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AIList Digest Volume 5 Issue 082
AIList Digest Wednesday, 18 Mar 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 82
Today's Topics:
Queries - Public-Domain Planners & Kyoto Common Lisp &
Toshiba Voice Recognition Chip & OPS5 Public-Domain Code &
Rete match, OPSxx, Charles Forgy & AI in Space Stations &
Connectionist Computing vs Distributed Computing,
Announcement - DEC 10 and PDP-6 History Project,
Review - Borning's "Computers...& Nuclean-War" in NY Times
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 87 09:07:14 -0100
From: unido!gmdzi!hertz@seismo.CSS.GOV (Joachim Hertzberg)
Subject: Hertzberg2
Does anybody have reimplementations (or the original implementations
or micro-implementations) on standard-machines (VAX, SYMBOLICS, ...)
of one of the "classical" AI-planners publicly available (for
non-profit organizations)?
Joachim Hertzberg
GMD
Postfach 1240
5205 ST. AUGUSTIN
W-GERMANY
hertz%xps@gmdzi.usenet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 87 15:30:19 est
From: michael@dolphin.BU.EDU (Michael Forte)
Subject: Kyoto Common Lisp
My name is Michael Forte. I work in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at
the Boston University Academic Computing Center. Presently, I am researching
the uses of Lisp for graphics systems, particularly for user interfaces.
We are using a Celerity 1260 dual processor machine for our graphics
number crunching. Unfortunately, there is no Lisp available for this
machine yet, and Celerity says it will be quite a while before Common Lisp
(my preference, for portability reasons) is available for their line of
machines.
I was referred to you for information on the availablity of Kyoto Common Lisp.
We do have a very good C compiler, and if Kyoto Lisp is written in C I could
probably port it to our machine easily.
Would you please send me information about Kyoto Common Lisp, including
pricing, educational discounts, etc.
You may write to me at:
Michael Forte
Computer Graphics Lab
Academic Computing Center
111 Cummington Street
Boston University
Boston, Mass. 02215
if email is not appropriate. I may also be reached by phone at
617-353-2780. Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 18:58:04 GMT
From: ssc-vax!bcsaic!michaelm@BEAVER.CS.WASHINGTON.EDU (Michael
Maxwell)
Subject: Re: Toshiba voice recognition chip
In article <1895@hoptoad.uucp> gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes:
>A recent article in Newsbytes Japan mentions:
>
> Toshiba's Voice Recognition LSI -- Toshiba (Tokyo) has developed
> a powerful LSI for recognizing human speech. This new product
> recognizes a variety of spoken sounds with 95% accuracy.
> Toshiba plans to use this LSI for a voice input system for its
> word processors.
This is a rather meaningless statement, even for a press release. How many
sounds? What kind of sounds (individual phones (~=letters), words, phrases,
whistles etc.)? If it's talking about speech sounds (as opposed to any sounds
the human vocal tract can make), what is the size of the
vocabulary one can build with it? Do words have to be separated by silence?
Does it work in real time? Is it even trainable? (I can imagine having to
talk to my computer with a Japanese accent :-) If anyone knows more about
this...
There are lots of voice recognition boards out there. Most are fairly
primitive, which is part of the reason we haven't them used more.
Need I say that my employer doesn't necessarily share my opinion?
--
Mike Maxwell
Boeing Advanced Technology Center
arpa: michaelm@boeing.com
uucp: uw-beaver!uw-june!bcsaic!michaelm
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 00:22:54 GMT
From: clyde!masscomp!wang7!eric@rutgers.rutgers.edu (eric)
Subject: OPS5 PUBLIC DOMAIN CODE
HELP!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO GET A COPY OF THE COMMON LISP OPS5 INTERPRETER
IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. I need it yesterday! Please email to me. I will
give you my first born son or considerable gratitude.
Eric Van Tassell
clyde!bonnie!masscomp!wang7!eric
clyde!bonnie!masscomp!dlcdev!eric
dlcdev!eric@eddie.mit.edu
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 87 23:54:46 GMT
From: clyde!masscomp!wang7!eric@rutgers.rutgers.edu (eric)
Subject: Rete match, OPSxx, Charles Forgy
Hello, I'm a grad student at B.U. doing some investigation
of production systems. I am interested in any and all information people
on the net may have relating to the rete match algorithm and the OPS family
of languages. Also does anyone know if Dr. Charles Forgy can be e-mail to on
the net? Thanks in advance. Remember if you email quickly, the life you save
may be mine.
