HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ginsberg@t.Stanford.EDU (Matthew L. Ginsberg)
Subject: comments on AI FAQ
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 14:39:26 GMT


Having just read this for the first time, I found it quite a bit
CMU oriented.  Perhaps I can widen the scope a bit, and perhaps Mr.
Kantrowitz might include these remarks in subsequent postings.

[1] Bibliography of intro texts.  Interesting that the Rich/Knight
is the only one to make it to the main list.  Winston has a new edition
(1992).

The knowledge representation section is pretty impoverished.  Morgan
Kaufmann has many excellent KR books beyond the single readings volume
listed.  The topics list is also a bit odd -- a section on fuzzy logic
but none on probability?  What about Pearl's probability book?  I
personally wouldn't include individual papers here; it's too easy to
fall into the trap of including primarily the papers from one's own
institution.

There should also be a list of the major AI conferences and where the
proceedings can be obtained.

[4] FTP resources.  I maintain some stuff available by anonymous ftp
from t.stanford.edu:

/u/ftp/public: A list of publicly available AI systems, together with
instructions on how to obtain each.

/u/ftp/papers: All the papers I've written since 1989 or so.  A list
of AI authors with similar mechanisms would be really useful.

/u/ftp/mvl: The MVL theorem proving system, together with documentation.

[11] Commercial AI products.  It is really sad to see exactly one
product here, distributed by a group in Pittsburgh.

						Matt Ginsberg

Xref: sparky comp.ai:3428 news.answers:2879
From: allis@cs.rulimburg.nl (Victor Allis)
Subject: Re: 8 Puzzle (Is it connected)
Organization: University of Limburg
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 08:23:50 GMT

>The proof goes like this:

>1) A single move is an exchange between the empty space and one other
>   piece.

>2) The empty space will, in a single move, change from a black square
>   to a white or vice versa.

>3) Thus any sequence of moves that leaves the empty space on the same
>   colour will have to be even.

>4) An even number of moves corresponds to an even number of exchanges
>   of pieces (including the empty space).

>5) This can be seen from a result about permutations, stating that if
>   the permutation can be achieved by an even number of exchanges, no
>   odd number of exhanges will achieve the same permutation (and vice
>   versa). The permotation is said to have even or odd parity.

>Thus, a solution exist if the empty space starts and ends on the same
>colour and an even number of exchanges is required or the empty space
>starts and ends on opposite colours and an odd number of exchanges is
>required.

The five steps shown above just state that there are AT LEAST two classes
of positions which are closed to the operation of making moves, not that
there are EXACTLY two classes. The conclusion thus is premature.

Note that a similar argument applies to Rubik's Cube, where there are not
two but twelve classes. Or look at a variation of the 8-puzzle, where we
have 4 squares on a line, with one of them empty. Clearly, we can only achieve
four positions, while there are 24 possible permutations, thus there are
six classes.

I remember once proving that if the board has a form such that it can be fully
covered by 2x2 squares, with each of these small squares covering exactly
four squares of the original puzzle (thus not extending over the edge of the
puzzle), then there are EXACTLY two classes of positions.

Victor Allis.
From: schuette@wl.com (Wade Schuette)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Legality of Expert Systems
Date: 16 Sep 92 00:04:15 GMT
Organization: Warner Lambert / Parke-Davis

In article <ALMOND.92Sep14120951@bass.statsci.com> almond@statsci.com (Russell G. Almond) writes:
> [schuette wrote...]
>| >A related question is, at what point will a Physician or Hospital be 
>| >successfully sued for FAILING to use an expert system which CLEARLY would
>| >have PREVENTED the problem which followed. 
>
>One of the things I would definitely like to see, is an expert system
>(especially a probabilistic one) used as a defense in malpractice
>suits.  For example, we did not ___ [perform such a test, perform such
>a procedure] because given the information we had, the probability
>that such a test would be needed was low [ below ___].  I think this
>might produce cost effective, as oppossed to cover you neither
>regions, perscription and testing decisions.
>

Russell, don't get me wrong -- I'm also serious about doing something 
about malpractice, and have been following this area since 1976 when
I started working in medical computing, while married to a Health Care
and regulation specialist attorney, yet.   The American Medical Informatics
Assn. has a lot of work on this.

