with neural networks in the form of so-called neural-symbolic systems.

Deep neural nets have done amazing things for certain tasks, such as image recognition and machine translation. However, for many more complex applications, traditional deep learning approaches cannot match the ability of hybrid architecture systems that additionally leverage other AI techniques such as probabilistic reasoning, seed ontologies, and self-reprogramming ability.

Deep neural networks, by themselves, lack strong generalization, i.e. discovering new regularities and extrapolating beyond training sets. Deep neural networks interpolate and approximate on what is already known, which is why they cannot truly be creative in the sense that humans can, though they can produce creative-looking works that vary on the data they have ingested.

This is why large training sets are required to teach deep neural networks and also why data augmentation is such an important technique for deep learning, which needs humans to specify known data transformations. Even interpolation cannot be done perfectly without learning underlying regularities, which is vividly demonstrated by well-known adversarial attacks on deep neural networks.

The slavish adherence of deep neural nets to the particulars of their training data also makes them poorly interpretable. Humans cannot completely rely or interpret their results, especially in novel situations.

What is interesting is that, for the most part, the disadvantages of deep neural nets are strengths of symbolic systems (and vice versa), which inherently possess compositionality, interpretability, and can exhibit true generalization. Prior knowledge can also be easily incorporated into symbolic systems in contrast to neural nets.

Neural net architectures are very powerful at certain types of learning, modeling, and action but have limited capability for abstraction. That is why they are compared with the Ptolemaic epicycle model of our solar system they can become more and more precise, but they need more and more parameters and data for this, and they, by themselves, cannot discover Keplers laws and incorporate them into the knowledge base, and further infer Newtons laws from them.

Symbolic AI is powerful at manipulating and modeling abstractions, but deals poorly with massive empirical data streams.

This is why we believe that deep integration of neural and symbolic AI systems is the most viable path to human-level AGI on modern computer hardware.

Its worth noting in this light that many recent deep neural net successes are actually hybrid architectures, e.g. the AlphaGo architecture from Google DeepMind integrates two neural nets with one game tree. Their recent MuZero architecture, which can master both board and Atari games, goes further along this path using deep neural nets together with planning with a learned model.

The highly successful ERNIE architecture for Natural Language Processing question-answering from Tsinghua University integrates knowledge graphs into neural networks. The symbolic sides of these particular architectures are relatively simplistic, but they can be seen as pointing in the direction of more sophisticated neural-symbolic hybrid systems.

The integration of neural and symbolic methods relies heavily on what has been the most profound revolution in AI in the last 20 years the rise of probabilistic methods: e.g. neural generative models, Bayesian inference techniques, estimation of distribution algorithms, probabilistic programming.

As an example of the emerging practical applications of probabilistic neural-symbolic methods, at the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) 2019 conference in Shenzhen last August, Hugo Latapie from Cisco Systems described work his team has done in collaboration with our AI team at SingularityNET Foundation, using the OpenCog AGI engine together with deep neural networks to analyze street scenes.

The OpenCog framework provides a neural-symbolic framework that is especially rich on the symbolic side, and interoperates with popular deep neural net frameworks. It features a combination of probabilistic logic networks (PLNs), probabilistic evolutionary program learning (MOSES), and probabilistic generative neural networks.

The traffic analytics system demonstrated by Latapie deploys OpenCog-based symbolic reasoning on top of deep neural models for street scene cameras, enabling feats such as semantic anomaly detection (flagging collisions, jaywalking, and other deviations from expectation), unsupervised scene labeling for new cameras, and single-shot transfer learning (e.g. learning about new signals for bus stops with a single example).

The difference between a pure deep neural net approach and a neural-symbolic approach in this case is stark. With deep neural nets deployed in a straightforward way, each neural network models what is seen by a single camera. Forming a holistic view of whats happening at a given intersection, let alone across a whole city, is much more of a challenge.

In the neural-symbolic architecture, the symbolic layer provides a shared ontology, so all cameras can be connected for to an integrated traffic management system. If an ambulance needs to be routed in a way that will neither encounter nor cause significant traffic, this sort of whole-scenario symbolic understanding is exactly what one needs.

The same architecture can be applied to many other related use cases where one can use neural-symbolic AI to both enrich local intelligence and connect multiple sources/locations into a holistic view for reasoning and action.

