LAWS@SRI-AI.ARPA (03/13/85)
From: AIList Moderator Kenneth Laws <AIList-REQUEST@SRI-AI.ARPA>
AIList Digest Wednesday, 13 Mar 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 33
Today's Topics:
Linguistics - Hungal,
Expert Systems - Programming Styles,
Surveys - AI in Australasia,
Literature - History of Ideas in Computer Science,
Opinion - AI Aims,
News - AAAI Member Statistics & FMC and Teknowledge & Recent Articles,
Policy - Jokes on Rape,
Seminars - Cheating Husbands and Other Stories (SU) &
The Limits of Calculative Rationality (CSLI)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed 13 Mar 85 10:20:29-PST
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Hungal
Gordon Cook of Delta Data Systems would like some information about
the Hungal dialect of Korea. In particular, he would like to know
whether any form of automated translation system has ever been
written for this dialect.
Please reply to 200%NJIT-EIES.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS, or call Gordon at
(215) 322-5400 x258 if you have any leads.
-- Ken Laws
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 85 09:41:16 pst
From: Curtis L. Goodhart <goodhart%cod@Nosc>
Subject: Expert Systems vs "Conventional" Programming
I have been involved for two years in a project to apply an existing
expert system development tool to a particular problem that we
have to solve. In this time, starting from scratch, as far as AI and
expert systems are considered, I have developed opinions about the advantages
(and disadvantages) of expert systems, as opposed to traditional programming
methods. I would like to hear from people who feel they have qualified
comments regarding this issue.
In preface to a discussion I'd like to provide a few comments based on my
observations and experience.
Often people outside the field of AI see expert systems as some new kind
of magic. In fact it's not new magic or old magic but rather an area of
computer science that one might say provides styles or methods of programming
that prove useful in tackling certain types of problems.
The most valid two claims of advantages of expert systems that I see are:
1) Expert systems provide cost efficient development for software develop-
ments that will undergo an intensely iterative, or test/modify cycle
(ie the exact procedure for problem solution, the algorithm, cannot
be stated in detail and with confidence prior to initiating software
development).
The main basis of this is held to be a structured framework consisting
of partitioned control, domain knowledge (procedural), and global data
base (which includes domain factual or declarative knowledge). It is
the resulting uniformity and modularity that provide the foundation for
an iterative development cycle.
2) Expert systems, by way of recorded production rule firings, which are
often used, provide for explanation of the "reasoning process" used to
generate the solution. This will be of value only if the end user will
benefit from explanation, or if system development is speeded by expla-
nation as opposed to the sole use of debug tools or methods that are
used in non-expert-system developments.
Again, the degree of benefit would vary according to the characteristics of
the particular application, and the benefit increases for those problems that
will require an intensive iterative type of development. Note that point 1
above points to expert systems as a development tool for the right kinds of
problems.
Some of the other claimed benefits of expert systems seem less supported to
me. For example, I don't see that reasoning with uncertainty must be unique
to an expert system approach. Another point, if "symbolic computation" (as
opposed to number crunching) is a valid claim it appears to me that its basis
must be in the dynamic memory allocation and list processing capabilities of
Lisp and not neccessarily in an expert system approach.
Finally, since the question of advantages of expert systems always comes up,
are there any good studies with hard numbers that can be referred to? For
example, are there any papers that report on a case where conventional and
expert systems approaches were both used on an actual problem and comparisons
made in order to substantiate the advantages (eg show that "rapid proto-
typing" saves development time)? Are there any papers that provide a sound,
and convincing basis for the virtues of expert systems, that could be given
to non-AI persons?
To summarize the question, what advantages (or disadvantages) do expert
systems provide over conventional software approaches. And note, I want to
limit the discussion to expert systems and not address the whole field of AI.
Responses can go to the net, AILIST, and/or to myself.
