Virgil Griffith

School: California Institute of Technology

Year in Fellowship: 2

Practicum(s):  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory   2010
 

Degree(s):  B.A. Computer and Cognitive Science, University of Alabama, 8/07

Field of Study: Theoretical Neuroscience

Advisor: Christof Koch

Contact: virgil@caltech.edu

Personal web site (URL): http://virgil.gr

Summary of research

I am working on measures of neural complexity derived from information theory to quantify an artificial neural network's capacity to support consciousness. I currently feel that measures of "information integration", which quantify the average synergy among nodes in performing computation, are especially promising.

My life goal is to create a machine who feels. I sincerely think science will achieve this within thirty years.

More info:


  • http://spectrum.ieee.org/jun08/6278


  • http://consciousness.googlecode.com


    • When not working on consciousness I use data-mining to make the Internet a better and more interesting place.

    Virgil

    Publications

    1. Virgil Griffth, Markus Jakobsson. "Messin' with Texas: Deducing Mother's Maiden Names Using Public Records". In: Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science (2005). Pages 91-103. Study selected to be republished as part of the RSA Cryptobytes journal (Winter 2007); study mentioned in ABC News, PC Magazine as part of "10 biggest problems in computing and how we'll solve them".

    2. Virgil Griffith, Markus Jakobsson. "Automated Trawling for Public Private Data". In: Phishing and Counter-Measures: Understanding the Increasing Problem of Electronic Identity Theft. Pages 191-202. Published by Wiley (2006). ISBN: 978-0-471-78245-2.

    3. Virgil Griffith. "Case Study: Warning the user about active web spoofing". In: Phishing and Counter-Measures: Understanding the Increasing Problem of Electronic Identity Theft. Pages 101-105. Published by Wiley (2006). ISBN: 978-0-471-78245-2.

    4. Virgil Griffth, Larry Yaeger. Ideal Free Distribution in Agents with Evolved Neural Architectures. Pages 372-379. In: Journal of Artificial Life (2006).

    5. Larry Yaeger, Virgil Griffth, Olaf Sporns. Passive and Driven Trends in the Evolution of Complexity. In: Journal of Artificial Life (2008). Pages 725-732.

    6. Virgil Griffith, Aza Raskin, Steven Mih. "Method of Deducing Demographic and Interests of a Website Visitor". United States Patent Application Serial Number 61/141,000. Submitted 12/2008. Patent is the foundation for a Silicon Valley startup headed by Aza Raskin and Steven Mih. I am remaining a graduate student and serving as technical consultant for the company.

    7. Doyne Farmer, Virgil Griffth, D. Eric Smith. "On the Viability of Self-reproducing Classical Machines". In preparation (2009). To be submitted to PNAS.


Close