It may not be impossible to crack this particular problem using a more complex deep neural net architecture, with multiple neural nets working together in subtle ways. However, this is an example of something that is easier and more straightforward to address using a neural-symbolic approach. And it is quite close to machine vision, one of deep neural nets great strengths.

In other, more abstract application domains such as mathematical theorem-proving or biomedical discovery the critical value of the symbolic side of the neural-symbolic hybrid is even more dramatic.

Deep neural nets have done amazing things over the last few years, bringing applied AI to a whole new level. Were betting that the next phase of incredible AI achievements are going to be delivered via hybrid AI architectures such as neural-symbolic systems. This trend has already started in 2019 in a relatively quiet way and in 2020 we expect it will pick up speed dramatically.

Published January 15, 2020 09:00 UTC

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What are neural-symbolic AI methods and why will they dominate 2020? - The Next Web

If you already think you know enough to get by, you're sadly mistaken. Find out why and how to continue learning to be the successful person you'd like to be.

January 15, 2020 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The following excerpt is from Debbie Allens book Success Is Easy. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | IndieBound

If you were to survey highly successful people, youd discover they share a philosophy of being lifelong learners they continue to learn and grow. Unsuccessful people think, I already know enough to get by.

Making a commitment to lifelong learning isnt easy. Most people have a negative view of continuing education, but this works to your advantage. What others cant commit to is your opportunity. Every day you commit to learning, growingand developing yourself adds value to who you are and what you have to offer. As you increase your value, you also gain the rewards and compensation of knowledge, skillsand income. The fact is, becoming a lifelong learner is a must if you want to achieve and maintain success in our ever-changing world.

To be a successful lifelong learner, make a commitment early to expand your horizons by making room for new topics of inspiration in your life. Easy ways to start moving toward success are by reading empowering books and finding inspiring people to learn from on a daily basis.

Related: How to Make Business Decisions Faster and Better

Expanding your knowledge comes down to diving deeper into your areas of expertise. Commit to learning things that are relevant to your industry and business, and commit to sharpening timeless, applicable skills that will help you move forward every day. Learning at this level puts you in a positive state of mind and inspires you to raise your standards and increase your value as an expert.

As you continue to learn, youll also learn more about yourself and create a greater quality of life: increased earning power, more opportunities, and amazing experiences. When you commit to lifelong learning, youre creating a need to constantly improve yourself so you can gain a competitive edge in business.

Your ultimate goal should be to live a life where you see no boundaries because, with your extended knowledge, you have the options to create anything you desire.

To commit to being a lifelong learner, you must cultivate the right mindset. A lifelong learning mindset requires curiosity about the world. A curious mind wants to know more it longs for new challenges, ideasand experiences, and isnt satisfied with the status quo. When you have this mindset, you want to grow, learnand develop beyond imagination. You want to become a well-rounded, better version of yourself.

The lifelong learner mindset is always open to new possibilities, and you come to understand that the only way to reach your ultimate success potential is to be open to anything that comes your way and be willing to explore everything.

This mindset also allows you to approach life from a place of gratitude, where nothing is taken for granted. Every bit of knowledge youve learned is appreciated and respected because you understand that over time it will help transform your perspective on life.

This process of lifelong learning isnt just about reading lots of books to gather information. Its also about taking the information you acquire and putting it into practice.

We all have weaknesses in our personal lives that we can improve on. And since our personal life has a tendency to spill out onto the rest of our life, including our business relationships, its important to become a lifelong learner in your personal development, too.

Ive had to work through weak areas of my personal life and implement the lessons I learned along the way. In fact, it never stops. I continue to work on my personal development and growth to this day.

Related: The 5 Things You Should Really Be Focusing on If You Want a Successful Business

When you want to learn a new skill, do you go off by yourself and try to figure it out, or do you find someone to show you how so you learn faster? Shared thinking returns greater value than solo thinking because when you learn from others, its much easier than trying to work things out on your own and it yields a higher return on your investment of time.

The compounding action of shared thinking with successful people moves your knowledge forward faster and easier. Ive discovered that the more I respect the wisdom of others, the more I listen and learn. For example, when Im being mentored by someone, I allow that person to do most of the talking so I can learn from them. When Im mentoring a client, on the other hand, I ask them a few questions and expect to do most of the talking, so the client can learn from me. In shared business relationships, its more of a give-and-take conversation between equals.

