Shrager.pa@XEROX.COM (01/02/87)
Pursuent (-suant? -suint?) to Joseph Katz' call for workshop proposals for AAAI-87, here are some suggestions: *A. Hype: Hype and fleecing technology is growing in importance, even as the field stagnates. This workshop will focus on virtual expert systems for trivial domains; simulated robotics; and machine learning. Attendance is limited to those who have contriubuted heavily to the popular press (e.g., AI Magazine), or previous AAAI meetings. Invited speakers: >>censored<<. *B. AI and Softwar Engineering: This workshop will explore applications of AI to wiping all living things off the face of the earth, and destroying most beautiful natural and man-made objects. Since there are so many relevant projects currently in progress, attendance will be strictly limited to those who are not and have never been members of the democratic party (no voter reg. cards required, we know who you are). A special talk will be given by John DOE of The Agency, entitled: "Automated Paranoia in the Pentagon's ''NutShell'' Programming Environment". *C. The Philosopher's Stone: Philosophy faculty will gather at this workshop to discuss investigations in the morals and methods of utilizing AI toward tenure and potential relevance. A special section will be given on introductory programming (probably Lisp or Basic) for those interested in gaining more understanding of the field. (This workshop will not overlap with the workshop on Softwar Engineering). *D. Problem Finding: The problem-solving community is running short of problems that are isomorphic to either the Tower of Hanoi, or the N-Queens puzzle. In this workshop proposals will be considered for problem domains that are probably intractible, but still irrelevant. The participants will also explore methods of going beyond renaming one's symbol set in moving to a new domain. (Proposed technical sessions urgently called for!) #E. Machine Vision: -- Cancelled due to difficulties in finding a room -- #6. Quantitative Physics: The successes and failures of qualitative physics in AI has led researchers to propose a "quantitative physics" as a finer approximation to reality. This meeting will focus on several special topics in this newly emerging field including discovery of some fascinating *quantitative* representations of the behavior of an object moving in a straight line in a perfect vacuum with no external forces, and a way of *quantitatively* figuring out how fast a car will come to a stop from a certain ideal (quantitative) velocity given certain ideal braking forces. Some recent results in quantitaive limit cases will also be given, as an extension to recently developed quantitative algebras. Invited speaker: Ceteris Paribus of the U. of Milan. #n. Humor: It is widely recognized that AI takes itself too $%~#ing seriously. The purpose of this workshop will be to formulate a policy toward a more laid-back field with enough maturity to laugh at itself a little. Attendees must submit a title and abstract in some pseudo-field. Previous examples have included: "A Black Magic Advisor", "Why the Editor has no Close", and a series of proposed AAAI-87 workshops. Invited speaker: Drew McDermott.