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AIList Digest Volume 4 Issue 265
AIList Digest Monday, 24 Nov 1986 Volume 4 : Issue 265
Today's Topics:
Queries - GLISP & PEARL & PD OPS5 and/or LISP,
AI Tools - KEE on Symbolics vs. Xerox,
Education - Cognitive Science Programs,
Ethics - AI and the Arms Race
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Date: Thu, 20 Nov 86 14:03:05 est
From: rochester!tropix!dls@seismo.CSS.GOV (David L. Snyder )
Reply-to: tropix!dls@seismo.CSS.GOV (David L. Snyder )
Subject: glisp info request
Someone asked me about glisp today, and all I could remember/say is that
I thought Gordon Novak had written it. Anyone out there care to refresh
my memory/enlighten me?
Thanks.
David Snyder
GCA/Tropel Division
60 O'Connor Road
Fairport, NY 14450
P.S. Try tropix!dls@rochester as an arpa address if other alternatives fail.
------------------------------
Date: 20 Nov 86 18:53:56 GMT
From: ritcv!tropix!dls@ROCHESTER.ARPA (David L. Snyder )
Subject: PEARL info request
A few questions about pearl (Package for Efficient Access to
Representations in Lisp):
Can anyone tell me what, if any, activity is going on with pearl these
days? (Is the pearl-bugs mailing list still active?) Has anyone used
it for non-toy problems? Any chance it'll be ported into common
lisp? Is there something better that superceeds it (and is in the
public domain)?
Thanks!
P.S. Try tropix!dls@rochester as an arpa address if other alternatives fail.
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 86 20:01:08 GMT
From: decvax!wanginst!sullivan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Brian Sullivan)
Subject: PD OPS5 and/or LISP ???
Sorry if this question has already been asked. I am a new subscriber to
this news group.
Does anyone know of a public domaim or low-cost ops5 for the IBM or
Wang PC?
Does anyone know of a public domaim or low-cost lisp for the IBM or
Wang PC?
Please reply to the address below, thanks in advance.
-------
Brian M. Sullivan sullivan@wanginst (Csnet)
Wang Institute of Graduate Studies decvax!wanginst!sullivan (UUCP)
Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 (617) 649-9731
------------------------------
Date: 19 Nov 86 08:49 EST
From: SHAFFER%SCOVCB.decnet@ge-crd.arpa
Subject: KEE on Symbolics vs. Xerox
We are working on projects using Intellicorp's KEE on a Symbolics
system. We had been running KEE 2.1 using Zetalisp 6.1,2,3.
Recently, we have received the updates for both products. The
new KEE 3.0 incorporates the "worlds" concept along with an
implementation of Asumption-based Truth Maintenance System. (ABTMS)
The lastest version of Zetalisp is Symbolics Common Lisp. (Genera 7.0)
Is anyone else out there is a similar environment?
We are interested in the following situations:
1) KEE 2.1 to 3.0 conversion problems
a) using "worlds"
b) using ABTMS
c) using KEEPictures
2) Genera 7.0 performance
a) FLAVORS
b) presentation types
3) KEE environments
a) KEE 2.1 on Zetalisp
b) KEE 3.0 on Zetalisp
c) KEE 2.1 on Genera 7.0
d) KEE 3.0 on Genera 7.0
I would like to comment on the Symbolics Vs Xerox debate.
It seems to me that the discussion should involve a real
life application that runs on both machines. For example,
KEE or ART. And since Xerox and Symbolics will both be
using Common Lisp, even the language will be similar.
Create a portable, interactive application using KEE, lets
say, and run it on both machines similarly equiped. Wouldnt
this be a better thing than long, long, stories about someone's
dated experiences on one of the two machines.
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 86 22:19:34 GMT
From: milano!conklin@im4u.utexas.edu
Subject: Re: choosing grad schools
When I was there three years ago U. Mass. (Amherst) had an
aggressively interdisciplinary approach to Cognitive Science, involving
the Computer Science (COINS), Linguistics, Psychology, and
Philosophy departments. While there was no single department
and no degree, there was active encouragement for students to
take courses in the other departements, and many advanced seminars
were co-lead by faculty of several departments. I don't know
the status of things now, especially since Michael Arbib, a chief
architect of that approach, has gone on to USC in LA.
