LAWS@SRI-AI.ARPA (11/13/84)
From: AIList Moderator Kenneth Laws <AIList-REQUEST@SRI-AI> AIList Digest Saturday, 27 Oct 1984 Volume 2 : Issue 145 Today's Topics: Administrivia - Usenet Disconnection, AI Languages - Buzzwords, Expert Systems - Logic-Based Expert Systems & Critique, Humor - Expert Systems & Recursive Riddle & Computational Complexity, Algorithms - Bad Algorithms as Programming Jokes, Seminars - Nonmonotonic Inference & Mathematical Language, Symposium - Expert Systems in the Government ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat 27 Oct 84 21:36:47-PDT From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA> Subject: Usenet Disconnection The SRI-UNIX host that has been the AIList gateway between Arpanet and Usenet has been undergoing system changes. This broke the connection about a week ago, and I do not know how soon communication will be restored. Meanwhile the discussion continues asynchronously in the two networks. -- Ken Laws ------------------------------ Date: Mon 22 Oct 84 11:18:59-MDT From: Stan Shebs <SHEBS@UTAH-20.ARPA> Subject: Re: buzzwords for different language types My favorite buzzwords are "low-level" for C, Pascal, and Ada, and "high-level" for Lisp :-) But seriously, one can adopt a very abstract (i.e. applicative/functional) programming style or a very imperative (C-like) style when using Lisp. On the other hand, adopting an applicative style in C is difficult (yes, I've tried!). So Lisp is certainly more versatile. Also, Lisp's direct representation of programs as data facilitates the construction of embedded languages and the writing of program-analysing programs, both important activities in the construction of AI systems. On the other hand, both of these are time-consuming, if not difficult to do in C or Pascal. Incidentally, these remarks largely apply to Prolog also (although Prolog doesn't make it easy to do "low-level" programming). stan shebs ------------------------------ Date: Thu 25 Oct 84 20:59:56-CDT From: Charles Petrie <CS.PETRIE@UTEXAS-20.ARPA> Subject: Logic-based Expert Systems Regarding expert system tools: would anyone like to offer some reasoned opinions regarding the suitability of logic-based systems for such? I have no strong definition of "logic-based" to offer, but I have in mind as prime examples MRS from Stanford and DUCK from SST which provide interfaces to LISP, forward and back chaining, and various extra-logical functions to make life easier for the system builder. I am interested in large systems (1000+ rules desirable) and the control and performance problems and solutions that people have found. Can such systems be built successfully? What techniques to constrain search have been tried and worked/failed? Any references? Charles Petrie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 84 20:28:24 pdt From: weeks%ucbpopuli.CC@Berkeley (Harry Weeks) Subject: Expert system critique. An article appears in the current (November/December) issue of ``The Sciences'' (New York Academy of Sciences) by Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus of Berkeley. The article ``Mindless Machines'' asserts that `computers don't think like experts, and never will,' invoking, in part, Plato's ``Euthyphro'' (Euthyphro is a theologian queried by Socrates as to the true nature of piety) as an allegory. The basic assertion is that so-called expert systems reason purely from rules, whereas human experts intuit from rules using the vast experience of special cases. They cite this `intuition' as being an insurmountable barrier to building intelligent machines. Harry Weeks (Weeks@UCBpopuli) ------------------------------ Date: Fri 26 Oct 84 06:46:39-CDT From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA> Subject: is there an Expert-System like that ?? (-: [ cartoon in from InfoWorld, Nov 5, 84, page 7] ( 2 ladies having tea in the 'parlor', chatting. with a somewhat perplexed expression, one stares at a small dirt-pile on the carpet, while the obvious hostess explains with a smug grin:) "I thought he was a vacuum cleaner salesman. He came in, sprinkled dirt on the carpet and then tried to sell me a software program that would show me how to clean it up. " ------------------------------ From: gibson@unc.UUCP (Bill Gibson) Subject: Recursive Riddle [Forwarded from Usenet by SASW@MIT-MC.] How many comedians does it take to tell a Light Bulb Joke ? Two - one to say, "How many comedians does it take to tell a Light Bulb Joke? Two - one to say, "How many comedians does it take to tell a Light Bulb Joke? Two - one to say, "How many comedians does it take to tell a Light Bulb Joke? Two - one to say, "How many comedians does it take to tell a Light Bulb Joke? ... and one to ask nonsense riddles." ... and one to ask nonsense riddles." and one to ask nonsense riddles." and one to ask nonsense riddles." and one to ask nonsense riddles." and one to ask nonsense riddles. - from the parallel process of - Bill Gibson ------------------------------ Date: Wed 24 Oct 84 19:13:16-PDT From: Jean-Luc Bonnetain <BONNETAIN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: minor correction on my msg on "badgorithms" Afte reading again the message, I *do* find interesting and unusual an O(n^(3/(pi^3) - 1/e)) algorithm. I'd be real glad to see, and maybe even touch, one. