Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
AIList Digest Volume 1 Issue 067
AIList Digest Friday, 30 Sep 1983 Volume 1 : Issue 67
Today's Topics:
Alvey Report & Fifth Generation,
AI at Edinburgh - Reply,
Machine Organisms - Desirability,
Humor - Famous Flamer's School
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 23 Sep 83 13:17:41-PDT (Fri)
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!watmath!watdaisy!rggoebel@Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Alvey Report and Fifth Generation
Article-I.D.: watdaisy.298
The ``Alvey Report'' is the popular name for the following booklet:
A Programme for Advanced Information Technology
The Report of the Alvey Committee
published by the British Department of Industry, and available from
Her Majesty's Stationery Office. One London address is
49 High Holborn
London WC1V 6HB
The report is indeed interesting because it is a kind of response to
the Japanese Fifth Generation Project, but is is also interesting in
that it is not nearly so much the genesis of a new project as the
organization of existing potential for research and development. The
quickest way to explain the point is that of the proposed 352 million
pounds that the report suggests to be spent, only 42 million is for
AI (Actually it's not for AI, but for IKBS-Intelligent Knowledge Based
Systems; seniors will understand the reluctance to use the word AI after
the Lighthill report).
The areas of proposed development include 1) Software engineering,
2) Man/Machine Interfaces, 3) IKBS, and 4) VLSI. I have heard the
the most recent national budget in Britain has not committed the
funds expected for the project, but this is only rumor. I would appreciate
further information (Can you help D.H.D.W.?).
On another related topic, I think it displays a bit of AI chauvinism
to believe that anyone, including the Japanese and the British
are so naive as to put all the eggs in one basket.
Incidently, I believe Feigenbaum and McCorduck's book revealed
at least two things: a disguised plea for more funding, and a not so
disguised expose of American engineering chauvinism. Much of the American
reaction to the Japanese project sounds like the old cliches of
male chauvinism like ``...how could a women ever do the work of a real man?''
It just maybe that American Lisper's may end up ``eating quiche.'' 8-)
Randy Goebel
Logic Programming Group
University of Waterloo
UUCP: watmath!rggoebel
------------------------------
Date: Tue 27 Sep 83 22:31:28-PDT
From: PEREIRA@SRI-AI.ARPA
Subject: Re: U of Edinburgh, Scotland Inquiry
Since the Lighthill Report, a lot has changed for AI in Britain. The
Alvey Report (British Department of Industry) and the Science and
Engineering Research Council (SERC) initiative on Intelligent
Knowledge-Based Systems (IKBS) have released a lot of money for
Information Technology in general, and AI in particular (It remains to
be seen whether that huge amount of money -- 100s of millions -- is
going to be spent wisely). The Edinburgh Department of AI has managed
to get a substantial slice of that money. They have been actively
looking for people both at lecturer and research associate/fellow
level [a good opportunity for young AIers from the US to get to know
Scotland, her great people and unforgetable Highlands].
The AI Dept. have recently added 3 (4?) new people to their teaching
staff, and have more machines, research staff, and students than ever.
The main areas they work on are: Natural Language (Henry Thompson,
Mark Steedman, Graeme Ritchie), controlled deduction and problem
solving (Alan Bundy and his research assistant and students), Robotics
(Robin Popplestone, Pat Ambler and a number of others), LOGO-style
stuff (Jim Howe [head of department] and Peter Ross) and AI languages
(Robert Rae, Dave Bowen and others). There are probably others I
don't remember. The AI Dept. is both on UUCP and on a network
connected to ARPANET:
<username>%edxa%ucl-cs@isid (ARPANET)
...!vax135!edcaad!edee!edai!<username> (UUCP)
I have partial lists of user names for both connections which I will
mail directly to interested persons.
