Grand Challenge: Memories for Life: Grand Challenge: Memories for Life Nigel Shadbolt and Wendy Hall The University of Southampton


And Where is Wendy Hall?: And Where is Wendy Hall?


Structure: Structure What is a Grand Challenge? History of the M4L GC The phenomena of memory The science of memory The technology of memory Application Opportunities Issues Ethical Funding Collaboration


What is a Grand Challenge?: What is a Grand Challenge? Revolutionary shift in thinking or practice Enthusiastic support from scientific communities Appeals to the public imagination A clear criterion for success or failure Long term benefits to science, industry, society International scope Interdisciplinary, collaborative research Examplars…


Grand Challenges: Grand Challenges Put a man on the moon within a decade Map the human genome Build a computer to beat the world chess champion


Memories for Life Grand Challenge: Memories for Life Grand Challenge Part of the UKCRC/EPSRC sponsored Grand Challenges for Computer Science Research – November 2002 Workshop Surfaced as a topic again during the Foresight Cognitive Systems Workshops Submitted a proposal to hold a planning event to Foresight – held London mid August Why the interest?


Memories are Compelling: Memories are Compelling We are quite literally our memories They are both personal and social They exist in all modalities Pervasive and central in all walks of life What is your first memory? Do you remember you first day at school? Do you remember the first time you hurt your sibling? Are they real or constructed? Are they lost, diminished or overlaid?


Wendy’s Life Bits: Wendy’s Life Bits


Memories: Shared and Private: Memories: Shared and Private Certain events as memories evoke time and place with exquisite clarity


The scale of evocation: The scale of evocation Some are global flash bulb memories others are national and many are personal


Memories and Science Fiction: Memories and Science Fiction


The Science of Memory: The Science of Memory Memory – recognition of multiple systems Working and Short Term Memory Multi–component; e.g auditory/verbal STM, visual/spatial LTM Long Term Memory Episodic When did you last ride a bicycle? Semantic What is a bicycle? Procedural How do you ride a bicycle? Recognition Is this a bicycle? Value Phobic to bicycles?


The Psychology of Memory: Exemplar Differences: The Psychology of Memory: Exemplar Differences Episodic Memory: Reference is to oneself Organised temporally Events remembered 'consciously' Susceptible to forgetting Context dependent Semantic Memory: Reference is with respect to general knowledge Not organised temporally Events are 'known' Relatively permanent Context independent


Shacter’s Seven “Sins” of Memory: Shacter’s Seven 'Sins' of Memory


The Locus of Memory: The Locus of Memory


Mechanisms for Memory: LTP: Mechanisms for Memory: LTP


Memories and Plasticity: Memories and Plasticity Neurons send out axons to synapse with targets Once established targets supply neurotrophic (NT) factors These factors are essential to the continued survival of innervating neurons If a neuron receives too little factor it dies Target innervation and neuronal elimination are adaptive mechanisms


Model of Plasticity: Model of Plasticity Applied in silico to development of a variety of cortical maps Assumption – time average uptake of NTF by i from x determines the number of synapses projected by i to x T. Elliott and N.R. Shadbolt. Developmental robotics: Manifesto and application.' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A. In the press.


Koala Experiments: Koala Experiments


Memories for Life: The Dix Measure: Memories for Life: The Dix Measure 70 years ~ 25,550 days, 613,00 hours, 2.2x109 secs 100 kbits/sec for audio/video 27.5 terabytes for a life 343 80 gigabyte hard drives 2 years ~ 60 million seconds of data ~ 6 hard drives 2073 storage capacity could have doubled 47 times Capacities could have increased 12 orders of magnitude Your life on a grain of sand!


Memories for Life: The Computing Power: Memories for Life: The Computing Power


Memories for Life: The Hardware: Memories for Life: The Hardware Fujitsu - .8 inch 80 gigabyte hard drive Video cameras Video transmitter Complete PC Other modalities e.g smell


Memories for Life: The Computer Science: Memories for Life: The Computer Science Database Systems Security Operating Systems and Versioning, Persistence of format, re-represenations Artificial Intelligence Human Computer Interaction Visualisation and Virtual Reality


Memories for Life and Information Overload: Memories for Life and Information Overload We are drowning in information and starving for knowledge Infosmog: The condition of having too much information to be able to take effective action or make an informed decision The deluge of data is overwhelming


Ontologies: Shared Conceptualisations: Ontologies: Shared Conceptualisations


Automatic Annotation: Automatic Annotation Associating meta-data with content Large-scale annotation of natural language texts, images, streaming media


Narrative Generation: Narrative Generation Using NLP, structure generating and linking techniques to build narratives


Associative Linking: Associative Linking Supporting multiple context or associative indexes into content


Web and Grid Services: Web and Grid Services Seamless access to computationally intensive services – image registration, annotation, classification…


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The Perfect Storm: The Perfect Storm Convergence of at least three disciplines Neuroscience and psychology Device engineering Computer Science Potential to create a truly remarkable range of applications


Memories for Life: Application Contexts: Memories for Life: Application Contexts Multimedia Searching Large Scale Experience Repositories (e.g Big Brother, early child interactions….) Continuous health record Stories from a Life Intelligent Mathematics Tutor Memory support in Elder Care Virtual Memories


Lest we forget: Lest we forget The the nature and role of forgetting in natural and artificial systems The desirability of post-mortem memories The way in which these memory prostheses and the externalisation of memory will change social practice Memory is a social and cultural construct


Other efforts: Other efforts Xanadu – Ted Nelson MyLifeBits – Gordon Bell@Microsoft LifeLog – DARPA


Ethical Issues: Ethical Issues Ethical Privacy Trust


Future Events: Future Events M4L London August 20th IAC Bristol Follow up workshop primarily life science based CS early 2004 Primarily CS workshop at March BCS Grand Challenges in Computing 04 Newcastle End of 2004 CS and Life Science International Workshop


Summary: Summary This is a compelling Grand Challenge We have enthusiastic engagement of researchers and Learned Societies - BCS/IEE/BNA/EPS Like to seek RCUK funding for network support Support for large scale experience repositories All communities stand to gain Common problem space – fundamental science etc Richness/availability of data, technology and methods will support/mediate interaction Ethical and social issues must be considered