Thinking about Vector Symbolic Architectures

Slides for the keynote presentation "Thinking about Vector Symbolic Architectures" given on 2023-06-15 at the Midnight Sun Workshop on Vector Symbolic Architectures in Luleå, Sweden.

Abstract

Vector Symbolic Architectures are defined in terms of a very small set of operators acting on a vector space. The task of the VSA researcher is to discover the implications that follow from the definition in terms of the systems that can be implemented with VSAs. The VSA definitions are the researcher’s raw materials, but they also need tools to transform those raw materials into useful hypotheses and system designs. One important tool for a researcher is a conceptual framework, which specifies how the researcher thinks about VSAs and relates them to the other things they know. It is the researcher’s mental model of how VSAs work. The primary requirement for a conceptual framework is that it is productive; it should make it easy for the researcher to generate interesting hypotheses and designs. These hypotheses and designs don’t have to be correct, just plausible. Beating them into shape is a different part of the research process. Most VSA research papers contain a statement of the VSA definition. Very few mention the researcher’s conceptual framework. In this talk I will sketch out my conceptual framework - how I think about Vector Symbolic Architectures - in the hope that it might be interesting and useful to other researchers.