Kenneth O. Stanley

Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated -- and nearly everything in-between -- our society has become obsessed with a seductive that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned , Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the objective obsession has gone too far. They make the case that great achievement can't be bottled up into mechanical metrics; that innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort; and that we would be wiser (and the outcomes better) if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.

MIT Press Journal Article on Neural NetworksAbstractAn important question in neuroevolution is how to gain an advantage from evolvingneural network topologies along with weights. We present a method, NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT), which outperforms the best fixed-topologymethod on a challenging benchmark reinforcement learning task. We claim that theincreased efficiency is due to (1) employing a principled method of crossover of different topologies, (2) protecting structural innovation using speciation, and (3) incrementally growing from minimal structure. We test this claim through a series of ablationstudies that demonstrate that each component is necessary to the system as a wholeand to each other. What results is significantly faster learning. NEAT is also an important contribution to GAs because it shows how it is possible for evolution to bothoptimize and complexify solutions simultaneously, offering the possibility of evolvingincreasingly complex solutions over generations, and strengthening the analogy withbiological evolution.

Please This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book #1 The purpose of objectives is to measure our progress towards specific goals set by society or by ourselves. We rarely consider how deeply our culture has come to revere objectives, and how much effort and resources are spent measuring progress towards them.#2 The weight of objectives on our thinking is so great that it has even impacted the way we talk about animals in nature. We view animals through the lens of survival and reproduction, evolution’s assumed objective. But this can-do philosophy is so optimistic about objectives that it limits our freedom and robs us of the chance for playful discovery.#3 The problem with objectives is that they take away your freedom to explore creatively and block you from serendipitous discovery. They ignore the value of following a path for its own uniqueness rather than where it may lead.#4 The pursuit of an objective is not always clear, and it is often accompanied by the need for progress towards the objective to be measured. This is where all the measurements and metrics of our culture come into play.