Lotfi Zadeh and Fuzzy Logic

 I note the post about Lotfi Zaheh and the connection to fuzzy logic, from the Language Log.  Just featured in the Google Doodle.  We used some of his methods to implement 'fuzzy logic' for AI implementations.  Worth reexamining. 

Lofti Zadeh and the Z transform  from Language Log

December 1, 2021 @ 9:32 am · Filed by Mark Liberman under Research tools

The Google Doodle for November 30 featured Lofti Zadeh.

The Doodles page explains that:

Today’s Doodle celebrates world-renowned Azerbaijani-American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and professor, Lotfi Zadeh. On this day in 1964, Zadeh submitted “Fuzzy Sets,” a groundbreaking paper that introduced the world to his innovative mathematical framework called “fuzzy logic.”

You can learn more about this contribution from the Wikipedia page on Fuzzy Mathematics. What I learned, from reading the Other Contributions section of Zadeh's Wikipedia page, was his role in the invention (discovery?) of the z-transform.

In my lecture notes on the z transform, 20-odd years ago, I wrote:

The z transform is unusual, in being named after a letter of the alphabet rather than a famous mathematician. The Fourier transform is named after Baron Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830); the Walsh-Hadamard transform is named after J.L. Walsh (1895-1973) and Jacques Salomon Hadamard (1865-1963); we haven't discussed the Laplace and Hilbert transforms yet, but we will (at least briefly), and they are named after Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749-1827) and David Hilbert (1862-1943) respectively.

Laplace transforms have long been used in solving (continuous-time) linear constant-coefficient differential equations.  ..... '

Fuzzy Algorithms for Selection

Interesting, especially with regard to fuzzy methods of classification ... Looking to see the details on this.   A way to produce a selection classification alternative.  Especially useful if the results can be simulated afterwards, maybe in some fuzzy way?

A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Software Finds the Best Way to Stick a Mars Landing   MIT News  By Jennifer Chu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed software that could inform the selection of landing sites for scientific expeditions to Mars. The tool automatically generates maps of favorable sites based on available geology and terrain data, along with a list of scientific priorities and engineering limitations that users specify. MIT's Victor Pankratius and Guillaume Rongier created the software, and found it identified Mars landing sites that have been considered in the past, as well as highlighting other promising sites that were seldom suggested. The program depends on a probability-based, non-binary fuzzy logic scheme, and the team employs related algorithms to plot out initial favorability maps of possible sites gridded into individual cells. For each cell, the software calculates the probability that the site is favorable, producing a color-graded map and then applying a fast marching algorithm to chart paths a rover can take over a given terrain after landing. .... " 

An Algebra of Data

Had not heard of this,  or yet understand it.  But most data you mine in realistic domains does not have exact values, so isn't this more about data fuzzy logic?  Skeptical about what is claimed here.  " ... The Algebra of Data Promises a Better Math for Analytics, And More ... A company by the name of Algebraix Data is beginning to speak publicly for the first time about the algebra of data, an approach to storing and accessing data that it devised and patented. The company is using its data algebra now to provide big data analytics services to clients, but the uses could be much more far-reaching, including a universal language. ... " 

Teaching Robots Social Skills

Akin to common sense, a tough challenge.   Specifically using the normally intensely numerical approaches of machine learning is particularly interesting.  An application for more fuzzy logic?

IBM Wants Watson to Teach Robots Some Social Skills
Because language is only part of human communication, IBM is using machine learning to teach robots social skills like gestures, eye movements, and voice intonations.   .... "  

" ..... During a keynote speech at a conference held in San Jose, California, this week, Robert High, chief technology officer of Watson at IBM, demonstrated some of the techniques his team is working on using a small humanoid robot. The robot, a Nao model from the company Alderbaran, spoke with  ...  "

New Social Sciences

In the Edge:   I was brought up in the hard sciences, so was always skeptical of how the fuzzy social sciences could be quantified in a meaningful way.  But as I was involved in more laboratory looks at shopper behavior, I started to understand it could be done, but with different kinds of expectations.  This post and video does not deal with the kind of work I was ever involved in, but it gives clues to where we are going.

Nicholas A. Christakis is a Physician and Social Scientist, Harvard University; Coauthor (with James Fowler) of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.

Everything is Still Measurable

A recent conversation that dealt with how to establish the measurable aspects of a difficult process improvement problem led me to think once again about the book: How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business, by Douglas W Hubbard. ...   “Anything can be measured. If a thing can be observed in any way at all, it lends itself to some type of measurement method. No matter how “fuzzy” the measurement is, it’s still a measurement if it tells you more than you knew before. And those very things most likely to be seen as immeasurable are, virtually always, solved by relatively simple measurement methods.”.     See the book's site for more.

The Big Idea of Associative Intelligence

What is the big idea of Associative intelligence?  In a back of the envelope exploration, Saffron Tech presents the idea.  It is an important one.  How do we save and retrieve the kind of fuzzy intelligence we use so successfully every day? Your data represents your experience.  Big data equals big experience, so why not use it?

When are Tweets Worthy of Your Time?

I started using Twitter about four years ago, dubbing it an 'experiment'.  I continue to use Twitter, in part because some clients and colleagues use it, and in part because it is an easy way to quickly market  my own work.  Clients who have decided to implement 'social' methods internally are working with tweeting as well.  But how can you make if truly effective, without getting all your work lost in the stream ... which is increasingly a deluge?   Some thoughts in Information Management.    Is there a true or even fuzzy ROI here?

Fuzzy Look up In Excel

Something I could have used a long time ago, an add-in that does fuzzy look up in Excel.  Thanks.

Artificial Intelligence Needs a Reboot?

I am inclined to agree, having worked in practical application of its ideas from the  late 70s through the 80s.  It needs to be fundamentally re-thought.  Formal logic and even huge sets of fuzzy rules are not sufficient except for the narrowest kinds of problems.  A panel discussion by some of the founders weighs in.

Fuzzy Hashing Finds Spam and More

Finding spam using fuzzy hashing and other uses. " ... 'Fuzzy hashing' was invented to flag spam emails, but has found application in everything from malware detection to genome sequence alignment .... "

Metadata Management

From TDWI: Cost Justification for Metadata Management.

" ... Pinning a dollar value or other metric to metadata’s contribution is problematic—but it can be done. Even when the metric is fuzzy, metadata’s influence on IT and business success is evident. And you need metrics to provide a credible business case that justifies further investment in metadata management.

This TDWI Checklist Report explains how to provide justification for time and money invested in metadata management solutions. The report points out a few ways to quantify metadata’s contribution to IT projects and business initiatives. It also discusses numerous benefits and how they further justify the development of a modern metadata management solution ... "

Signals in Human Scent

New Scientist article on pheromones in humans. The whole aspect of people reacting unconsciously to pheromones has been ignored for many years as part of the nature-nurture dominance swing ...

" ... ever had a feeling come over you that you just can't explain? Like suddenly getting all warm and fuzzy when you meet someone for the first time, while somebody else who looks just as good leaves you cold? Or experiencing a sudden pang of fear on a plane even though you're totally at ease with flying?

These seemingly unrelated and illogical human reactions may have a reasonable explanation after all, although one that not everyone will be happy to hear. They may be reactions to other people's pheromones ...