Curt Goodhart (goodhart@nosc -- on the ARPANET)
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 1985 1159-PST
From: PRICE@USC-ECLC.ARPA
Subject: AI in Australasia
For a 30 page report on AI in Australasia contact:
DEBENHAM - AIIA
Computing Sciences
N S W I T
Box 123 Broadway
NSW 2007
Australia
AIIA (Artificial Intelligence in Australia) publishes a report annually.
------------------------------
Date: 11 Mar 85 10:47:27 PST (Monday)
From: "Bruce Hamilton.OsbuSouth"@XEROX.ARPA
Reply-to: Hamilton.OsbuSouth@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Re: History of Ideas in Computer Science
I haven't been on the list for a while, but I saw V3 #31 and wondered if
anyone had mentioned the collection
Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, Eds., "The Study of Information:
Interdisciplinary Messages", Wiley, 1983, in particular Section 3,
"Intellectual Issues in the History of Artificial Intelligence", by
Allen Newell, with responses by Margaret A. Boden, Avron Barr, Douglas
R. Hofstadter, and Allen Newell.
--Bruce
[Nope. -- KIL]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 85 0:05:24 EST
From: Frank Ritter <ritter@bbn-labs-b>
Subject: response to gJolly
From: GORDON JOLY (on ERCC DEC-10) <GCJ%edxa@ucl-cs.arpa>
Subject: AI-Aims
The goal of AI research seems, to me, to be to produce a `machine'
that will satisfy the Turing criterion. This is a total waste of
time and effort. ...
[old zen motto: "if you want to get someplace, you've got to give up
wanting to get to that place"]
Gordon is right in his statement that the power of this revolution lies
in the extension of the thinking process. There are obviously new
ways to think, and new ways to add leverage to man's current cognitive
powers. Whether this intelligence is best done in a brute force manner,
or modelled after human thinking processes is still an open question.
The basics of thought are still very much a research issue.
Which is better is a silly question until we are able to even define
such terms.
Just as man had to study birds, and was able to derive the underlying
mechanism of flight, and then adapt it to the tools and materials
at hand, man must currently study the only animal that thinks
in order to derive the underlying principles there also. The best
way to study the mind is to hypothesis a theory and test it. And in the
process of doing that, insight just might emerge on what powers we have,
how they work, and how to best augment them, and thus give Gordon the
answers he seeks.
Frank Ritter (ritter@bbn-labs-b)
------------------------------
Date: Mon 11 Mar 85 11:44:13-CST
From: Gordon Novak Jr. <CS.NOVAK@UTEXAS-20.ARPA>
Subject: AAAI Member Statistics
[Forwarded from the UTexas-20 bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.]
The membership statistics of the American Association for Artificial
Intelligence provide an interesting picture of where the AI people are:
Calif. 1431 Canada 200
Mass. 709 U. K. 146
Texas 668 Japan 84
New York 451 W. Germany 70
Virginia 317 Australia 34
Penn. 293 France 29
Maryland 278
New Jersey 258 Foreign total: 765
Illinois 173
Total Membership: 7094 [of which 4145 are listed in the directory. -- KIL]
Texas is a strong third, and nearly as big as all foreign countries combined.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 1985 01:04:38 EST
From: Perry W. Thorndyke <THORNDYKE@USC-ISI.ARPA>
Subject: News - FMC and Teknowledge
[Edited by Laws@SRI-AI.]
FMC ANNOUNCES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE VENTURE WITH TEKNOWLEDGE
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, March 12, 1985 -- FMC Corporation today
announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Teknowledge,
Inc. in the area of artificial intelligence software development. FMC
has acquired approximately 11% of Teknowledge, Inc. In addition, the
companies have entered into a "strategic affiliation". [...]
Peter E. Weber, Director of Corporate Research and Development at FMC, said the
investment was a key element in FMC's plan to build a premier corporate
capability in artificial intelligence. [...]
Teknowledge will collaborate with FMC's Artificial Intelligence Center, part of
the company's corporate R&D laboratory in Santa Clara, California, to develop
generic software tools. [...]