--
Jeff Conklin
MCC Software Technology Program
(512) 338-3562
conklin@MCC.arpa ut-sally!im4u!milano!conklin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 86 10:54:04 EST
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport%buffalo.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Cognitive Science at SUNY Buffalo
GRADUATE GROUP IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
Buffalo, NY 14260
Gail A. Bruder William J. Rapaport
Department of Psychology Department of Computer Science
rapaport@buffalo.csnet
Co-Directors, 1986-1987
Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary effort intended to investigate
the nature of the human mind. This effort requires the theoretical
approaches offered by computer science, linguistics, mathematics, philo-
sophy, psychology, and a host of other fields related by a mutual
interest in intelligent behavior.
The Graduate Group in Cognitive Science was formed to facilitate
cognitive science research at SUNY Buffalo. Its activities have focused
upon language-related issues and knowledge representation. These two
areas are important to the development of cognitive science and are well
represented at SUNY Buffalo by the research interests of faculty and
graduate students in the group.
Since its formal recognition in April 1981, the Graduate Group has
grown quickly. Currently, its membership of over 150 faculty and gradu-
ate students is drawn from the Departments of Computer Science; Psychol-
ogy; Linguistics; Communicative Disorders and Sciences; Philosophy;
Instruction; Communication; Counseling and Educational Psychology; Edu-
cational Organization, Administration, and Policy Studies; the Intensive
English Language Institute; Geography; and Industrial Engineering; as
well as other area colleges and universities. The Group sponsors lec-
tures and informal discussions with visiting scholars; discussion groups
focused on Group members' current research; an interdisciplinary, team-
taught, graduate course, "Introduction to Cognitive Science"; a graduate
seminar on current topics and issues in language understanding; and a
Cognitive Science Library.
1985 COLLOQUIA
Our colloquium speakers during 1985 included Andrew Ortony (Psychology,
Illinois), David Waltz (Computer Science, Brandeis), Alice ter Meulen
(Linguistics, Washington), Joan Bybee (Linguistics, SUNY Buffalo), Livia
Polanyi (AI, BBN), Joan Bresnan (Linguistics, Stanford), Leonard Talmy
(Linguistics, Berkeley), Judith Johnston (Communicative Disorders, Indi-
ana), Richard Weist (Psychology, SUNY Fredonia), and Benjamin Kuipers
(AI, Texas).
RESEARCH PROJECT
A research subgroup of the Graduate Group in Cognitive Science is
actively engaged in an interdisciplinary research project investigating
narrative comprehension, specifically the role of a "deictic center".
Grant proposals, conference papers, publications, and several disserta-
tion proposals have come from this collaborative effort. A technical
report describing this project--Bruder et al., "Deictic Centers in Nar-
rative: An Interdisciplinary Cognitive-Science Project," SUNY Buffalo
Department of Computer Science Technical Report No. 86-20--is available
from William J. Rapaport, at the above address.
Specifically, we are developing a model of a cognitive agent's
comprehension of narrative text. Our model will be tested on a computer
system that will represent the agent's beliefs about the objects, rela-
tions, and events in narrative as a function of the form and content of
the successive sentences encountered. In particular, we are concentrat-
ing on the role of spatial, temporal, and focal-character information
for the cognitive agent's comprehension.
We propose to test the hypothesis that the construction and modifi-
cation of a deictic center is of crucial importance for much comprehen-
sion of narrative. We see the deictic center as the locus in conceptual
space-time of the objects and events depicted or described by the sen-
tences currently being perceived. At any point in the narrative, the
cognitive agent's attention is focused on particular characters (and
other objects) standing in particular spatial and temporal relations to
each other. Moreover, the agent "looks" at the narrative from the per-
spective of a particular character, spatial location, or temporal loca-
tion. Thus, the deictic center consists of a WHERE-point, a WHEN-point,
and a WHO-point. In addition, reference to characters' beliefs, per-
sonalities, etc., are also constrained by the deictic center.
We plan to develop a computer system that will "read" a narrative
and answer questions about the deictic information in the text. To
achieve this goal, we intend to carry out a group of projects that will
allow us to discover the linguistic devices in narrative texts, test
their psychological reality for normal and abnormal comprehenders, and
analyze psychological mechanisms that underlie them. Once we have the
results of the individual projects, we will integrate them and work to
build a unified theory and representational system that incorporates the
significant findings. Finally, we will test the system for coherence
and accuracy in modeling a human reader, and modify it as necessary.
