HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: behrens@cc.swarthmore.edu (Eric Behrens)
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book?
Organization: Swarthmore College
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 20:08:57 GMT

In article <1993Jan25.163029.1901@seas.smu.edu>, pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted
Pedersen) writes:
> 
> 
> I saw the following in the Books column (by Olin Chism) of the Dallas
> Morning News Sunday January 24, 1993. Copied without permission. It
> concerns a computer program that allegedly wrote a book in the style
> of Jacqueline Susann. 
> 
> I think this is a stunt. I don't really believe a computer program
> wrote this book. However, if anyone has any information about this
> book or the author that would give this some credibility I would like
> to hear about it. Comment on the general idea would be interesting as
> well. I don't think the idea itself is impossible, it just seems like
> this case is a little far fetched. 
> 

I would have to guess it's a stunt as well; strikes me like the odds of a
monkey at a typewriter writing Hamlet...

But you never know.  I recall an NPR report perhaps two years ago.  It was
about a computer scientist who had spent a decade creating a program which
could compose in the style of Bach.

If you provided a simple melody line, the program would orchestrate an
entire opus for you.  I must confess that the results were quite
impressive-- not perfect, but impressive.

But music has only a dozen words in its vocabulary (notes of the scale) and
the English language has tens of thousands.  I cannot believe that computer
science is capable of replicating the intricate constructions of language.

Maybe it could do e e cummings, but a novel...  :)
From: uucp@eu.net (uucp)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: TE
Keywords: YD
Date: 26 Jan 93 12:52:37 GMT
Organization: European Unix systems User Group

mdvlk
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: tanaka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki)
Subject: CD-related NL software?
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:06:20 GMT

;;; I'm sorry if this is duplicated.  I have trouble posting.
;;; I think the problem may have been inclusion of non-existent(?)
;;; comp.ai.nlang-know-rep

I'm looking for NL (natural language) processing software
related to CD (conceptual dependency; by Schank) representation.

In particular,
(1) a parser that converts English text into CD-forms, and
(2) systems that do coherence chaining, inference, or learning
	using such CD-forms.

Are there such programs available that I can use?

For (1) I already have Micro ELI (conceptual analyzer from
"Inside Computer Understanding" [Schank and Riesbeck 1981]), and
if I can't find anything else, I am thinking of extending either
Micro ELI or McDYPAR in "In-Depth Understanding" [Dyer 1983].

If you post an article in response, please send me a copy too.
Thank you very much.

;;; (Mr.) TANAKA Tomoyuki (Tanaka is my family name.)
;;;
;;; E-mail address: <tanaka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu>
From: kumard@acsu.buffalo.edu (Deepak Kumar)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: New Problems in IJCAI Reviewing (long)
Date: 21 Jan 93 18:58:22 GMT
Organization: UB

Lots of discussion about pros and cons of anonymous refereeing of
papers etc.....deleted.

The basic assumption underlying the whole thread is that no matter
what referees have been, are, and will always be biased towards/against
certain submissions for all kinds of reasons. 

I don't think anyone has mentioned this but I think a lot of good
papers don't get accepted merely because the refereeing was delegated
to the `wrong' referees...I often get papers to review in areas
I have no expertise in....(I send them back immediately). Rather
than indulge in an anonymous review process I'd like to see the PC
spend more time ensuring that papers get refereed by appropriate peers.

Back to the thread...
If only the referees would `resolve to fairer, ethical practice' 
(it isn't too late, we're still in the month of january :-))
and combined with the fact that every submission is refereed 
by at least 3 presumably `disparate' referees...most of the problems
would be solved. Or is it WAY out of line to ask `fairness and
objectivity' from our esteemed members of the research community?????
I hope the answer is NO.

Deepak.

-- 
I'm not a teacher but I play one at school.
kumard@cs.buffalo.EDU                    Deepak Kumar, Department of Comp. Sc.
kumard%cs.buffalo.edu@ubvm.bitnet        226 Bell Hall, SUNY@Buffalo, NY 14260.
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5040 rec.arts.books:26402 misc.writing:4292 rec.arts.int-fiction:1290
From: jturley@netcom.com (Jim Turley)
Subject: CONTRACT in CA: LISP --> OS/2 C++
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 19:59:32 GMT



-----------CALIFORNIA CONTRACT JOB POSTING--------------
----
---------San Francisco South Bay Area---------

NOTE THAT I CANNOT RESPOND TO YOUR RESUME SUBMISSION UNTIL 2/2/93, but
please feel free to FAX before then.  


