Knowledge

Ugly duckling theorem

Source πŸ“

982:"Suppose that one is to list the attributes that plums and lawnmowers have in common in order to judge their similarity. It is easy to see that the list could be infinite: Both weigh less than 10,000 kg (and less than 10,001 kg), both did not exist 10,000,000 years ago (and 10,000,001 years ago), both cannot hear well, both can be dropped, both take up space, and so on. Likewise, the list of differences could be infinite… any two entities can be arbitrarily similar or dissimilar by changing the criterion of what counts as a relevant attribute." 970:"Presumably, people's perceptual and conceptual processes have evolved that information that matters to human needs and goals can be roughly approximated by a similarity heuristic... If you are in the jungle and you see a tiger but you decide not to stereotype (perhaps because you believe that similarity is a false friend), then you will probably be eaten. In other words, in the biological world stereotyping based on veridical judgments of overall similarity statistically results in greater survival and reproductive success." 72: 962:
had sufficient weight. Of course, if these feature weights were fixed, then these similarity relations would be constrained". Yet the property "striped" as a weight 'fix' or constraint is arbitrary itself, meaning: "unless one can specify such criteria, then the claim that categorization is based on
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A possible way around the ugly duckling theorem would be to introduce a constraint on how similarity is measured by limiting the properties involved in classification, for instance, between A and B. However Medin et al. (1993) point out that this does not actually resolve the arbitrariness or bias
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However, the choice of boolean features to consider could have been somewhat arbitrary. Perhaps there were features derivable from the original features that were important for identifying the ugly duckling. The set of booleans in the vector can be extended with new features computed as
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problem since in what respects A is similar to B: "varies with the stimulus context and task, so that there is no unique answer, to the question of how similar is one object to another". For example, "a barberpole and a zebra would be more similar than a horse and a zebra if the feature
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objects. One can use that to measure the similarity between two objects, and one would see how many sets they have in common. However, one cannot. Any two objects have exactly the same number of classes in common if we can form any possible class, namely
990:, which states that all algorithms for learning of boolean functions from input/output examples have the same overall generalization performance as random guessing. The latter result is generalized by Woodward to functions on countably infinite domains. 624:
Proof. Let x and y be two vectors. If they are the same, then their completed vectors must also be the same because any Boolean function of x will agree with the same Boolean function of y. If x and y are different, then there exists a coordinate
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As all possible choices of zeros and ones are there, any two bit-positions will agree exactly half the time. One may pick two elements and reorder the bits so they are the first two, and imagine the numbers sorted lexicographically. The first
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Unless some properties are considered more salient, or 'weighted' more important than others, everything will appear equally similar, hence Watanabe (1986) wrote: "any objects, in so far as they are distinguishable, are equally similar".
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came to the same conclusion: "But importance is a highly volatile matter, varying with every shift of context and interest, and quite incapable of supporting the fixed distinctions that philosophers so often seek to rest upon