COURSEWORK
The Graduate Group in Cognitive Science provides students with the
opportunity for training and research in Cognitive Science at the Ph.D.
level. Students must be residents in a host department (Communicative
Disorders and Sciences, Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy,
Psychology), whose requirements must be fulfilled (but which can include
coursework in the other Cognitive Science disciplines), and must meet
certain additional requirements: enrollment in the graduate course,
Introduction to Cognitive Science; and the completion of a "Focus" in
one other participating department. Further details are available from
the Co-Directors of the Group.
The Graduate Group faculty also encourages outstanding undergradu-
ates to develop an interest in Cognitive Science. Qualified undergradu-
ates may request admission to the graduate course (Introduction to Cog-
nitive Science) and can design a major in Cognitive Science under the
Special Majors program at SUNY Buffalo.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 86 10:54:04 EST
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport%buffalo.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Graduate Group in Vision at SUNY Buffalo
GRADUATE GROUP IN VISION
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
Buffalo, NY 14260
Malcolm Slaughter
Department of Biophysics
Director, 1986-1987
It is becoming increasingly important for vision researchers in diverse
fields to interact, and the SUNY Buffalo Graduate Group in Vision has
been formed to facilitate that interaction. Current membership includes
25 faculty and 25 students from 10 departments (Computer Science,
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Geography,
Psychology, Biophysics, Physiology, Biochemistry, Philosophy, and Media
Studies). The Group organizes a colloquium series and provides central-
ized information about activities both on campus and in the local area
that are of interest to vision researchers.
The Vision Group received formal recognition and funding in April
1986. The 1986-87 activities include: biweekly meetings to discuss the
current research being performed in one of the 20 vision laboratories
represented in the group; an upper division undergraduate/lower-level-
graduate course, which serves as an introduction to interdisciplinary
research in vision; and a colloquium series. This year's speakers
include Jerry Feldman (Computer Science, Rochester), Peter Shiller
(Psychology, MIT), Bela Julesz (Psychology, Bell Labs/Murray Hill),
Tomaso Poggio (AI, MIT; tentative), and Ed Pugh (Biophysics, Pennsyl-
vania; tentative).
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 86 04:32:47 GMT
From: rutgers!cbmvax!bpa!burdvax!blenko@SPAM.ISTC.SRI.COM (Tom
Blenko)
Subject: Re: AI and the Arms Race
In article <8611181719.AA00510@watdcsu.uucp> "B. Lindsay Patten"
<shen5%watdcsu.waterloo.edu@RELAY.CS.NET> writes:
[... stuff ...]
|The real point Dr. Weizenbaum was trying to make (in my
|opinion) was that we should weigh the good and bad applications of
|our work and decide which outweighs the other.
If Weizenbaum or anyone else thinks he or she can succeeded in weighing
possible good and bad applications, I think he is mistaken. Wildly
mistaken.
Why does Weizenbaum think technologists are, even within the bounds of
conventional wisdom, competent to make such judgements in the first
place? Everywhere I turn there is a technologist telling me why SDI
cannot succeed -- which tells me that technologists fail to comprehend
consequences of their work from any perspective except their own. Is
it not possible that the principal consequences of SDI will be
something other than an operational defense system?
Why doesn't Weizenbaum do some research and talk about it? Why is
Waterloo inviting him to talk on anything other than his research
results? No reply necessary, but doesn't the fact that technically-
oriented audiences are willing to spend their time listening to this
sort of amateur preaching itself suggest what their limitations are
with regard to difficult ethical questions?
Tom
------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 86 07:46:41 GMT
From: anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson)
Subject: Re: AI and the Arms Race
In article <2862@burdvax.UUCP>, blenko@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Blenko) writes:
| Why doesn't Weizenbaum do some research and talk about it? Why is
| Waterloo inviting him to talk on anything other than his research
| results? No reply necessary, but doesn't the fact that technically-
| oriented audiences are willing to spend their time listening to this
| sort of amateur preaching itself suggest what their limitations are
| with regard to difficult ethical questions?
Even as a preacher, Weizenbaum is hardly an amateur! Do be fair. On
your last point, I would claim the evidence shows just the opposite
of what you claim, namely that technically-oriented audiences are
willing to spend their time listening to intelligent opinions shows
that they are more qualified than some people think to consider
difficult ethical questions. Of course I am an amateur, too -- of
life (remember what the word means!).
--
==ARPA:====================anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson======
| UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz, 1210 W. Dayton |
| akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson Madison, WI 53706 |
==BITNET:============================anderson@wiscmacc===608/263-6988=======
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End of AIList Digest
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