Please FAX Resume to (408) 741-0512 or email (RTF or plain text, no troff) 
 
Artificial Intelligence CONTRACTOR WANTED:  South Bay Area, 3-6 Months

Experience AI consultant with knowledge of LISP (preferably on Symbolics
processor) required for port of LISP application to OS/2 in "C"or C++. OS/2 
Presentation Manager GUI design a plus.
 
Immediate requirement 
 
Respond to Jim Turley, XAI (Contract Broker)
              by EMAIL or FAX

Thanks!

Jim Turley,  jturley@netcom.com

   
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5072 rec.arts.books:26493 misc.writing:4316 rec.arts.int-fiction:1301
From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book?
Date: 27 Jan 93 05:30:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: shelley.1k56lgINNc5q
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: milton.u.washington.edu

In article <kxp36!l@rpi.edu> kasprj@rpi.edu writes:
>In article <1993Jan25.163029.1901@seas.smu.edu>, pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen) writes:
>|> 
>|> I think this is a stunt. I don't really believe a computer program
>|> wrote this book. However, if anyone has any information about this
>|> book or the author that would give this some credibility I would like
>|> to hear about it. Comment on the general idea would be interesting 


> There is, in fact, some serious research going on in the area of 
>computers writing books. Here at Rensselaer Polytutescrew Incorporated,

B
What I want to know is, why does anyone *want* a computer to write a book? 

(OK; why does anyone want a computer to do anything?)  

Consider the scarifying number of us out here who are willing to do 
it without programming, task forces, bodies of researchers supported 
by grants and salaries, or indeed, the least little bit of encouragement.

>professor Selmer Bringsjord has been working on several different projects
>aimed at getting a computer program to produce meaningful stories. Its 

Professor Bringsjord should be working on a project aimed at getting 
a warm-blooded human being to produce meaningful stories. 

--Barbara
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: jkeller@afit.af.mil (John G Keller)
Subject: Sensor Fusion
Keywords: speaker identification,face recognition, fusion
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 23:48:01 GMT

I'm looking for any info on current work in the area of fusion 
of multiple sensor inputs into a single decision-making 
mechanism.  Specifically, I'm working on a system to integrate
speaker identification and face recognition to permit validation
of the identies of individuals.  I have access to the separate
sensor systems, and am curious if anyone out there is working on
anything similar.  Would also appreciate knowing if there are
any systems out there that do this type of fusion and are actually
in use, whether academically or commercially.

I'll be checking here for replies, or you can e-mail me at
jkeller@afit.af.mil.

Thanks in advance.

John G. Keller


Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: jakobs@utrurt.uni-trier.de (Oliver Jakobs)
Subject: References to "language of music"
Organization: University of Trier
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 15:49:24 GMT


As my first attempt to post some references did not show up, I'll
try again. Here are same books and articles concerned with the 
segmental units of music. I got them from a local expert who is
doing some doctoral-thesis-work on a related topic.

Oliver

----8<--- cut here -----------------------------------------------

Riemann, Hugo (1907)
	System der Rhythmik und Metrik
	Leipzig

Sloboda, John A. (1985)
	The Musical Mind
	New York

Dowling, W. Jay and Harwood, Diane L. (1986)
	Music Cognition
	Academic Press

Welker, R.L. (1982)
	Abstraction of Themes from Melodic Variation
	IN: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
	Performance, 8, pp.435-447

and the already mentioned

Lerdahl, Fred and Jackendoff, Ray (1985)
	A Generative Theory of Tonal Music
	MIT Press, Cambridge Mass.




-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Jakobs                    |  Ever wish the human race didn't exist,
Computerlinguistik Uni Trier     |  and then realize, you're one too?
jakobs@ldv01.Uni-Trier.de        |                             Flipper
From: csa33@seq1.keele.ac.uk (H.S. Nwana)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: New Problems in IJCAI Reviewing (long)
Date: 22 Jan 93 18:55:28 GMT
Organization: Keele University, England

This idea of anonymity is perhaps a non starter. More often than not over the
last 2 years, I think I could identify my "anonymous" referees, not from
their handwriting (they usually type) but from the way they write, their style,
their choice of vocabulary, etc. If you see 'favorable', 'color', etc, you
know he/she is likely american, if the english/french is not too good then
you can narrow down the search even more. Once you have read three or more 
papers of some referee, you pick up quite a bit...