Fernando Pereira SRI AI Center [an old Edinburgh hand]
pereira@sri-ai (ARPA) ...!ucbvax!pereira@sri-ai (UUCP)
------------------------------
Date: 24 Sep 83 3:54:20-PDT (Sat)
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!hakanson @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Machine Organisms? - (nf)
Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.1920
I was reading a novel recently, and ran across the following passage re-
lating to "intelligent" machines, robots, etc. In case anyone is interested,
the book is Satan's World, by Poul Anderson, Doubleday 1969 (p. 132).
(I hope this article doesn't seem more appropriate to sf-lovers than to ai.)
... They had electronic speed and precision, yes, but not
full decision-making capacity. ... This is not for lack
of mystic vital forces. Rather, the biological creature
has available to him so much more physical organization.
Besides sensor-computer-effector systems comparable to
those of the machine, he has feed-in from glands, fluids,
chemistry reaching down to the molecular level -- the
integrated ultracomplexity, the entire battery of
*instincts* -- that a billion-odd years of ruthlessly
selective evolution have brought forth. He perceives and
thinks with a wholeness transcending any possible symbolism;
his purposes arise from within, and therefore are infinitely
flexible. The robot can only do what it was designed to
do. Self-programming has [can] extended these limits, to the
point where actual consciousness may occur if desired. But
they remain narrower than the limits of those who made
the machines.
Later in the book, the author describes a view that if a robot "were so
highly developed as to be equivalent to a biological organism, there
would be no point in building it." This is explained as being true
because "nature has already provided us means for making new biological
organisms, a lot cheaper and more fun than producing robots."
I won't go on with the discussion in the book, as it degenerates into the
usual debate about the theoretical, fully motivated computer that is
superior in any way..., and how such a computer would rule the world, etc.
My point in posting the above passage was to ask the experts of netland
to give their opinions of the aforementioned views.
More specifically, how do we feel about the possibilities of building
machines that are "equivalent" to intelligent biological organisms?
Or even non-intelligent ones? Is it possible? And if so, why bother?
It's probably obvious that we don't need to disagree with the views given
by the author in order to want to continue with our studies in Artificial
Intelligence. But how many of us do agree? Disagree?
Marion Hakanson {hp-pcd,teklabs}!orstcs!hakanson (Usenet)
hakanson.oregon-state@rand-relay (CSnet)
hakanson@{oregon-state,orstcs} (also CSnet)
------------------------------
Date: Wed 28 Sep 83 17:18:53-PDT
From: Peter Karp <KARP@SUMEX-AIM>
Subject: Amusement from CMU's opinion bboard
[Reprinted from the CMU opinion board via the SU-SCORE bboard.]
[The originator of this piece is Jeff.Shrager@CMU-CS-A.]
Ever dreamed of flaming with the Big Boys? ... Had that desire to
write an immense diatribe, berating de facto all your peers who hold
contrary opinions? ... Felt the urge to have your fingers moving
without being connected to your brain? Well, by simply sending in the
form on the back of this bboard post, you could begin climbing into
your pulpit alongside greats from all walks of life such as Chomsky,
Weizenbaum, Reagan, Von Danneken, Ellison, Abzug, Arifat and many many
more. You don't even have to leave the comfort of your armchair!
Here's how it works: Each week we send you a new lesson. You read
the notes and then simply write one essay each week on the assigned
topic. Your essays will be read by our expert pool of professional
flamers and graded on Sparsity, Style, Overtness, Incoherence, and a
host of other important aspects. You will receive a long letter from
your specially selected advisor indicating in great detail why you
obviously have the intellectual depth of a soap dish. This
apprenticeship is all there is to it.
Here are some examples of the courses offered by The School:
Classical Flames: You will study the flamers who started it
all. For example, Descarte's much quoted demonstration that reality
isn't. Special attention is paid, in this course, to the old and new
testaments and how western flaming was influenced by their structure.
(The Bible plays a particularly important role in our program and most
courses will spend at least some time tracing biblical origins or
associations of their special topic. See, particularly, the special
seminar on Space Cadetism, which concentrate on ESP and UFO
phenomena.)
