mostow@fokker.rutgers.edu (Jack Mostow) (02/22/89)
NOBEL LAUREATE HERBERT SIMON TO VISIT RUTGERS Nobel laureate DR. HERBERT SIMON, Richard King Mellon University Professor of Computer Science and Psychology at Carnegie-Mellon University, will present two special Computer Science Department Colloquia at Rutgers University on Feb. 23. Dr. Simon, one of the founders of artificial intelligence, has been honored by such diverse bodies as the American Psychological Association, the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Political Science Association, the American Economic Association, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers for his research on human decision-making and problem-solving and their implications for social institutions. He has published over 600 papers and 20 books. A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1967, he received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1978 and the National Medal of Science in 1986. Dr. Simon has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Social Science Research Council, and of the Behavioral Science Division of the National Research Council, and was a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee. "LOGIC PROGRAMMING: A WRONG ROAD FOR AI" Time: 10:30am Thursday, February 23 Place: Hill Center 114, Busch Campus, Rutgers University Audience: This talk assumes a graduate level computer science background. Abstract: Logic programming derives from the metaphor of formal logic, a technology for verifying statements rigorously rather than for discovering them, which is necessarily inefficient for the latter purpose. Logic programming, in languages like PROLOG, discourages the proliferation of inference rules (aka "operators"); but effective search and discovery algorithms use such rules freely, including rules that are not analytic but incorporate assumptions from the subject-matter domain. The discouragingly slow progress of automatic theorem proving can be attributed to the adherence to the logic metaphor rather than the more satisfactory heuristic search metaphor. STRIPS is an interesting example of the abandonment of logic programming for heuristic search in the face of realistic problems. "SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AS COMPUTATION" Time: 2:50pm Thursday, February 23 Place: Hill Center 114, Busch Campus, Rutgers University Audience: This talk is aimed at a general audience interested in artificial intelligence and the process of scientific discovery. Abstract: The past decade has seen the creation of a substantial number of AI programs that are capable of making discoveries at a non-trivial (professional) level. Such programs include Meta-Dendral, AM and EURISKO, BACON and its associates (DALTON, GLAUBER, STAHL), and KEDADA. From these programs, we have learned much about the heuristics required for discovery, including heuristics for searching spaces of functions, heuristics for exploiting surprise, and heuristics for inventing new concepts. The prospects will be discussed of extending these advances to all major types of scientific activities, including the invention and design of problem representations. Dr. Simon's host is Asst. Prof. Jack Mostow of the Computer Science Department. For more information, contact Ms. Carol Petty at 932-2928.