Hi to Steemit Community

Hello there Steemit,

My name is Eray Özkural, I'm a computer scientist from Istanbul, Turkey.

I have a deep, life-long interest in artificial intelligence. I have written my PhD thesis on the subject of parallel data mining. I am also a philosopher advancing a new form of positivism, and digital philosophy. My research interests include artificial intelligence, artificial general intelligence, algorithmic information theory, machine learning, data mining, cognitive architectures, theoretical neuroscience, parallel computing, compiler design, computer architecture, computer graphics, philosophy of mind,science, mathematics, language, and digital physics. You can find some of my publications here. I received the Kurzweil Best AGI Idea Prize in 2015 for my theoretical work on general-purpose machine learning that closed an important loophole in the foundations of universal induction theory, strengthening our conviction that a general-purpose AI based on this particular theory, is indeed possible. Briefly, my papers on the foundations argue that choosing a physical computer model refutes existing objections to induction theory, that some researchers still mistakenly view as barriers to general learning, such as the no-free lunch theorem (both my paper and NFL cannot simultaneously apply to machine learning), and a few other similar arguments that oppose inductive inference by imagining physically implausible scenarios.

I have invented Heuristic Algorithmic Memory, which is a long-term memory system for Artificial General Intelligence. It solves one of three grand AI challenges that the founder of algorithmic information theory and inventor of universal induction Ray Solomonoff formulated. Some other researchers have been inspired by my work and call the approach "Bayesian Program Learning", you might have seen it in the news, I think the general approach might turn out to be the next revolution in AI after "deep learning", because without cumulative learning the intelligence level of a machine learning is severely restricted, I showed we should expect remarkable speedups for general-purpose machine learning applications. I have designed an AGI platform called examachine for scientific and engineering tasks which addresses the AI challenges laid out by Solomonoff and extends his designs for an extremely powerful AI system. I have invented an FPGA virtualization scheme for Global Supercomputing, Inc. which was developed much further by colleagues and internationally patented. I have also invented a new energy based cryptocurrency, as well as a new blockchain alternative, which can drive green energy proliferation.

I am a transhumanist with positivist, social, democratic, ultra-progressive views. I write articles for Humanity+ magazine from time to time. I founded AI Philosophy mailing list with Marvin Minsky and many AI enthusiasts in year 2000 as a continuation of comp.ai.philosophy, it is one of the older online communities about AI. The later facebook group is an extension of the same community. I am also a moderator of the popular Artificial Intelligence community on google+ (200K members). I coined the term scientific transhumanism to denote my particular, positivist approach to transhumanism. I think that we can improve man in every conceivable way. I strive to make mankind not just smarter, stronger, faster, and living longer, but also better. I also think that it is possible to transcend the fragile flesh that severely limits our existence.

I try to lead a life of contemplation, but I reject a humorless existence. I follow my passions, wherever it may lead to. Admittedly, life would be boring without any joy and escapades. Without art, the world would be less beautiful, without adventure, we would have been stuck in a loop.

I am a humble amateur musician and a vocalist, and I have an industrial project called Malfunct, aka its Turkish version ARIZA. We have only released some of our older material and some demos from 2nd and 3rd albums yet, but we have given many concerts and I have a few albums' worth of material I will be churning out in the coming years. I miss making music so much, it's been my greatest passion for years. Since when I started having too little time for music due to other involvements, I have been feeling like I lack an essential part of myself.

I have contributed to free software whenever I had the time. I am the lead author of a cool package manager called pisi which was the crown jewel of the pardus linux distribution, and I received an award from LKD (Turkish Linux Users Association) for it ; I wrote most of it, save for the build commands, about 85-90%. I have contributed to KDE music player and gideon projects, and released some projects of my own. I am proficient in a large number of programming languages (17+). I prefer ocaml, python, and R for most of my software development.

I used to be a demo scene coder. I am exa/Bronx, part of the Turkish Amiga demo scene group. I learnt programming the hard way, hacking assembly on my own. I did not have a computer graphics textbook, so I invented 3d computer graphics on my own, based on the 2d trigonometry we learnt at high-school when I was 16. I wrote some of my best codes on the Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200, I developed advanced assembly optimization methods on my own and wrote a small OS for my demos, without any guidance, only reading and writing code and using standard Amiga OS manuals. I still love my Amiga!

Please follow my posts on Steemit if you would like to read my sporadic, but thoughtful essays on AI and transhumanism mostly. I am hoping to bring the more varied and provocative posts on the dreadful Facebook on a wider range of subjects to Steemit, and I am hoping to start an exodus of AI community to Steemit. I am going to revise and repost some of my older essays on my blog, and I'm hoping to contribute a good deal of AI related content.

Onwards to the future!

Eray