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Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned — Kenneth Stanley

Machine Learning Street Talk · interview · Watch on YouTube

Machine learning & deep learningAI & data (other)Scientific method & science communication

What it is

A long Machine Learning Street Talk interview with Kenneth Stanley, creator of NEAT and novelty search, about his book on why greatness cannot be planned. They discuss open-endedness, the tyranny of objectives, serendipity and the evolution of ideas.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended to people who find it inspiring or perspective-changing on pursuing goals, open-ended search and AI beyond optimization.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “I found this video about open endedness (contrasting evolution vs optimization) in the brain and AI very inspiring”

    Open-endedness in brain and AI, contrasting evolution with optimization

    visarga, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Is the Brain a Computer or an Antenna?”

  2. “It really changed my perspective on achieving my long term goals”

    Changed commenter's perspective on achieving long-term goals

    ZephyrBlu, 2021-05 · Strong recommendation · in “NNCP: Lossless Data Compression with Neural Networks (2019)”

  3. “Stanley addresses some strong and subtle criticisms here”

    Very long interview where Stanley addresses criticisms of his idea

    bvsrinivasan, 2021-04 · Recommendation · in “Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)”

  4. “Here are some excellent long-form podcast interviews with Stanley on MLST”

    Excellent long-form MLST interview with Stanley

    mikhailfranco, 2024-03 · Recommendation · in “Abandoning Objectives: Evolution with the Search for Novelty Alone (2011) [pdf]”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: kenneth stanley, novelty search, objectives, neuroevolution, serendipity

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