One of the initial joint projects will develop a tool for use in building
expert systems for real-time process control. This tool could be used to
control such diverse systems as autonomous military vehicles or mineral
refining plants. Another project will develop a tool for use in designing
complex configurations of parts into a final product. This tool could be used
in applications such as product configuration (as in R1/XCON), knowledge-based
CAD/CAM, or planning the steps in a manufacturing process for a metal part.
The Artificial Intelligence Center at FMC, the focal point for the company's AI
activities, conducts basic research in the areas of knowledge systems,
real-time heuristic control, human-machine interfaces, computer-based
instruction, intelligent robotics, and vision. The Center also undertakes
leading-edge applied research focused on the development of software products
for internal use or incorporation into FMC product lines. [...]
Perry W. Thorndyke
FMC Corporation
1185 Coleman Avenue, Box 580
Santa Clara, CA 95052
(408) 289-3112
------------------------------
Date: 10 Mar 1985 20:36-CST
From: leff%smu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Recent Articles
Baldwin, J. F. and Zhou, S. Q. A fuzzy relational inference language.
Fuzzy Sets and Systems 14 (1984) no 2 155-174
GWAI 83 (Dassel, 1983) Informatik-Fachber 76 Springer, Berlin New York
1983 (It appears that some or all of these items may be in German):
Dilger, Werner and Janson, Agnes
Unification graphs for intelligent backtracking in deduction symbols
Eder, Elmar Properties of substitutions and unifications
Elsinger, N. A technical note on splitting and clausal normal form
algorithms
Horster, Patrick J. Complete reduction systems
Ohlbach, Hans Jurgen A rule-based method of proof using clausal graphs
Habel, Christopher Logical systems and representation problems
Zap. Nauchn. Sem. Leningrad. Otdel. Mat Inst. Steklov 137(1984) 80-86
Linear-time recognition of isomorphism of tree-like images (Russian
with English summary) by A. N. Grigor'eva
International J. Comput. Inform. Sci 13(1984) no1
H. R. Lu, Inferability of context-free programmed gammars.
Electron. Comm Japan 67 (1984) no 6 10-17
An extended Fisher criterion for feature extraction--Malina's method
and its problems.
Studies aand Research in Data Processing Masson, Paris 1984 252 pp
Jean-Claude Simon, Pattern Recognition by algorithms.
Inform. Process. Lett 1984 no 1 41-46
P. A. Subrahmanyam, "On embedding functions in logic"
Pattern Recogniton 17 (1984) no 3 331-337
Dean M. Young, Patrick Odell A formulation and comparison of two linear
feature selection techniques applicable to statistical classification
Engineering Cybernetics 21 (1983) no 4 85-92
An information approach to estimation of the usefulness of features in
statistical pattern recognition
RAIRO Inform. Theor 18 (1984) no 2 161-170
Luis Farlinas del Cerro
A resolution principle in modal logic.
AT&T Bell Labs Tech J 63 (1984) no 7 1213-1243
B. H. Juang. On the hidden Markov model and dynamic time warping for
speech recognition -- a unified view
Engineering Cybernetics 21 (1983) no 4 1-11 (1984)
M. I. Sudelkin Search for solutions using Knowledge
Simulation Volume 44 No 1 Jan 1985
Artificial Intelligence Topics at IBM 33
Computer Design Volume 24 No 1 Jan85
Machine Vision Technology is Coming of Age but is not here yet 64
Symbolic Processor Aids Design of Complex Chips 147
Lisp Workstation brings AI power to Users desk 155
Electronics Week Vol 58 No 2 Jan 7 85
Expert System uses AI for Natural Sound
Computer Languages Volume 9 No 3/4 161-182
Huhu: The Hebrew University Hebrew Understander
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 85 14:41:04 pst
From: Curtis L. Goodhart <goodhart%cod@Nosc>
Subject: Jokes on rape
Some things are immoral, period. Rape is one of them, and thankfully
there is still an overwhelming consensus on that (unlike shifts in our
society's view on other issues). In any case, consensus or not, I'd
like to request that such material not be submitted to the net, and if
it is submitted it should be eliminated by the mail reviewer should he
or she see it. Those who have similar feelings should definitely
speak up. Though there is the tendency to fear being labeled a prude,
silence only gives the appearance that there is no opposition or other
side, and consequences will follow. For example, if all the decent
people stay out of politics, by default the government will be run by
indecent people, and we can not complain, indeed we can only expect
the quality of our government to reflect this indecency.