My point is if authors can even fairly accurately guess who the referees
are, then the chances of a referee not knowing a fairly well-known researcher's
work are slim indeed, especially if he/she bothers to try! Many colleagues
of mine have voiced similar sentiments.

Hyacinth S. Nwana
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: gh@cs.toronto.edu (Graeme Hirst)
Subject: Re: New Problems in IJCAI Reviewing (long)
Organization: Oscar's Otter Emporium
Date: 22 Jan 93 17:39:46 GMT

Who listens to the referees anyway?  

  (1)  Not always the program committee.  For one IJCAI, I reviewed 
a paper by a Well-Known Author that was sloppy, full of holes, and
badly written, and I said so.  But the program committee accepted the
paper anyway, because of who the author was.

  (2)  Not always the author.  Trying to be helpful, in one review in
which I rejected a paper, I pointed out a number of consistent errors of
English made by the author, a non-native speaker.  A year later, a
revised version of the paper was sent for review by a different journal;
it contained the exact same errors.

-- 
\\\\   Graeme Hirst    University of Toronto	Computer Science Department
////   gh@cs.utoronto.ca  /  gh@cs.toronto.edu  /  416-978-8747
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: maler@pelvoux.imag.fr (Oded Maler)
Subject: Re: IJCAI reviewing
Organization: IMAG Institute, University of Grenoble, France
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 09:15:20 GMT

In article <1jk62gINN6o1@morue.usc.edu>, hulthage@morue.usc.edu (Ingemar Hulthage) writes:
..
|> outrageous.  Fairness versus quality control is a false choice.  What
|> better guarantee of quality is there than fairness !
|> 
|> 
|> Ingemar Hulthage
-- 
Oh, this is very naive. Even in trivial situations when "fairness"
and "quality" have a precise meaning they might be in conflict
(e.g., Arrow's paradox). And in the non-trivial case of the ill-defined
"science" of AI, comparison of quality is almost meaningless.
I'm not trying to say that "everything goes" and some reasonable
approximation of scientific value should not be strived for.
But the belief in objective criteria, and the possibility to implement
them by human beings with a necessariliy limited point of view and 
with bounded mental resources is false.

About anonymity - I think the anonymity of referees is more disturbing.
And I will use this opportunity to signal the anonymous referees
of the truely-exceptional, breathtaking, classical-even-before-accepted
paper that I have submitted (yes, I did, and *not* for the materialistic 
reasons of financing a one-hour trip from Grenoble to Chambery), that
they can identify my authorship by the fact that the number of occurrences
of the letter 'a' in my paper is prime. Any of you guys, who will succeed
in proving him/her self as an author of a positive referee report on
that (really great) paper, is invited to a dinner during the conference
(wine and discussion on the meaning of life, whether humans can think
etc. are included).  

(Should I use the :-)- notation? Doesn't the word referee has some double
'f' or double 'r' somewhere? Let's leave some open questions for the
journal version).



===============================================================
Oded Maler, LGI-IMAG (Campus), B.P. 53x, 38041 Grenoble, France
Phone:  76635846  Fax: 76446675   e-mail: maler@vercors.imag.fr
===============================================================
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5076 rec.arts.books:26511 misc.writing:4324 rec.arts.int-fiction:1304
From: daq@fc.hp.com (Doug Quarnstrom)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book? WHY?
Date: 27 Jan 93 21:32:20 GMT
Organization: SPUGE
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.8 PL6]

Scott Turner (srt@aero.org) wrote:
: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen) writes:
: >The computer really isn't writing the book. It's the programmer who writes
: >the program that writes the book.
: 
: The human author isn't writing the book.  It's the parents who birthed
: and raised him that write the book.

The universe writes the book through the tool of evolution.

This seems a rather absurd thing to bicker over.

doug
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5089 rec.arts.books:26557 misc.writing:4335 rec.arts.int-fiction:1311
From: srt@aero.org (Scott Turner)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book? WHY?
Date: 27 Jan 93 18:44:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: aerospac.srt.728160284
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: sun-dimas.aero.org

pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen) writes:
>The computer really isn't writing the book. It's the programmer who writes
>the program that writes the book.

The human author isn't writing the book.  It's the parents who birthed
and raised him that write the book.

