OBSOLETE PAGE
My research stems from the desire to understand animal thought as a network of repeated forms, as the brain is made of the repeated forms of nerves or mini columns. The approach used is constructive -- to define a set of atomic forms and show how they can learn. Each of the atomic forms chosen can represent one fact about the world, which at any moment may be either true or false, and/or may be wanted or not.
The research seeks to build up larger and larger machines, with greater and greater capabilities. The first phase is to define appropriate mechanisms, the second step is to refine these mechanisms with computer simulation, and the third step is to locate the sweet spots from which the emergent properties of animal thought arise. As of June 2015, several sweet spots have been identified. One of them is the ability of these mechanism to perform what Piaget calls assimilation.