Contemporary Flame Technique: Attention is paid to the detail
of flame form in this course. The student will practice the subtle
and overt ad hominem argument; fact avoidance maneuvers; "at length"
writing style; over generalization; and other important factor which
make the modern flame inaccessible to the general populace. Readings
from Russell ("Now I will admit that some unusually stupid children of
ten may find this material a bit difficult to fathom..."), Skinner,
(primarily concentrating on his Verbal Learning), Sagan (on abstract
overestimation) and many others. This course is most concerned with
politicians (sometimes, redundantly, referred to as "political
flamers") since their speech writers are particularly adept at the
technique that we wish to foster.
Appearing Brilliant (thanks to the Harvard Lampoon): Nobel
laureates lecture on topics of world import but which are very much
outside their field of expertise. There is a large representation of
Nobels in physics: the discoverer of the UnCharmed Pi Mesa Beta Quark
explains how the population explosion can be averted through proper
reculterization of mothers; and professor Nikervator, first person to
properly develop the theory of faster- than-sound "Whizon" docking
coreography, tells us how mind is the sole theological entity.
Special seminar in terminology: The name that you give
something is clearly more important than its semantics. Experts in
nomenclature demonstrate their skills. Pulitzer Prize winner Douglas
Hofstader makes up 15,000 new words whose definitions, when read
sideways prove the existence of themselves and constitute fifteen
months of columns in Scientific American. A special round table of
drug company and computer corporation representatives discuss how to
construct catchy names for new products and never give the slightest
hint to the public about what they mean.
Writing the Scientific Journal Flame: Our graduates will be
able to compete in the modern world of academic and industrial
research flaming, where the call is high for trained pontificators.
the student reads short sections from several fields and then may
select a field of concentration for detailed study.
Here is an example description of a detailed scientific flaming
seminar:
Computer Science: This very new field deals directly with the
very metal of the flamer's tools: information and communication. The
student selecting computer science will study several areas including,
but not exclusively:
Artificial Intelligence: Roger Schank explains the design of
his flame understanding and generation engine (RUSHIN) and
will explain how the techniques that it employs constitute a
complete model of mind, brain, intelligence, and quantum
electrodynamics. For contrast, Marvin Minsky does the same.
Weizenbaum tells us, with absolutely no data or alternative
model, why AI is logically impossible, and moreover,
immoral.
Programming Languages: A round table is held between Wirth,
Hoare, Dykstra, Iverson, Perlis, and Jean Samett, in order
to keep them from killing each other.
Machines and systems: Fred Brooks and Gordon Bell lead a
field of experts over the visual cliff of hardware
considerations.
The list of authoritative lectures goes on and on. In addition, an
inspiring introduction by Feigenbaum explains how important it is that
flame superiority be maintained by the United States in the face of
the recent challenges from Namibia and the Panama Canal zone.
But there's more. Not only will you read famous flamers in abundance,
but you will actually have the opportunity to "run with the pack".
The Famous Flamer's School has arranged to provide access for all
computer science track students, to the famous ARPANet where students
will be able to actually participate in discussions of earthshaking
current importance, along with the other brilliant young flamers using
this nationwide resource. You'll read and write about whether
keyboards should have a space bar across the whole bottom or split
under the thumbs; whether or not Emacs is God, and which deity is the
one true editor; whether the brain actually cools the body or not;
whether the earth revolves around the sun or vice versa -- and much
more. You contributions will be whisked across the nation, faster
than throwing a 2400 foot magtape across the room, into the minds of
thousands of other electrolusers whose brain cells will merge with
yours for the moment that they read your personal opinion of matters
of true science! What importance!
We believe that the program we've constructed is very special and will
provide, for the motivated student, an atmosphere almost completely
content free in which his or her ideas can flow in vacuity. So, take
the moment to indicate your name, address, age, and hat size by
filling out the rear of this post and mailing it to:
FAMOUS FLAMER'S SCHOOL
c/o Locker number 6E
Grand Central Station North
New York, NY.
Act now or forever hold your peace.
------------------------------
End of AIList Digest
********************