					-- Scott T.
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: fawcett@iron.cs.umass.edu (Tom Fawcett)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book?
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:50:07 GMT
	<1993Jan26.145900.1536@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
NNTP-Posting-Host: iron.cs.umass.edu
In-reply-to: echristo@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu's message of Tue, 26 Jan 1993 14:59:00 GMT


Elena A Christofides writes:

> My husband wrote a program that writes poetry. This program is actually in 
> basic.
> 
> In my modern poetry class a while ago, we had to submit up to three poems that 
> were our own original work. Both my poems got A-/B+, whereas the computers poem
> got an A+!
> 
> My instructor was none the wiser at the time - it was a little joke to show 
> that the computer could write a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poem as good if not better than
> the language poets themselves!

This probably says more about the quality of work that the instructor was used
to seeing -- or the state of modern poetry -- than it says about mechanized
poetry generation.

Or maybe BASIC is a far more complex and subtle language than we ever knew.

-Tom
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5079 comp.ai.neural-nets:5006 sci.logic:2651
From: L.Newnham@bradford.ac.uk (Leonard Newnham)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.ai.neural-nets,sci.logic
Subject: Re: Neural Network Controlled Theorem Proving
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:43:29 GMT
Organization: University of Bradford, UK
Originator: 90908502@muser

I wrote: 
> I am doing research into temporal logic theorem proving.  I am thinking
> of using a neural network as a method of learning useful heuristics
> to control the direction of the search.  The basic idea is that the
> neural network learns to recognise patterns in the theorem to be
> proved that enable the theorem prover to proceed in an efficient manner
> towards a proof.
> 
> I am familiar with the 2 or 3 papers Ertel and Suttner have published 
> in this area but have, so far, not been able to find any other research 
> along similar lines.
> 
> I would be most grateful if anyone could point me in the direction of
> any other research in this area.
> 
> Please email and I will post a summary.


Well from several replies I have compiled the following set of
references:

TI: REPRESENTING HEURISTIC-RELEVANT INFORMATION FOR AN AUTOMATED THEOREM
    PROVER
AU: SUTTNER_CB
SO: ASPECTS AND PROSPECTS OF THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE 1990 VOL.464
    C26 PP.261-270

TI: REPRESENTING HEURISTIC-RELEVANT INFORMATION FOR AN AUTOMATED THEOREM
    PROVER
AU: SUTTNER_CB
JN: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE 1990 VOL.464 PP.261-270

Suttner C, B. and Ertel W.  Using Back-Propagation for guiding the
search of a theorem prover, International Journal of Neural Networks,
vol 2, part 1, 1990.

Ertel, W. et al.  Learning heuristics for a Theorem Prover using Back
Propagation, Procs of the 5th OGAI Conf., 1989.

A. Ultsch, R. Hannuschka, U. Hartmann, and V. Weber, "Learning of Control
Knowledge for Symbolic Proofs with Backpropagation Networks", Parallel
Processing in Neural Systems and Computers, Elsevier Science Publishers
B.V. (North Holland), 1990.

A. Ultsch, R. Hannuschka, U. Hartmann, M. Mandischer, and V. Weber,
"Optimizing Logical Proofs with Connectionist Networks", Proceedings
of the International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks", 1991.


In German:

Suttner, C. B. Learning Heuristics for Automatic Theorem Proving,
Diploma Thesis, Technical University Munich. 1989.

Goller, C.  Name not known, Diploma Thesis, Technical University Munich.


As far as I am aware there is no research in progress.  However, Goller 
and Ertel are planning to resume work once funding is obtained.


If anyone can add to this list please let me know.

-- 

Leonard               e-mail:  L.Newnham@bradford.ac.uk

-- 

Leonard               e-mail:  L.Newnham@bradford.ac.uk
Xref: sparky comp.ai:5001 rec.arts.books:26267 misc.writing:4260 rec.arts.int-fiction:1267
From: spb0457@rigel.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book?
Date: 25 Jan 1993 14:11 CST
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: rigel.tamu.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

Ted Pedersen writes...

>I think this is a stunt. I don't really believe a computer program
>wrote this book. However, if anyone has any information about this
>book or the author that would give this some credibility I would like
>to hear about it. Comment on the general idea would be interesting as
>well. I don't think the idea itself is impossible, it just seems like
>this case is a little far fetched. 