[I apologize to all who were offended by the posting. I have received
a few messages on each side of the issue, but it seems clear that
Poly Nomial and Curly Pi should have been left to make their own way
in the world without the help of AIList. The policy of this list is
to avoid "ethnic" humor or any form of wit at the expense of individuals
or sensitive groups. There may have been a few lapses, but I'll try to
enforce the policy strictly in the future. -- KIL]
------------------------------
Date: Mon 11 Mar 85 17:24:33-PST
From: Andrei Broder <Broder@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Seminar - Cheating Husbands and Other Stories (SU)
[Forwarded from the Stanford bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.]
This AFLB talk might interest AI and systems people as well. - Andrei
3/14/85 - Yoram Moses(Stanford)
Cheating Husbands and Other Stories:
A Case Study of Knowledge, Action, and Communication
We present variants of the cheating husbands puzzle in order to illustrate
the subtle relationship between knowledge and action in a distributed
environment. We examine the state of knowledge of a message that
a group of wives achieves as a function of how the message is communicated.
We analyze how the states of knowledge arising in the different circumstances
may affect the wives' ability to act and the success of their actions in
achieving their stated goals.
This will be a recreational AFLB. This work is joint with Danny Dolev of
the Hebrew University and Joe Halpern of IBM San Jose.
***** Time and place: March 14, 12:30 pm in MJ352 (Bldg. 460) ******
[AIList does not, of course, endorse activities of cheating husbands. -- KIL]
------------------------------
Date: Tue 12 Mar 85 11:26:53-PST
From: Emma Pease <Emma@SU-CSLI.ARPA>
Subject: Seminar - The Limits of Calculative Rationality (CSLI)
[Forwarded from the Stanford bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.]
CSLI COLLOQUIUM
Speaker: Hubert Dreyfus
University of California, Berkeley
Title: From Socrates to Expert Systems: The Limits of Calculative
Rationality.
Time and Place: March 14, 1985, 4:15, Redwood Hall, rm. G-19
Abstract: An examination of the general epistemological assumptions of
artificial intelligence with special reference to recent work in the
development of expert systems. I will argue that expert systems are
limited because of a failure to recognize the real character of expert
intuitive understanding. Expertise is acquired in a five-step
process; only the first of which uses representations involving
objective features and strict rules. A review of the successes and
failures of various specific expert systems confirms this analysis.
------------------------------
End of AIList Digest
********************rggoebel@water.UUCP (Randy Goebel LPAIG) (03/14/85)
Gordon Novak Jr. from Texas observed that the recently published
membership figures places Texas third (in the U.S.) in the number of
``AI people.'' If anyone from AAAI is ``listening,'' perhaps they
would care to produce more detailed figures that would help us
distinguish AI researchers (e.g., university faculty, industrial
researchers with some graduate training) from the more general class of
AI people.
Note that the AAAI membership figures indicate that, on a national basis,
Canada has the second most ``AI people'' in the world; this makes any
AI review that ignores Canada very suspicious doesn't it? (E.g., look
at Feigenbaum and McCorduck's ``Fifth Generation'' book and its synopsis
of where AI is being done in the world).
Randy Goebel
Logic Programming and Artificial Intelligence Group
Computer Science Department
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA N2L 3G1
UUCP: {decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!watmath!water!rggoebel
CSNET: rggoebel%water@waterloo.csnet
ARPA: rggoebel%water%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa