
Richard Feynman Computer Heuristics Lecture - ulam2
http://inside-bigdata.com/2014/03/23/richard-feynman-computer-heuristics-lecture/
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doktrin
This is a classic lecture that only spurs me to learn more about Feynman's
work.

What struck me last time I watched this, was Feynman citing computer aided
medical diagnosis as low-hanging-fruit - a problem just _waiting_ to be
tackled. It's sobering to consider this lecture is now almost 30 years old.

~~~
keithflower
Here's a little discussion about some of the issues in computer-aided
diagnosis:

 _Historical attempts at decision support include Mycin for diagnosing
infectious blood diseases, which contained assertions and rules in the form if
IF-THEN clauses:_

    
    
        IF
           the site of the culture is blood, AND the organism gram +, AND
           the original infectious site was the GI tract, AND
           the abdomen is the locus of infection, OR
           the pelvis is the locus of infection
        THEN
           therapy should cover Enterobacteriaceae
    

_Rules structured in this manner are brittle, and don’t use unification. Such
a system, for example, would not robustly provide answers to queries for all
flora that would be likely found in a pelvic infection. The narrow domains and
lack of some of what we might call “common sense” knowledge can be
problematic: H.R. Ekbia [1] humorously notes that querying a medical inference
engine for suggestions on what could be causing the reddish-brown spots on the
chassis and body of your Jeep, you’d get “measles”. Another medical support
program, asked to suggest treatment for bacterial infection in the kidney,
suggested boiling the kidney in hot water._

[http://apps.keithflower.org/?p=238](http://apps.keithflower.org/?p=238)

~~~
Houshalter
> _Another medical support program, asked to suggest treatment for bacterial
> infection in the kidney, suggested boiling the kidney in hot water._

Well, it would get rid of the bacteria.

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pervycreeper
Does anybody know the context in which this lecture was given? It looks like
some kind of spa or new-age retreat to me.

~~~
keithflower
Probably it was given at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California, where
Feynman regularly gave lectures:

[http://books.google.com/books?id=j42RD66g72oC&pg=PT384&lpg=P...](http://books.google.com/books?id=j42RD66g72oC&pg=PT384&lpg=PT384&dq=richard+feynman+esalen+institute&source=bl&ots=fCtf90wL2p&sig=X-KBbC1fvtm5pA2BcAH63i-1qzo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C0gwU9mVB9L5oASxyIKoBA&ved=0CCcQ6AEwATgK)

