Dean Mai

I specialize in identifying disruptive, core technologies and strategic technology trends in early-stage startups, research universities, government sponsored laboratories and commercial companies.

In my current role, I lead sourcing of strategic technology investment opportunities and managing Dyson’s diligence and outreach processes, specifically in the U.S., Israel and China.

I write here (sporadically) on the convergence of science and engineering, with broader adopted interests in novel disruptive technologies, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction (HCI), philosophy, linguistics and artificial intelligence (AI).

All tagged cognitive psychology

May 9
May 9 Intuitive physics and domain-specific perceptual causality in infants and AI

cognitive psychology

More recently, cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have been motivated by the need to explore the concept of intuitive physics in infants’ object perception skills and understand whether further theoretical and practical applications in the field of artificial intelligence could be developed by linking intuitive physics’ approaches to the research area of AI—by building autonomous systems that learn and think like humans.

Dec 28
Dec 28 Psychometric intelligence, coalition formation and domain-specific adaptation

The remarkable intricacy of human general intelligence has so far left psychologists being unable to agree on its common definition. Learning from past experiences and adapting behavior accordingly have been vital for an organism in order to prevent its distinction or endangerment in a dynamic competing environment. The more phenotypically intelligent an organism is the faster it can learn to apply behavioral changes in order to survive and the more prone it is to produce more surviving offspring.

Aug 27
Aug 27 Improvisational intelligence as a domain-specific adaptation

The human brain is remarkable in its complexity design. A myriad of constantly evolving, reciprocally sophisticated computational systems, engineered by natural selection to use information to adaptively regulate physiology, behavior and cognition. Our brain defines our humanity. Systematically, through multitudinous generations, both the human brain structure (hardware) and its neural algorithms (software) have been fine-tuned by evolution to enable us adapt better to environment.