The probability approach has some problems. For one thing, the numbers
are notoriously difficult to obtain reliably.  For another, they confuse
jurors and are easy to cast doubt upon, as are the operations which 
combine fuzzy facts. 

I was looking more for a system that would get medical personnel up to the
level of airline pilots, ie, make it EASY to have an automated and dynamic
appropriate checklist.  Of more concern to the patient than suing the Doctor
is avoiding the problem in the first place.  For this, there are often 
suitable checklists:  Have you checked for contraindications?  Did you 
remember to whatever the whatsis. Whoa, this person has x-tosis, which my
memory (and online PDR) say contraindicates use of the drug you just 
prescribed-- do you want to see the reference?  Etc.

The "expert" need is to keep the list short and relevant and subservient 
enough that physicians will actually USE it.    The cleanest area of 
malpractice, in some ways because it IS so obvious, is the list of things
that everyone agrees should be done 100% of the time in situation X, but 
the physician forgot, or thought the nurse did it, etc. It's a major 
challenge to get THAT under control. 

Wade


-- 
====================================================================
R. Wade Schuette     |  All opinions expressed are personal.| B>   |
Ann Arbor, MI USA    |                                      |   :) |
schuette@wl.com      |   *** "Synergize Scientists!"  ***   | B>   |
Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.robotics,comp.ai.philosophy
From: bhotvedt@gollum.uio.no (Tor Houghton)
Subject: Bibliography for the POP-11 language
Followup-To: comp.ai
Organization: University of Oslo, Norway
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:04:56 GMT

I am looking for books on the POP-11 computer language. This was developed
by the University of Sussex from the POP-2 language by the University of
Edinburgh, but I can't seem to find any details about it at all.

Can anyone help?

Cheers,

# Tor Houghton
  Please reply through mail to bhotvedt@usit.uio.no
From: Stefano_De_Luca@mas.sublink.org (Stefano De Luca)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: AI & Renal Insufficence
Date: 14 Sep 92 03:08:29 GMT
Organization: MangaZone Advanced Services, Rome - ITALY


I am working with a research team at Rome University, Medicine.

I am strongly interested in any kind of AI work into renal insufficence and
pharmacological therapy management in dialized patients.

We are planning an Expert System considering, for every drug, the exact
dose relating the current parameters of renal functionallity and the same
problem in the dialisys context.

Do you know about other work on this problem? Any pointer?

Do you think neural nets are a better choice to manage this problem?

Thank you by
        stefano de luca

________________________________________________________
stefano de luca   stefano_de_luca@mas.sublink.org
via di Tor Paluzzi, 83/d - 00040 Cecchina (Rome) - Italy



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-- Via DLG Pro v0.992
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: mkant+@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Kantrowitz)
Subject: Re: comments on AI FAQ
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:33:25 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.143926.4614@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> ginsberg@t.Stanford.EDU (Matthew L. Ginsberg) writes:
>
>Having just read this for the first time, I found it quite a bit
>CMU oriented.  Perhaps I can widen the scope a bit, and perhaps Mr.
>Kantrowitz might include these remarks in subsequent postings.
>
>[11] Commercial AI products.  It is really sad to see exactly one
>product here, distributed by a group in Pittsburgh.

I welcome contributions in all sub-fields of AI. If you feel that
there are references which should (or should not) be included, please
send me mail. When sending suggestions, please send what you consider
to be the key papers (or well-written overviews) for the area; do not
send 2000-entry bibtex files. (Actually, if you send bibtex files, I
can make them available at the same ftp location as the FAQ.)
There are several areas which have been neglected by the FAQ's
bibliography; if this upsets you, send me suggestions and I'll include them.

I tried to avoid an overemphasis of CMU work in the bibliography
(e.g., I did consult the MIT AI core syllabus and several other
sources). I expect it to become more uniform as people send in
suggestions. But it's pretty good for a start.

Commercial listings are also welcome -- use the RAL entry as a model. 

