bboyer@orion.oac.uci.edu (Bruce Boyer) (04/19/91)
I am interested in hearing from: - Philosophers who are working in AI - Managers of AI projects - Anyone else interested in the employment of philosophers on AI projects Comments are frequently made in AI literature tipping the hat to the relevance of philsophy to AI. I would like to hear some suggestions on how a philosopher (e.g., myself) could be profitably involved in a non-academic ("real life") AI project. I would not expect a philosopher could fill the same position as one would seek to fill with a computer scientist. For example, one would not expect a philosopher to have extensive programming experience, though some, including familiarity with LISP (?), might be expected. On the other hand, the type of problem analysis that philosophers are trained to do might be of great help. Computer scientists, even those trained in AI, tend to have a certain "engineering perspective," which leads to applying know techniques (tricks of the trade) to a problem to achieve as quick a solution as possible. A philosopher may be able to provide a different angle on the problem analysis, and hence on how to achieve a better solution. Perhaps the best involvement is not directly in research at all, but in support types of positions: marketing, project management, training, and so on. I look forward to your comments. You may post them to this news service, email them to me (orion.oac.uci.edu!bboyer), or write via conventional mail (see address below). Thank you. Bruce L. Boyer 18011 Theodora Tustin, CA 92680