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or on half of all the cases, no matter which two elements one picks. So if we have no preconceived bias about which categories are better, everything is then equally similar (or equally dissimilar). The number of
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simultaneously satisfied by two non-identical elements is constant over all such pairs. Thus, some kind of inductive bias is needed to make judgements to prefer certain categories over others.
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about what sorts of categories are "natural" or "normal" and what are not. So one has to consider all the possible classes that could be, all the possible ways of making a set out of the
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features. The ugly duckling theorem states that there is no ugly duckling because any two completed vectors will either be equal or differ in exactly half of the features.
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will agree on exactly one of the two functions. If they agree on one, they must disagree on the other and vice versa. (This proof is believed to be due to Watanabe.)
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In a weaker setting that assumes infinitely many properties, Murphy and Medin (1985) give an example of two putative classified things, plums and lawnmowers:
1376: 999: 135:", respectively. Since F happens to imply W, each predicate that can be formed from F and W coincides with another one, hence there are only 8 1534: 1302: 1054: 1354: 558:
booleans each. The ugly duckling is the vector which is least like the others. Given the booleans, this can be computed using
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integer), with a zero for each element not in the class and a one for each element in the class. As one finds, there are
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Stamos (2003) remarked that some judgments of overall similarity are non-arbitrary in the sense they are useful:
248:(half the total number of classes there are). To see this is so, one may imagine each class is represented by an 171:
things in the universe, and one wants to put them into classes or categories. One has no preconceived ideas or
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Boolean variables, with each one exactly once. Viewing these Boolean functions as polynomials in
1519: 1308: 32: 1529: 1514: 1429: 1389: 1298: 1260: 1060: 1050: 1013: 48: 28: 1328: 1016:), but there cannot be separate objects or entities that have all their properties in common. 434: 399: 364: 329: 294: 218: 1290: 1252: 1216: 1143: 567: 559: 880: 768: 597: 263: 182: 60: 1134:
Douglas L. Medin and R.L. Goldstone and Dedre Gentner (1993). "Respects for similarity".
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Proceedings of the 1994 International Conference on Machine Learning (San Mateo/CA)
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Nelson Goodman (1972). "Seven Strictures on Similarity". In Nelson Goodman (ed.).
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distinct possible predicates, each shown on an own line. The white ducklings
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Argument that classification is not really possible without some sort of bias
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According to Woodward, the ugly duckling theorem is related to Schaffer's
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original features. The only canonical way to do this is to extend it with
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International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Intelligent Systems
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showing that classification is not really possible without some sort of
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Knowing and Guessing: A Quantitative Study of Inference and Information
31:. More particularly, it assumes finitely many properties combinable by 1464: 594:
possible Boolean functions. The resulting completed vectors have
1012:– Classification (discernibility) is possible (with or without a 1064: 725:. Now the completed features contain every Boolean function on 172: 56: 1358: 361:
will have it set to one. Within each of those blocks, the top