--mark


Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: nik@csgi63.dcs.leeds.ac.uk (Nik Silver)
Subject: Re: AI Programing Language
Organization: School of Computer Studies, University of Leeds
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:37:38 GMT
X-Posted-From: csgi63.leeds.ac.uk
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <95957@bu.edu>, robrod@csa.bu.edu writes:
>[...]
>What should someone concentrate on for AI programming?

I would love to spend all my time programming in C, because it's fast and
because it's standard. But of course C is not an AI language, so I can't
reasonably expect to get far with it.

Next I thought of POP-11. This is a really clear version of Lisp (very
roughly) and has lots really nice features. I used Pop for quite a while,
and was very happy with it. But...

I hadn't (up to then) written a serious (ie. thesis-connected ;-) program.
Now I have to, and I realise that I need not spend hours/days/weeks writing,
say, a second-rate production-rule system when a first-rate one already
exists, as do many other public domain packages. And most of these are written
in Lisp. Lisp even has a set standard, which Pop does (yet). So that's my
current project: learn Lisp.

I think there's no one true answer. I'm adopting the philosophy that nothing
will be perfect, and I'm just going to take a deep breath and jump in to
a commitment.

-- 
Nik ``nik@scs.leeds.ac.uk'' Silver
From: ketabchi@nano.cs.umn.edu (Farshid Ketabchi)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: novice question
Date: 5 Sep 92 00:20:59 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <1992Sep4.113613.18895@informix.com> christb@infmuc (Christian Barmala) writes:

>Can anyone tell me the difference between
>-	Facts,
>-	Rules and
>-	Knowledge?

[ rest deleted ]

I think knowledge is a more general term that includes more specific defn's
of fact, rule and knowledge that you have given.  Facts and rules are also
knowledge.

Farshid Ketabchi
farshid@inoms.bellcore.com
From: cheng@sol.ral.rpi.edu (Wei-Ying Cheng)
Subject: Re: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/EXPERT SYSTEMS SYMPOSIUM
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Symposium
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Distribution: comp.misc,comp.programming,dod.general
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 20:03:15 GMT


Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: babraham@unpcs1.cs.unp.ac.za (Bobby Abraham)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: 8 Puzzle (Is it connected)
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 07:10:34 GMT
Organization: Dept. Computer Science, UNP
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: pc030.cc.unp.ac.za

I recently gave the 8 puzzle to an Intro AI class.  I remember reading that 
the 15 puzzle was not solvable from any position.  In other words the graph 
of this problem was not connected.

Can anyone tell me if the same applies to the 8 puzzle?  I would be 
interested in the proof as well.

Thank you
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bobby Abraham
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg
email - babraham@unpcs1.cs.unp.ac.za
        abraham@unpsun1.cc.unp.ac.za
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen)
Subject: Stock Market Report Generation
Organization: SMU School Of Engineering and Applied Science
Distribution: misc.invest,comp.ai.nlang-know-rep
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:19:41 GMT

I am interested in finding out if anyone knows of work being done in
generating "natural language" stock market reports from the raw
statistics of the market. I'm thinking of a system that would take as
it's input some of the raw statistics from a days trading and then
issue a report along the lines of "The market suffered a sharp decline
today. Technology stocks suffered the worst declines, etc." 

I am considering this as a research project but want to find out what
other research has been going on in this area. I am interested in
generating reports in multiple langauges by the way. Anyone who has
knowledge or interest in this area please drop me a note. 

Ted Pedersen
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: gh@cs.toronto.edu (Graeme Hirst)
Subject: Re: AI Expert Magazine, any good?
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Distribution: na
Date: 11 Sep 92 16:14:05 GMT

In article <POESIO.92Sep10141749@cantaloupe.cs.rochester.edu> poesio@cs.rochester.edu (Massimo Poesio) writes:
>Just a word of caution. I subscribed to AI Expert two years ago, and the 
>magazine was indeed interesting. However, I only received five issues, 
	etc

In article <BuE7xz.F93.1@cs.cmu.edu> mkant+@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Kantrowitz) writes:
>I subscribed to them several years ago and they charged my credit card
>twice. After two letters, they sent me a check for the extra charges
	etc

Their toll-free number for subscription matters is 1-800-274-2534.  (See
the tiny print at the bottom of the table of contents.)