Even beyond the immediate need to solve a particular problem, listening to how others approach business or their personal lives can flip a switch in your thinking, leading to a breakthrough or a new insight. When youre excited to learn more, you do more, and work becomes more like play!

Knowledge allows you to master success again and again (both personally and professionally) when you develop the skills and the tools to continually win in business. Thats what makes success easy!

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How Becoming a Lifelong Learner Is a Must If You Want to Achieve and Maintain Success - Entrepreneur

Although they are uncommon, personal bills allow legislators a small window to get a bill printed without a committee hearing. Why do legislators use them?

For an idea to become a law, it takes a lot of steps.

Those steps have proven over the years to be very difficult for some ideas to clear, just getting a bill printed and taken into a committee can be a challenge.

There is a way, however, for legislators to skip over that first step.

Senator Maryanne Jordan along with other legislators have had almost no success on efforts to pass "Add the Words" legislation over the past decade.

The bill would add the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the Idaho Human Rights Act," Jordan explained. "There are people in Idaho right now who can legally be discriminated against in housing, employment, and public accommodation, and we are trying to make that right."

Getting traction on the "Add the Words" legislation has been a challenge over the years, it has only been taken into a committee one time, where it died.

So this time around Jordan is taking a new approach called a personal bill.

"What it does is it lets you have a bill number assigned to the bill, this is 1226 for 'Add the Words,' and it puts the bill automatically on the list of bills that are before the Legislature," Jordan said.

Normally, legislators need to go through a hearing process in a committee to have their draft printed as a bill. Personal bills skip that step.

"They are an opportunity to discuss issues that may not otherwise be discussed in the Legislature," Jordan said. "I did it because I'm not willing to let this issue sit on the shelf and just be ignored, it's too important to too many people."

Senator Grant Burgoyne has also gone the personal bill route with his idea to decriminalize drug use in private places.

"We've got to get on top of these issues, it's a matter of life and death," Burgoyne said.

Like Jordan, Burgoyne is hoping to start a conversation with his bill.

"Sometimes they do, sometimes they get traction and sometimes they spark the discussion that leads to an entirely different type of legislation that addresses and solves the problem," Burgoyne said.

There is only a limited amount of time at the beginning of the legislative session though for legislators to put together personal bills.

Senators have until this Friday to submit personal bills; Members of the House of Representatives have until next Friday.

Jordan hopes as a personal bill "Add the Words" will have better success.

"The importance of this is to keep this issue on the front burner because it is important to a lot people," Jordan said.

Personal bills are fairly uncommon. So far in the 2020 legislative session there are two personal bills, 2019 had one, and 2018 had two.

Read more:
Lawmakers use personal bills to get issues discussed in the Idaho Legislature - KTVB.com

There's a direct relationship between hard work and business growth.

January 16, 2020 2 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Ask yourself, "What do I enjoy about what Ido?"

If you can't think of an answer, you may be contemplating the wrong aspects of your career. Evaluate your mindset to see if you're concentrated on the everyday routine at your job instead of the larger outcome of your professional goals.

In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Mike Phillips discusses how hard work leads to some incredible benefits. It can be especially noticeable when concentrated on a specific goal,since whatever you focus on will help you get the most out of it. A willingness to work hardwill lead to higher personal confidenceand higher morale for your team.

Click on the video to hear more from Mike Phillips.

Related:How to Establish Personal Accountability at Every Level of Your Business

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EN is partnered with hundreds of topYouTube channelsin the business vertical. Watch video from our network partners ondemand onRoku,Apple TVand the Entrepreneur App available oniOSandAndroiddevices.

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Why Hard Work Really Does Open Doors to Success - Entrepreneur

The job search process can be competitive. But theres one thing that can help you stand out from the crowd: your personal brand.

Your personal brand is a way to market yourself. It defines how you present and promote yourself to others. This is the message that helps potential employers and colleagues form their impression of you, and helps them remember who you are. As you prepare for life after graduation, here are some tips for establishing your personal brand this semester.

One way to build your personal brand is by connecting who you are to your career goals. First, reflect on some of your successes at CU. What strengths did you apply that helped your success? What tasks did you enjoy? What were you most proud of?