Eric Van Tassell
clyde!bonnie!masscomp!wang7!eric
clyde!bonnie!masscomp!dlcdev!eric
harvard!mit-eddie!dlcdev!eric
dlcdev!eric@eddie.mit.edu
[CLF@G.CS.CMU.EDU -- KIL]
------------------------------
Date: 17 Mar 87 16:20:57 GMT
From: uwai!mehta@rsch.wisc.edu (Shekhar Mehta.)
Subject: AI - its use in Space stations
I would like to know how AI would be useful for space stations.
I am particularly interested in its application considering the distance
between the space craft and earth ( and therefore there being finite time for
commands to given from earth stations). How and in what way will AI deal with
this problem.
I would like to get some pointers as to where to begin searching for AI's
application in space ( particularly the space station).
shekhar mehta
mehta@ai.wisc.edu
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 12:40:15 GMT
From: Dekang Lindek <mcvax!cs.strath.ac.uk!lindek@seismo.CSS.GOV>
Reply-to: lindek@cs.strath.ac.uk (Dekang Lindek)
Subject: diff "connectionist computing" "distributed computing"
Any one know the result of the title of this article?
advThanksance.
!-@-#-$-%-^-&-*-(-)-!-@-#-$-%-^-&-*-(-)-!-@-#-$-%-^-&-*-(-)
Dekang Lin
Dept. of CS
Univ. of Strathclyde
26 Richmond St.
Glasgow, G1 1XH, U.K.
lindek%cs.strath.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa
....!seismo!mcvax!ukc!strath-cs!lindek
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 1987 1311-EST
From: "Joe Dempster, DTN: 336.2252 AT&T: 609.665.8711"
<DEMPSTER@MARLBORO.DEC.COM>
Subject: Announcement of the DEC 10 and PDP-6 history project
(PROJECT-10262)
This message originates from 2 sources:
Les Earnest
Computer Science Department
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Stanford, CA 94305
415.723.9729
ARPA: LES@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU
Joe Dempster
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
6 Cherry Hill Executive Campus
Route 70
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
609.665.8711
ARPA: DEMPSTER@MARLBORO.DEC.COM (MARKET)
The goal of this project is to publish an analysis and history of
the evolution, implementation and use of Digital's 36 bit systems.
This period began with the PDP-6 in 1964 and continues today with
TOPS 10/20 development, which is scheduled to end in 1988.
We are working aggressively to finish the project, and have it
published, by March/April 1988. This will require that the
completed manuscript be ready to go into the publication cycle
by August 1987!
The project will attempt to answer the following questions:
1. In what markets/applications were these systems used?
2. Who were the users of these systems and what impact did
roughly 2,500 TOPS 10/20 systems have on their organizations?
3. Who were the principle system architects of these systems?
What features, and if there had been sufficient time to
implement them, would have significantly improved the
architecture?
4. What impact did the decision to continue to examine design
extensions to the architecture have on the usefulness and
acceptability of these systems. This is in contrast to a
more common practice today to work from a detailed design
specification, sometimes dated, building follow-on systems
which provide increased performance through the use of new
component technologies and packaging techniques.
5. What part of the overall design (TOPS10/20) was technology
dependent and what can still be considered "unequaled" in
relation to other computer architectures still undergoing
active development?
6. What type of development environment (both HW and SW)
supported and contributed to the evolution of 36 bit
systems?
7. What influence did TOPS 10/20 have on other vendors system
development?
This history will undoubtedly be assembled from many sources and
participants. Some information will be anecdotal; there will be
interviews with the people involved (users and developers) and technical
papers will be solicited. Of course there will also be the packaging
and assembly of facts as we see them.
The result will hopefully have sufficient depth to serve as:
1. An introductory or advanced text on system design and
hardware/system software implementation.
2. A analysis of the success and difficulties of marketing
complex systems into a very crowded market of competing
alternatives.
3. A catharsis for those of us who have contributed to the
development and use these systems and who will now move
onto new computing architectures and opportunities.
In addition to interviewing directly 25-50 developers, users and
product managers we will continue to work to identify contributors
and significant events up to when the final draft is submitted to
the publisher. Two "topics" are already under development:
1. Rob Gingell from SUN is working on a paper which looks
at extensions to TOPS 20 which would have enhanced its
capabilities.
