ABSTRACT
When thinking about machine learning, it seems prudent to start thinking about how we learn. King Frederick II (26 December 1194 - 13 December 1250) was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily in the 13th century. King Frederick was a passionate patron of the sciences and arts. He spoke six languages which were Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek and Arabic. He desired to determine the “god given” language. The Italian Franciscan friar Salimbene de Adam writes in his Cronica [25] that Frederick bade “foster-mothers and nurses to suckle and bathe and wash the children, but in no ways to prattle or speak with them; for he would have learned whether they would speak the Hebrew language (which had been the first), or Greek, or Latin, or Arabic, or perchance the tongue of their parents of whom they had been born. But he laboured in vain, for the children could not live without clappings of the hands, and gestures, and gladness of countenance, and blandishments.” In other words the physical needs of the children were satisfied, but they were raised without any human interaction. It is doubtful whether this is a true account, since this is the only account and Salimbene was a political opponent of Frederick II. Nevertheless, nobody doubts that sensory stimulation and experiences are essential for learning in any respect.