-- 
\\\\   Graeme Hirst    University of Toronto	Computer Science Department
////   gh@cs.utoronto.ca  /  gh@cs.toronto.edu  /  416-978-8747
From: mcgrawg@moose.cs.indiana.edu (Gary McGraw)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Looking for anagram algorithms
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:12:56 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University

Douglas Hofstadter has a paper on an anagram solving algorithm called
Jumbo.  This is work from a long time ago (1983).  The code has
recently been cleaned up and re-written in Scheme by Jim Marshall one
of Doug's students at Indiana University.  Jumbo doesn't solve
anagrams by making exact English words (it isn't connected to a
dictionary) but instead finds plausible word-like combinations based
on common letter combinations.  Jumbo was an interesting first attempt
to test the stochastic Coderack/Workspace architecture which has since
been applied to the analogical thinking programs Copycat and Tabletop.
The algorithm that Jumbo tested was based on the way molecular
structures are created in a biological cell.

For more information about Jumbo, Copycat, Tabletop and other work
done at the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, send mail to
me (gem@cogsci.indiana.edu) or Jim Marshall (jim@cogsci.indiana.edu).

				gem

*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*
|   Gary McGraw        gem@cogsci.indiana.edu      |              (__)      |
|--------------------------------------------------|              (oo)      |
|  Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition   |       /-------\/       |
|  Department of Computer Science                  |      / |     ||        |
|  Indiana University                              |     *  ||----||        |
|                     mcgrawg@moose.cs.indiana.edu |        ^^    ^^        |
*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*
From: Stefano_De_Luca@mas.sublink.org (Stefano De Luca)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Medicine & AI: Journals Wanted
Date: 14 Sep 92 03:08:29 GMT
Organization: MangaZone Advanced Services, Rome - ITALY


Can anyone give me a list of Journals about the medicine-computer science
link, expecially AI?

Any pointer, address, information wellcomed!

Thank you by
   stefano de luca
________________________________________________________
stefano de luca   stefano_de_luca@mas.sublink.org
via di Tor Paluzzi, 83/d - 00040 Cecchina (Rome) - Italy


 -- AEd V1.36/Eval

-- Via DLG Pro v0.992
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: dcp78815@csie.nctu.edu.tw (Po-Chi Chen)
Subject: Re: Problem with comp.ai.vision
Organization: Computer Science & Information Engin., Chiao-Tung U, Taiwan, ROC
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 00:58:58 GMT

I could not attact comp.ai.vision neither.
Can any one give a hand to the problem!

--
   ---
   Po-Chi Chen  (Poki)
  +------------------------------------+ 
  | dcp78815@csie.nctu.edu.tw          |
  +------------------------------------+
From: marie@paris.erg.sri.com (Marie desJardins)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: AI Winter
Date: 4 Sep 92 16:56:56 GMT
Reply-To: marie@paris.erg.sri.com (Marie desJardins)
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA

In article <osborn.715581562@dragon>, osborn@socs.uts.edu.au (Tom
Osborn) writes:
|>marie@paris.erg.sri.com (Marie desJardins) writes:
|>>Since when is machine learning not AI?  I find it hard to believe that's
|>>what you're saying; perhaps you could clarify.  (Possibly your point is that
|>>learning *alone* isn't "complete AI"?  But then neither is knowledge 
|>>representation and inference.)
|>
|>He's saying ML != AI. I think that's pretty plain. I take ML as the theory
|>and methods of compressing data into semantically exploitable categorical
|>expressions <woa, adjectival overload!>, ie, to explain data simpler than
|>by listing it. I would (if pressed) take AI to be satisficing within a model
|>- the model usually coming from existent conventional human explanations.

Machine learning researchers generally define machine learning as 
"improving performance at some task."  Sometimes this involves compressing/
simplifying/generalizing data.  Some ML researchers focus on data compression 
and statistical analysis; others focus on developing cognitive models of human 
learning.

|>I don't see ML as a subset of AI (complete AI - not a term I would use).
|>(And I don't see it vice versa either). Even the overlap seems, to me,
|>to be far less than 50% of either field. [The aims may overlap moreso].