2. Frank da Cruz and Columbia are summarizing 10 years of
experience and development of TOPS 20 systems. Some
effort will also be made to detail the process which
lead to their selection of a follow-on architecture to
TOPS 20.
There is a need to develop additional topics which represent the
use and application of the technology (TOPS 10/20) in other areas.
Specific recommendations are welcome as are proposals to develop
them. A short abstract should accompany any such proposal. Every
effort will be made to work with individuals or organizations
interested in making such a contribution.
There will be a standalone (no network connections) DECSYSTEM 2020
(YIPYIP) dedicated to supporting the project. This system has a 3
line hunt group, with all lines accessible from a single number
(201.874.8612).
Both YIPYIP and MARKET will have "public" directories for remote
login (<log>DEMPSTER.PROJECT-10262 <Password>LCGLCG). MARKET can
be accessed by modem (617.467.7437), however disk quota is limited.
MARKET's primary purpose <DEMPSTER.PROJECT-10262> is ARPAnet TELNET
access. YIPYIP is a dedicated PROJECT-10262 system. MAIL can also
be sent to DEMPSTER on either system.
YIPYIP and MARKET will keep a running summary of ideas and comments
up on Columbia's BBOARD software. KERMIT also runs on each system
for uploads.
SAIL.STANFORD.EDU will support ARPAnet transfers to a "public" area:
FTP<ret>
CONNECT SAIL.STANFORD.EDU<ret>
SEND AFN.EXT<ret>
DSK: AFN.EXT [PUB,LES]<ret>
SAIL runs WAITS, an operating system similiar to TOPS 10. File
names are limited to 6 characters and extensions limited to 3.
Implementation details:
1. User input is welcomed and desired from all application
and geographic areas.
2. Input from past and present developers is also desired.
3. Throughout the project a secondary goal will be to build
a list of users/locations (installation date, duration and
disposition) of PDP-6 and KA, KI, KL and KS systems.
Serial numbers, if available, are requested.
4. We anticipate that this project will generate a large
volume of information (which we hope will arrive
electronically). Some information, for any number of
reasons, may not be in line with the project's stated
goals. Therefore, all notes, interview material and
submissions will be donated to the Computer Museum in Boston
at the the completion of the project to be available for
future reference and research.
Ideas, contributions, suggestions and criticism are welcome. As these
36 bit systems were the products of a multitude of people, so too
will be the writing of their history.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 17:37:54 GMT
From: jon@june.cs.washington.edu (Jon Jacky)
Subject: AI books and paper (Borning's "Computers...& N-war) in NY
TIMES
Eric Sandberg-Diment's regular column in the business section of
the NEW YORK TIMES, called "The
Executive Computer", this Sunday (3/15/87, p. F18, National Edition) reviews
two popular books on computing: Grant Fjermdahl's THE TOMORROW MAKERS and
Theodore Roszak's THE CULT OF INFORMATION (he criticizes both as being
extreme views). At the end, Sandberg-Diment adds:
The artificial intelligence community and, in fact, the entire computer
cabal are nevertheless trying to mislead us into accepting the notion that
the difference between the "mind" of the computer and the mind of man is
merely a matter of degree, and that not only will this difference be
eliminated in short order, but soon people will rank second to computers in
their cognitive abilities and responsiveness.
In contemplating this thesis, the article "Computer system reliability and
nuclear war," by Alan Borning in the February 1987 issue of Communications
of the ACM ($12 from the ACM, Order Dept., POB 64145, Baltimore, MD 21264)
is must reading. Published in a journal not normally decipherable by the
average individual, it is probably the clearest essay to date on why the
Strategic Defense Initiative is both inevitable and doomed to failure.
Here is an instance where information filtering cannot be gainsaid, for
there is no way the nonspecialist could successfully draw on the 140-plus
sources the author used as background for his thesis. The article is also
one that leaves the reader with a sense of fatalism, along with perhaps an
unspoken addendum to Samuel Johnson's observation that "the future is
purchased by the present" -- how expensive it all will be in terms of
humanity. At a time when there is a very real danger of our subjugating
ourselves to machines to an extent far greater than already realized,
readings such as these may well be all that keep our minds from becoming
irreversibly enslaved."
-Jonathan Jacky
University of Washington
------------------------------
End of AIList Digest
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