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Oct 84 07:38 EDT From: MJackson.Wbst@XEROX.ARPA Subject: Re: worst algorithms as programming jokes A very interesting idea, but "badgorithm" as a label should have been strangled at birth. How about "algospasm"? Mark ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Oct 84 08:14:31 cdt From: "Duncan A. Buell" <buell%lsu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> Subject: Bad Algorithms Jean-Luc Bonnetain suggests worst algorithms (badgorithms) as programming jokes. In a similar vein, with interests in winning the Cold War by shipping some of these to the Soviet Union, what is the slowest possible way to sort a list of N items? The only requirement should be one (this problem may not be well-defined yet, but I'm sure people could produce subproblems that were) to the effect that repetition of a state or sequence of states should not take place, and that the method actually at some future date sort the list. As an example of how to think about this, consider generating the permutations of N things, then comparing the existing list against each permutation. How slowly, then, can we generate the permutations of N things? We could isolate one element, generate permutations of N-1 things, and then insert the isolated element in N different places. Ignoring the symmetry of the situation, we could isolate a second element and continue (is this cheating on the rule?). And generating permutations of N-1 things? ------------------------------ Date: 25 Oct 84 09:58 PDT From: Kahn.pa@XEROX.ARPA Subject: Re: Badgorithms in AIList Digest V2 #144 The examples of badgorithms that come to mind (including the sorting by selecting an ordered permutation and find min and max by sorting, or for that matter defining the last element of a list as CAR of the reverse of the list or empty intersection by computing the entire intersection and then seeing if its empty) all have in common that they are making use of existing constructs that do what is desired and much more. I think that these are very reasonable PROGRAMS even if they normally correspond to bad ALGORITHMS. The point is that various projects in program transformation (especially partial evaluation) take as input such programs and automatically transform them into programs that correspond to very reasonable algorithms. Also, true fans of logic programming who believe that an algorithm = logic + control use sort as ordered permutation as their classic example. They add control anontations that cause the permutation activity to be coroutined with the order selection. I'm looking forward to the day when one can write programs that if interpreted naively correspond to badgorithms and yet are either tranformed automatically or interpreted cleverly enough so that they run like a bat out of hell. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 1984 10:35-EDT From: MVILAIN at BBNG.ARPA Subject: Seminar - Nonmonotonic Inference [Forwarded from the MIT bboard by SASW@MIT-MC.] "A Non-Monotonic Inference System" James W. Goodwin, University of Linkoping. BBN Laboratories, 10 Moulton St, Cambridge. Third floor conference room, 10:30 AM. Tuesday October 30th. We present a theory and implementation of incomplete non-monotonic reasoning. The theory is inspired by the success of inference systems based on dependency nets and reason maintenance. The process of inference is conceived as a monotonic accumulation of constraints on belief sets. The "current database" is just the set of constraints accumulated so far; the current beliefs are then required to be a set which satisfies all the constraints in the current database, and contains no beliefs which are not forced by those constraints. Constraints may also be thought of as reasons, or as dependencies, or (best) simply as individual inference steps. This approach allows an inference to depend on aspects of the current state of the reasoning process. In particular, an inference may support P on the condition that Q is not in the current belief set. This sense of non-monotonicity is conveniently computable (by reason maintenance), so the undecidability of Non-monotonic Logic I and its relatives is avoided. This makes possible a theory of reasoning which is applicable to real agents, such as computers, which are compelled to arrive at some conclusion despite inadequate time and inadequate information. It supports a precise idea of "reasoned control of reasoning" and an additive representation for control knowledge (something like McCarthy's Advice Taker idea). ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 84 15:47:53 EDT From: Ruth.Davis@CMU-RI-ISL1 Subject: Seminar - Mathematical Language [Forwarded from the CMU bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.] Date: Monday, October 29 Title: PRL: Practical Formal Mathematics Speaker: Joe Bates, Cornell University Time: 1:30 pm Location: 4605 WEH PRL: Practical Formal Mathematics Joseph Bates Cornell University PRL is a family of development environments which are designed to support the construction, validation, execution, and communication of large bodies of mathematics text (eg, books on graph algorithms or group theory). The design of these systems draws on work in many areas, from philosophy to Lisp hackery. Tuesday, Constable will speak on certain issues in the choice of PRL's mathematical language. I will present, in detail, the most significant aspects of the current system architecture, and will suggest directions for future work. ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 1984 9:27:12 EDT (Friday) From: Marshall Abrams <abrams@mitre> Subject: Symposium - Expert Systems in the Government I am helping to organize a Symposium on Expert Systems in the Federal Government. In addition to papers, I am looking for people to serve on the program committee and the conference committee, and to serve as reviewers and session chairmen. The openings on the conference committee include local arrangements, publicity, and tutorials. Please contact me or the program chairman (or both by net-mail) with questions and suggestions. The call for papers follows. Call for Papers Expert Systems in Government Conference October 23-25, 1985 THE CONFERENCE objective is to allow the developers and implementers of expert systems in goverenment agencies to exchange information and ideas first hand for the purpose of improving the quality of existing and future expert systems in the government sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently been maturing so rapidly that interest in each of its various facets, e.g., robotics, vision, natural language, supercomputing, and expert systems, has acquired an increasing following and cadre of practitioners. PAPERS are solicited which discuss the subject of the conference. Original research, analysis and approaches for defining expert systems issues and problems such as those identified in the anticipated session topics, methodological approaches for analyzing the scope and nature of expert system issues, and potential solutions are of particular interest. Completed papers are to be no longer than 20 pages including graphics and are due 1 May 1985. Four copies of papers are to be sent to: Dr. Kamal Karna, Program Chairman MITRE Corporation W852 1820 Dolley Madison Boulevard McLean, Virginia 22102 Phone (703) 883-5866 ARPANET: Karna @ Mitre Notification of acceptance and manuscript preparation instructions will be provided by 20 May 1985. THE CONFERENCE is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and The MITRE Corporation in cooperation with The Association for Computing Machinery, The American Association for Artificial Intelligence and The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics National Capital Section. This conference will offer high quality technical exchange and published proceedings. It will be held at Tyson's Westpark Hotel, Tysons Corner, McLean, VA, suburban Washington, D.C. TOPICS OF INTEREST The topics of interest include the expert systems in the following applications domains (but are not limited to): 1. Professional: Accounting, Consulting, Engineering, Finance, Instruction, Law, Marketing, Management, Medicine Systems, Intelligent DBMS 2. Office Automation: Text Understanding, Intelligent 3. Command & Control: Intelligence Analysis, Planning, Targeting, Communications, Air Traffic Control 4. Exploration: Space, Prospecting, Mineral, Oil Archeology 5. Weapon Systems: Adaptive Control, Electronic Warfare, Star Wars, Target Identification 6. System Engineering: Requirements, Preliminary Design, Critical Design, Testing, and QA 7. Equipment: Design Monitoring, Control, Diagnosis, Maintenance, Repair, Instruction 8. Project Management: Planning, Scheduling, Control 9. Flexible Automation: Factory and Plan Automation 10. Software: Automatic Programming, Specifications, Design, Production, Maintenance and Verification and Validation 11. Architecture: Single, Multiple, Distributed Problem Solving Tools 12. Imagery: Photo Interpretation, Mapping, etc. 13. Education: Concept Formation, Tutoring, Testing, Diagnosis, Learning 14. Entertainment and Intelligent Games, Investment and Expert Advice Giving: Finances, Retirement, Purchasing, Shopping, Intelligent Information Retrieval ------------------------------ End of AIList Digest ********************