1280:"Computable and Incomputable Functions and Search Algorithms" 1209:
Annals of the Japan Association for Philosophy of Science
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variables over GF(2), segregate the functions into pairs
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numbers will have bit #1 set to zero, and the second
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without that linear term. Now, for every such pair
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will have it as one, so they agree on two blocks of
1456: 1397: 1329:"A conservation law for generalization performance" 1236:Gregory L. Murphy and Douglas L. Medin (Jul 1985). 1042: 941: 921: 901: 869: 849: 829: 809: 789: 757: 737: 717: 697: 677: 657: 637: 613: 582: 550: 530: 458: 423: 388: 353: 318: 279: 240: 198: 59:as two swans are to each other. It was derived by 963:attribute matching is almost entirely vacuous". 147:agree on 4 of them (line 2, 3, 4, 8), but so do 1036: 1034: 988:Conservation Law for Generalization Performance 980: 968: 1238:"The Role of Theories in Conceptual Coherence" 1370: 8: 1165:. New York: Bobbs-Merrill. pp. 437–446. 396:will have bit #2 set to zero and the other 1377: 1363: 1355: 1220: 934: 914: 882: 862: 842: 822: 802: 770: 750: 730: 710: 690: 670: 650: 630: 605: 599: 575: 543: 522: 503: 490: 484: 448: 442: 436: 413: 407: 401: 378: 372: 366: 343: 337: 331: 308: 302: 296: 271: 265: 226: 220: 190: 184: 43:) properties. The theorem is named after 1000:No free lunch in search and optimization 531:{\displaystyle x_{1},x_{2},\dots ,x_{n}} 70: 1030: 7: 1338:. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 259–265. 1334:. In Willian, H.; Cohen, W. (eds.). 837:-th coordinate as a linear term and 155:, too (line 3, 5, 7, 8), and so do 75:Watanabe's example, using objects 39:objects share the same number of ( 14: 896: 884: 784: 772: 1: 1295:10.1109/ICICISYS.2009.5358045 1278:John R. Woodward (Nov 2009). 1535:Metaphors referring to birds 1205:"Epistemological Relativity" 1148:10.1037/0033-295x.100.2.254 206:such ways, the size of the 51:", because it shows that a 1561: 1349:Woodward (2009), p. 875 lf 1289:. IEEE. pp. 871–875. 1257:10.1037/0033-295x.92.3.289 1193:. Lexington Books. p. 344. 1010:Identity of indiscernibles 1446:The Ugly Duckling and Me! 1124:, F, and W, respectively. 1327:Cullen Schaffer (1994). 1203:Satosi Watanabe (1986). 1041:Satosi Watanabe (1969). 55:is just as similar to a 1386:Hans Christian Andersen 1020:New riddle of induction 538:be a set of vectors of 459:{\displaystyle 2^{n}/4} 424:{\displaystyle 2^{n}/4} 389:{\displaystyle 2^{n}/4} 354:{\displaystyle 2^{n}/2} 319:{\displaystyle 2^{n}/2} 241:{\displaystyle 2^{n-1}} 45:Hans Christian Andersen 1493:Ugly Duckling fountain 1222:10.4288/jafpos1956.7.1 1189:Stamos, D. N. (2003). 984: 972: 943: 923: 903: 871: 851: 831: 811: 791: 759: 739: 719: 699: 679: 659: 639: 615: 584: 552: 532: 460: 425: 390: 355: 320: 281: 242: 200: 164: 1488:Ugly duckling theorem 1163:Problems and Projects 1005:No free lunch theorem 944: 924: 904: 902:{\displaystyle (f,g)} 872: 852: 832: 812: 792: 790:{\displaystyle (f,g)} 760: 740: 720: 700: 680: 660: 640: 616: 614:{\displaystyle 2^{k}} 585: 553: 533: 461: 426: 391: 356: 321: 282: 280:{\displaystyle 2^{n}} 243: 201: 199:{\displaystyle 2^{n}} 74: 21:ugly duckling theorem 1422:Downhearted Duckling 1245:Psychological Review 1136:Psychological Review 933: 913: 881: 861: 841: 821: 801: 769: 749: 729: 709: 689: 669: 649: 629: 598: 574: 542: 483: 435: 400: 365: 330: 295: 264: 219: 183: 67:Mathematical formula 1191:The Species Problem 1049:. New York: Wiley. 179:objects. There are 33:logical connectives 939: 919: 899: 867: 847: 827: 807: 787: 755: 735: 715: 705:-th coordinate of 695: 675: 665:-th coordinate of 655: 635: 611: 580: 548: 528: 456: 421: 386: 351: 316: 277: 238: 196: 167:Suppose there are 165: 163:(line 1, 3, 6, 8). 