[deletia]

+-------------------------------------SubG---------------------------------+
There's at least one book authored by a computer I can think of--a thinnish
volume that came out six or eight years back called _The Policeman's Beard
is Half Constructed_ and, while most of it was on the ragged edge of
comprehensibility I'd rate it far above any of J.S.'s efforts.  Because
although it contained a good deal of repetition due to a conspicuously
small vocabulary, it did deliver occasional jems like, `A black pig is
like a tormented bat,' explained in tortuous logic, and the wild
`inconsistancy is the hobgoblin of little minds,' which leads one to
wonder what trash the programmers had been feeding their machine.







-SubGenius



Xref: sparky comp.ai:5085 rec.arts.books:26545 misc.writing:4329 rec.arts.int-fiction:1307
From: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book? WHY?
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:13:17 GMT
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering & Applied Science - Dallas

In regards to why we would want a computer to write a book...

The computer really isn't writing the book. It's the programmer who writes
the program that writes the book. Despite all appearances computing is
a human enterprise and such a book would reflect the sensibilities of
the programmer and not the computer.

It's a different way to think about writing a book. Don't write the
book, write the program that writes the book. Is it a good approach?
Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see.

Clearly there are authors who use very formulaic (is that a word?)
approaches. The open question is "Is it possible to render such a formula
in a form advantageous to computing?" The even bigger question is "Is
it possible to write a program that does more than follow a formula?
(ie exhibit signs of Artificial Intelligence)". Worth investing? From
a Computer Science point of view? Yes. From a literary point of view?
Maybe. 


* Ted Pedersen                                  pedersen@seas.smu.edu * 
* Department of Computer Science and Engineering,                     *
* Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275      (214) 768-2126 *
Newsgroups: comp.ai,rec.arts.books,misc.writing,rec.arts.int-fiction
From: ed@cwis.unomaha.edu (Ed Stastny)
Subject: Re: Computer writes a book? WHY?
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:44:09 GMT

kathyj@pyramid.COM (Kathy Johnson ) writes:
>|> The human author isn't writing the book.  It's the parents who birthed
>|> and raised him that write the book.
>It's the all powerful being who created the first human that writes the book.

The CHICKEN wrote the book (or was that the egg?)...
 
My $.02 is that computer programs writing books is substancially
disassociated with "random word pulling" in that the program (if well
written and meticulous) has an inset series of associations and tangents
of which some are "woven into" it's fabric and others are merely happy
biproducts of the program...dynamics and phenomenon.  
 
There's no doubt the programmer influences the writing of the book, just
as environment and nature influence the writing of all books, but I
think it's safe to say that the computer IS writing books.
 
I guess this type of thinking hinges on the belief that humans are,
themselves, computers.
 
...e

--
Ed Stastny...ed@cwis.unomaha.edu                            END PROCESS
PO BX 31104, Omaha,NE 68132 USA                             SOUND N & A
vmessageline:(402)3934207                                   VISIONTRIBE
attn artists: send scans for project (gif or jpg)           STIMULATION
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: nakano@oscar.info.waseda.ac.jp (K.Nakano)
Subject: Re: Pattern Recognition
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: oscar13.oscar.info.waseda.ac.jp
Organization: Narita-Kasahara Lab., Department of Electric Engineering, School
	of Science and Engineering, WASEDA University
Distribution: comp
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 10:15:07 GMT

On 15 Jan 93 02:45:59 GMT, wbdst+@pitt.edu (William  B Dwinnell) said:

William> Does anyone have recommendation s on good texts explaining pattern
William> recgognition? I am particularly interested in sysxxx syntactic 
William> pattern recognition, but saxxx statistical is also fine.
William> Thanx!

I've just started reading:

	Pattern Recognition
	- Statistical, Structural and Neural Approaches -
	Robert Schalkoff
	John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
	ISBN 0-471-52974-5 (Hard-cover)
	ISBN 0-471-55238-0 (Paperback)

How about this ?

--
  Keiichi Nakano,                     Tel +81-426-91-7111 Fax +81-426-91-5709
                Software Lab., Basic Research Dept., OLYMPUS Optical Co., Ltd.
                                      Tel +81-3-3209-6323 Fax +81-3-3232-3594
  Narita-Kasahara Lab., Dept. of Information & Computer Sciences, WASEDA Univ.
   _______nakano@oscar.info.waseda.ac.jp______101122,2247(Compuserve)_______
Newsgroups: comp.ai