In between writing my ebook about microcopy, speaking engagements, projects for Tempest’s clients, and learning to unicycle, I’ve been plodding through Dr. Andrew Ng’s Machine Learning Course. It’s been slow going because whenever I don’t get to work on the course for more than three days, I tend to forget what I just learned. That adds an extra hour of two just to get my bearings.
Thankfully, with what little diligence I could muster, I’ve been able to finish Week 4 of the course even though it took much longer than an actual calendar week. I find that it helps if I draw the neural nets and matrices on a small whiteboard. Otherwise, my limited cognitive capacity gets overloaded by the linear algebra operations.
Admittedly, I’m struggling with the math parts of the course. But I’m motivated by the idea of creating artificial intelligences and understanding the mind a little better by building one of my own. I feel like I’m a mad scientist.