[Noisebridge-discuss] I am interested in starting an optimization group at noisebridge (BetterBridge? TrollSearch?)

[Mike Schachter]

Thanks for the kind words towards the group!

Totally understood about wanting to be project-focused,
the ML group is occasionally guilty of being pretty teachy
and not as much do-y, mostly through the fault of myself.
We are moving towards being more workshop oriented though.

Regardless, your presence is welcome and if you came in and
spent all your time on the optimization project, it would only
help, not hurt or hijack!

Like I mentioned we have nothing planned for this Wednesday,
you're still welcome to come in and talk to whoever shows up
about your project, to get people interested and get it started.
Feel free to join the ml mailing list and cross-post your efforts
as well, I'm sure there are alot of people interested.

  mike



On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com> wrote:
> The ML group seems to have grown up quite a bit since the last time I paid
> attention; and I think I should start participating; as the page lists many
> things I'd like to learn and play with.
> I am specifically suggesting a group-project oriented group; rather than a
> research group or class. Something that would yield finished projects;
> something where we collaborate on a common code base and problem set, beat
> it to death, publish it (5mof?); and move on to the next one.
> There are many applications of metaheuristic search outside machine
> learning; and I don't want to hijack a group which looks healthy.
> On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM, Mike Schachter <mike at mindmech.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Crutcher,
>>
>> I'd be interested in black box optimization. The machine learning
>> group meets up on Wednesdays at 7:30pm in the Church classroom:
>>
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Machine_Learning
>>
>> Just speaking for myself, I'd be happy to see you share time/space
>> with the ML group to talk about optimization, as it's a core part of
>> machine learning.
>>
>> We don't have anything going on next week, and you're welcome to
>> come in to talk about stuff, I'd be happy to discuss optimization with
>> you!
>>
>>  mike
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I am very interested in starting a black box optimization search group
>> > at
>> > noisebridge. This field is called "metaheauristics"; but the name is a
>> > stupid historical artifact (so says everyone in the field).
>> > Optimization is, given a function f(x), searching for the x which yields
>> > the
>> > best f(x). Black box optimization is a sub-field of optimization where
>> > you
>> > can't analyize the function f to determine what values of x are likely
>> > to be
>> > good; so you have to search the space for them.
>> > The following algorithms are ALL metaheuristic optimization:
>> > Hill Climbing (aka. Gradient Assent/Descent)
>> > Genetic Search
>> > Genetic Programming
>> > Ant Colony Systems
>> > Particle Swarm Optimization
>> > I've recently read a fabulous undergraduate text on the subject, very
>> > approachable, called "Essentials of Metaheuristics".
>> > The book in question is available from Lulu and Amazaon:
>> > http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~sean/book/metaheuristics/
>> > or you can just download the PDF.
>> > http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~sean/book/metaheuristics/Essentials.pdf
>> >
>> > If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, read the first chapter or
>> > two. If
>> > you have a background in programming, you should be able to follow it
>> > trivially.
>> > What I want TrollSearch to do: Build Shit
>> > Let's find interesting problems; and build search algorithms over them.
>> > This
>> > can apply to evolving good fit 3d models for the printer; making techno;
>> > or
>> > identifying penii.
>> > I'd like TrollSearch to look much more like SpaceBridge than like the
>> > Python
>> > Class.
>> > Please comment in-thread if you are interested.
>> > --
>> > Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com>
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >
>> >
>
>
>
> --
> Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com>
>