1502: 1501: 1481:The Ugly Duckling 1430:The Ugly Duckling 1414:The Ugly Duckling 1406:The Ugly Duckling 1390:The Ugly Duckling 1304:978-1-4244-4754-1 942:{\displaystyle y} 922:{\displaystyle x} 870:{\displaystyle f} 850:{\displaystyle g} 830:{\displaystyle i} 810:{\displaystyle f} 758:{\displaystyle k} 738:{\displaystyle k} 718:{\displaystyle y} 698:{\displaystyle i} 685:differs from the 678:{\displaystyle x} 658:{\displaystyle i} 638:{\displaystyle i} 583:{\displaystyle k} 568:boolean functions 551:{\displaystyle k} 475:Boolean functions 49:The Ugly Duckling 1552: 1540:1960s neologisms 1525:Machine learning 1379: 1372: 1365: 1356: 1350: 1347: 1341: 1339: 1333: 1324: 1318: 1316: 1284: 1275: 1269: 1268: 1242: 1233: 1227: 1226: 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1251:(3): 289–316. 1228: 1195: 1182: 1177:Nelson Goodman 1168: 1153: 1142:(2): 254–278. 1126: 1109: 1102: 1095: 1088: 1081: 1070: 1055: 1029: 1027: 1024: 1023: 1022: 1017: 1007: 1002: 995: 992: 954: 951: 938: 918: 898: 895: 892: 889: 886: 866: 846: 826: 806: 786: 783: 780: 777: 774: 754: 734: 714: 694: 674: 654: 634: 608: 604: 579: 547: 525: 521: 517: 514: 511: 506: 502: 498: 493: 489: 476: 473: 455: 451: 445: 441: 420: 416: 410: 406: 385: 381: 375: 371: 350: 346: 340: 336: 315: 311: 305: 301: 287:such strings. 274: 270: 258:binary encoded 249: 235: 232: 229: 225: 211: 193: 189: 176: 168: 68: 65: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 1557: 1546: 1543: 1541: 1538: 1536: 1533: 1531: 1528: 1526: 1523: 1521: 1518: 1516: 1513: 1512: 1510: 1494: 1491: 1489: 1486: 1483: 1482: 1478: 1475: 1474: 1473:Ugly Duckling 1470: 1467: 1466: 1462: 1461: 1459: 1455: 1448: 1447: 1443: 1440: 1439: 1435: 1432: 1431: 1427: 1424: 1423: 1419: 1416: 1415: 1411: 1408: 1407: 1403: 1402: 1400: 1396: 1391: 1387: 1380: 1375: 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137:extensionally 134: 133: 128: 127: 122: 121: 116: 115: 110: 106: 102: 98: 94: 90: 86: 82: 78: 73: 66: 64: 62: 58: 54: 50: 46: 42: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 1487: 1479: 1471: 1463: 1444: 1436: 1428: 1420: 1412: 1404: 1345: 1335: 1322: 1286: 1273: 1248: 1244: 1231: 1212: 1208: 1198: 1190: 1185: 1171: 1162: 1156: 1139: 1135: 1129: 1121: 1117: 1113: 1106: 1099: 1092: 1085: 1078: 1073: 1044: 987: 985: 981: 977: 973: 969: 965: 959: 956: 623: 591: 564: 478: 289: 166: 160: 156: 152: 148: 144: 140: 132:exclusive or 130: 124: 118: 112: 108: 104: 84: 80: 76: 20: 18: 1484:(audiobook) 1476:(2009 play) 1215:(1): 1–14. 1077:Watanabe's 41:extensional 1509:Categories 1495:(fountain) 953:Discussion 645:where the 469:predicates 103:" denote " 1520:Arguments 513:… 231:− 208:power set 63:in 1969. 37:different 1530:Ontology 1515:Theorems 1392:" (1843) 1313:14473304 1065:68-56165 994:See also 129:", and " 99:", and " 53:duckling 25:argument 1265:4023146 960:striped 570:of the 1449:(2006) 1441:(1966) 1425:(1953) 1417:(1939) 1409:(1931) 1311:  1301:  1263:  1105:, and 1063:  1053:  797:where 254:string 173:biases 23:is an 1465:Honk! 1457:Other 1398:Films 1332:(PDF) 1309:S2CID 1283:(PDF) 1241:(PDF) 1026:Notes 252:-bit 105:false 1545:Bias 1388:'s " 1299:ISBN 1261:PMID 1180:it". 1061:LCCN 1051:ISBN 1014:bias 929:and 479:Let 256:(or 159:and 151:and 143:and 123:", " 117:", " 111:", " 109:true 107:", " 95:", " 91:", " 57:swan 29:bias 19:The 1291:doi 1253:doi 1217:doi 1144:doi 1140:100 857:is 592:all 210:of 120:and 114:not 1511:: 1307:. 1297:. 1285:. 1259:. 1249:92 1247:. 1243:. 1211:. 1207:. 1138:. 1120:, 1116:, 1098:, 1091:, 1084:, 1059:. 1033:^ 909:, 562:. 126:or 83:, 79:, 1378:e 1371:t 1364:v 1315:. 1293:: 1267:. 1255:: 1225:. 1219:: 1213:7 1150:. 1146:: 1122:A 1118:B 1114:C 1110:2 1107:y 1103:1 1100:y 1096:3 1093:x 1089:2 1086:x 1082:1 1079:x 1067:. 937:y 917:x 897:) 894:g 891:, 888:f 885:( 865:f 845:g 825:i 805:f 785:) 782:g 779:, 776:f 773:( 753:k 733:k 713:y 693:i 673:x 653:i 633:i 607:k 603:2 578:k 546:k 524:n 520:x 516:, 510:, 505:2 501:x 497:, 492:1 488:x 454:4 450:/ 444:n 440:2 419:4 415:/ 409:n 405:2 384:4 380:/ 374:n 370:2 349:2 345:/ 339:n 335:2 314:2 310:/ 304:n 300:2 273:n 269:2 250:n 234:1 228:n 224:2 212:n 192:n 188:2 177:n 169:n 161:C 157:B 153:C 149:A 145:B 141:A 101:βŠ• 97:∨ 93:∧ 89:Β¬ 85:C 81:B 77:A

Index

argument
bias
logical connectives
different
extensional
Hans Christian Andersen
The Ugly Duckling
duckling
swan
Satosi Watanabe

Β¬
∧
∨
βŠ•
not
and
or
exclusive or
extensionally
biases
power set
string
binary encoded
predicates
Hamming distance
boolean functions
No free lunch in search and optimization
No free lunch theorem
Identity of indiscernibles

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