I have a bit of trouble with your implied distinction between "the goals of
ML" and "the field of ML".  As for "the goals of ML," learning is *central*
to artificial intelligence.  We cannot build truly intelligent systems unless 
they can learn new information and improve their performance.

As for "the field of ML" (the current state of research), I would be inclined
to say that ML is at least as close to addressing and solving its goals as is
the overall field of AI.  Granted, current ML research isn't going to solve its
goals tomorrow; then again, current AI research isn't going to solve 
*its* goals tomorrow.

|>The original post (Thrift?) lists various methods of ML which I wouldn't 
|>accept as within AI. Even NNs have been given the black spot by many AI 
|>Labs and principals. Just because they have become more useful and productive
|>doesn't justify a "prodigal returns" conversion? [I raise a political
spectre].

"various methods of ML" is not the same as "the field of ML".  Additionally, 
just as not all AI researchers agree on "what is AI", not all ML researchers 
agree on "what is ML."  Some, at least, would not classify all of the methods 
listed by the original posting as ML.  Incidentally, the ML and NN communities 
are actually rather separate.

Marie desJardins
marie@erg.sri.com
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Petition for withdrawal of NRC report: Computing the Future
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 6 Sep 92 11:38:51

I asked Hartmanis yesterday about making the whole document available
by anonymous ftp and offered the disk space.  He was vague.  Some
members of the CSTB will pursue it with the NRC.  I suspect they'll
gurgle a while and then do it, even though the National Academies
Press would really like your $28.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: stas@netcom.com (Stanislav Malyshev)
Subject: Re: What really is AI?
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 02:36:44 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <92253.145425KVJLC@ASUACAD.BITNET> KVJLC@ASUACAD.BITNET (Jon L. Campbell) writes:
>
>    For the sake of argument, I'd like to propose a discussion about
>AI.  Exploring what AI is or isn't and the boundaries of logic.
>
>    From what I have gathered in the past few years, AI is or isn't
>software and/or hardware or a combination of the two.  Lisp, expert
>systems, fuzzy logic, etc. are all professed to be, in one form or
>another, AI.  True?  Maybe, but then again maybe taken as a whole
>they would constitute a portion of the qualities that make AI.



In my opinion, the main goal of AI is to build systems (software, hardware, it
doesnt matter) that act intelligently (using a definition of intelligence
that is used to describe human cognitive activity).

Systems such as story generators, theorem provers, etc, model some
processes related to the overall cognitive capabilities of intelligent
agents.

Whether to classify these systems  as intelligent or not, depends on what you want to
say.  They are certainly not (and are not intended to be) emulators of "human
thinking".

Thus, if a system is not *intelligent* intelligent, it hasnt solved the major
problems in AI.  However, it may have been very successful in implementing a piece
of what is needed to "solve AI" - that no one denies.

The things you mentioned, such as Lisp, fuzzy logic, are tools that are a part
the AI + systems body of knowledge.  They are used to work on the solution
to AI, and various applications that come up in the meantime.


Stan
-- 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stan Malyshev		|    Open up the windows and let the fresh air out,
stas@soda.berkeley.edu	|    said the television to the shackled children..
stas@netcom.com		|		- King Missile
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: comp.compression
From: fcastro@tolten.puc.cl (Felipe Castro)
Subject: Re: STACKER OR PC STORE OR ????????
Organization: Universidad Catolica de Chile
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 05:08:44 GMT

: >time.  Hence, I am looking at on the fly compression products.  I've heard a 
: >lot about STACKER but relatively nothing about the newcommer PC STORE (I 
: 
: DON'T SCREW WITH STACKER 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
: That SOB almost took out some vital info on my hard drive last semester, and 

Well, as long as you do not *screw* with Satcker 2.0, it should work
just fine... :-)
I still have never seen a stacker drive foul up on its own... but they
do if you have a defective hard disk.

Anyway, big drawback: Stacker will take a big chunk of memory on your
machine (~ 50k)

Big, nice plus: Have you noticed you can stack a floppy? A high density
3 1/2, formatted with Fdformat, and stacked (and lucky) will make up
to... 3.4 megs. Nice.

Oh, by the way... I have no info on PC Store :-)
--
Felipe Castro A.
fcastro@tolten.puc.cl