For example, maybe you took the lead on a group project that helped you ace a class. Think about the steps you took that helped you succeed. Did you organize group study sessions for everyone to work together and get things done, showing that you can lead a group? Did you help resolve a disagreement between your peers that demonstrates your ability to navigate different opinions? Consider each experience and how it might relate to your personal brand.

Next, think about your values and goals. How do you want to be perceived by your peers? What can you contribute to a team or company? Maybe its important to you that youre seen as reliable or dependable by your teammates. Perhaps you want to be seen as a leader, or someone who can make important decisions. As you reflect and answer these questions, take note of these specific qualities. Your experiences and past success can help demonstrate these qualities to potential employers, and help shape your personal brand. If its more helpful to talk this out with someone, make an appointment with a career development advisor.

Once you have an idea of your personal brand, dont be afraid to promote it consistently in your job search efforts. As you become visible to others, your message and brand will help them see what you offer.

Start by creating online profiles using job search and networking tools, such as LinkedIn and Handshake. Strategically design and present your brand on your profiles:

Get more tips about establishing your online presence.

Next, connect with professionals in your field of interest through informational interviews. These are informal meetings with career professionals to learn more about what its like to work in a particular position or industry and how to get into the field. These meetings can help you build your network and help influence your personal brand. Start bymaking connections with CU Boulder alumni on LinkedIn.

Continue to communicate your message and brand on your application materials, such as your resume and cover letter. Make sure that you highlight your strengths that are directly applicable to the job you want. Help your resume stand out by including relevant experiences or class projects, skills and the value that you can contribute to the team. This can include volunteering, internships, roles and responsibilities in your student organization, etc.

Be sure to present yourself professionally, including what you choose to wear. This doesnt always mean show up in a suit, but it does mean making sure the clothes you wear reflect the job you want and the brand you want to communicate. Presenting yourself in a professional and respectful way can help you stand out from other candidates. If you arent quite sure how professionals dress in the field youre interested in, consider job shadowing or asking in an informational interview.

As we network and go through the job search process, some of us may feel like we need to put on an act to meet someones expectations. Its normal to feel this way. As you develop your brand, think about how you can be yourself. You can be humble while also being proud of your accomplishments. State your message clearly, honestly and definitively, and with a tone that reflects your brand (enthusiastic, smart, passionate, etc.). Your personal brand is all about you, and the way you present it is up to you.

For more tips and advice with developing your personal brand, make an appointment with a career development advisor.

Link:
How to stand out during the job search - CU Boulder Today

Kyle Reeves has been on the brink of a breakout game for Niwot all season, and when it finally came in the Cougars' 63-40 win over Northridge on January 7, the talented guard didn't hesitate to reveal the family secret behind his success.

"I was actually playing for my grandmother," the senior said of his 19-point, five-steal performance, both bests as a Cougar. "She's a big part of my life, and I dedicated the game to her. She's taught me so much, and she's just my everything."

Reeves has enjoyed a close relationship with grandmother since early childhood, which he spent growing up in Niwot, but it was another influential family tie that led Reeves to basketball, his other great passion in life.

"My dad played college ball, and I just wanted to keep my father's legacy going, and make it as far as I can," he said. "I tried baseball, soccer, and football, but basketball was really the one that stayed on top. It's in my blood."

That's evident in Reeves' intensity on the court, where he is turning heads as a senior guard for the Cougars, despite being plagued by inconsistency during the early weeks of the season. Over his last three games, he has averaged 13 points while shooting 54 percent from the floor (13-for-24) and 80% from the line (8-of-10). He has also provided a spark on defense, with 10 steals and 12 deflections.

First-year head coach Clay Wittrock said that the senior's "willingness to embrace the changes in offensive and defensive philosophy," is a key factor in Niwot's 7-4 record on the year, even if it had come at the expense of some personal success.

"He has had to make adjustments to his game to be more effective. This is something that can be hard for a player when they have developed a style of play. It is great to see how he has taken some early season struggles and is now using those lessons to be a more consistent contributor on both ends of the floor."

In addition to his father, Reeves counts NBA superstars Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook as his basketball role models, the latter for his "transition and athleticism," and the former for his hard work and positive mentality, two traits Reeves said he does his best to model on an off the court.

"It's always keeping positive, always inspiring others to do good things-aim to show that there are no shortcuts in hard work. You always have to work hard to get what you want, and always believe."

That positivity has helped him gain a reputation for kindness among his fellow students at Niwot High, a tribute the modest senior was reluctant to accept.

"I just do what I think is right, and I also try to put myself into another person's perspective-I always try to treat others the way I want to be treated."

Reeves is a member of Niwot's Link Crew and also participated in the Sources of Strength program. On Jan. 9, he was one of four current students to participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the school's recent renovations.

The senior hopes to continue his basketball career in college, but doesn't have any firm offers on the table as yet. He is currently debating between Otero Junior College in La Junta and Humboldt State in California, and is interested in studying botany and horticulture, another inspiration from his grandmother.

"I really want to focus on reforestation and faster ways to regrow plants more naturally... Throughout elementary and middle school, I would take care of as many plants as I could, some being at my grandparents' house, and some being at my house. One specific plant that played a big role in my life is the Venus flytrap."

Reeves also credited Niwot teacher Kane Hollins for fostering his future career ambitions, even if it was indirectly

"He knows how to teach, and he doesn't sugarcoat anything-if you have a question, he'll tell you the reality of it, and why it might happen. He actually speaks to you, not at you."

In the meantime, Reeves is looking forward to finishing his senior basketball season with the teammates that have meant so much to him over the years.

"The main seven seniors on varsity, we've all been playing ball together roughly on the same team since middle school," he said. "So we've had that bond from knowing each other for a long time. We feel more comfortable playing around each other, and that will help us out for the rest of the year."

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Student-Athlete of the Week: Kyle Reeves - Left Hand Valley Courier

The hottest jobs in 2020 lean heavily on science and technology, but if that's not the career path you're on, there's still one thing you can do to guarantee success in your field.

If you're thinking about looking for a new job or changing career paths, 2020 could be a really good year for you. There are big opportunities opening up in science, technology, and math fields and we're highlighting some of the hottest jobs to get you a little further down the road toward your goals.

The New York Post pointed out something interesting recently and said employers this year are looking at potential hires differently. In the article highlighting the hottest jobs, the Post said things have changed and, "While you still have to have the basics, whats most important is that you are coachable, open to learning and able to work as part of a team.

If we're flexible, able to adapt, and good at finding ways to contribute to a team, that always bodes well, but especially if we want good career things to happen in 2020.

The Hottest Jobs in 2020, according to the New York Post

Artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Employers are looking forhumans who know how to "apply machine learning to catch bad financial transactions, prevent hospital readmissions or tell sales reps which lead is worth chasing." There's no AI degree at Boise State, but employers might be looking for "backgrounds in engineering, computer science or math, and for people who have a keen interest in natural language processing, machine learning, chatbots and more."

Cybersecurity pro There is huge demand in this field and employers are scrambling to find enough people to fill open positions.A college degree may not be necessary, but a vast knowledge of computer viruses and hacker tendencies will be.

Silicon Alley worker This involves moving, but it could put your career on the map. New Yorkis home to as many as 9,000 startups and it's the headquarters for thousands of big companies too. Amazon is setting up shop there and it's looking to hire technical and nontechnical workers, ranging from developers to accountants to digital marketers and salespeople.

Robotics engineer Theres a 40 percent job-growth rate in robotics engineering, and robots that willmake a pizza, conduct a surgery, or paint a carare in the works. You'll need a background in math or physics and degrees in mechanical or software engineering.

Customer success specialists If technology and science aren't your forte, thiscareercould be a little more attainable. Customer success specialistsusually get involved after a product or service has been sold to check on the user experience, educate clients, and to identify opportunities for add-on sales.

Computer, cloud and data engineers and coders The Post says, "Developers write the apps you use, data scientists create algorithms to predict your music picks, cloud engineers make sure that you can access files stored on the Web." This is an area that shows no signs of slowing down, and sometimes you can train right there on the web for free.

The curious types who are always looking to learn something new and who stay coachable will have the most success on any of these career paths. That's the secret. And it's something we can all apply whether it's in a brand new position or in a job that we've had for years. Have a great year, and thanks for listening at work!

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The Key To Career Success in 2020 - KIDO Talk Radio