Conference heron::euro_swas_ai

240.0. "Have you heard?" by HERON::ROACH (TANSTAAFL !) Fri Oct 19 1990 16:15

Printed by: Pat Roach                                    Document Number: 013536
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     19-Oct-1990 02:21pm CET
                                        From:     Bob Heinz
                                                  HEINZ AT A1 at OFFPLS at MKO
                                        Dept:     Corporate Sales
                                        Tel No:   264-5641

TO:  PAT ROACH @VBO


Subject: Have you heard?





                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     15-Oct-1990 03:17pm CET
                                        From:     TOM WERST
                                                  WERST.TOM AT A1 at OFFPLS at MKO
                                        Dept:     INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS CONSULTING
                                        Tel No:   603-884-8163

TO: See Below

Subject: Teaching Computers Common-Sense

VNS COMPUTER NEWS:                            [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk]
==================                            [Nashua, NH, USA                 ]

 MICROELECTRONICS & COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CORP. - PROJECT CYC
	{The Wall Street Journal, 11-Oct-90, p. B1}
   Douglas Lenat, a research scientists, is finding out just how much common
 sense there is. Five years ago, he began work on a database that will contain
 all the common-sense knowledge needed to understand every entry in the
 Encyclopaedia Britannica. The project, dubbed "Cyc," is one of the most
 ambitious undertakings ever in the field of artificial intelligence. The goal:
 to produce a program that can understand texts, reason and perform routine
 tasks on behalf of a human master. Mr. Lenat's view is that a computer can't
 act smart unless it possesses the basic ideas that have about how the world
 works. Examples include the following sentences. No child can be older than
 his parents. On a cloudy day, it's a good idea to carry an umbrella. Shirts
 can be purchased in clothing stores. It's easy to produce such sentences - too
 easy. "We originally thought there were about one million basic common-sense
 sentences," he said. "Now we think there are tens of millions. Still, such
 common-sense statements are central to the human mind. By mapping them out - a
 job that will keep him and his colleagues busy for at least another five
 years - Mr. Lenat thinks he'll obtain the building blocks for a system that's
 superior to expert-system programs, which seek to mimic reasoning by applying
 rules consistently and handling only a bare minimum of facts about the world.


Distribution:

TO:  CONNIE WHARFF @OGO
TO:  RICH COLARUSSO @MRO
TO:  CARROLL WRIGHT @MKO
TO:  DAVE YOUNG @MKO
TO:  CATHY STOCKWELL @MRO
TO:  BRIAN T. MAHER @MRO
TO:  CARROLL WRIGHT @MKO
TO:  BFULLER @CHECK @VMSMAIL
TO:  DALE GUNN @MRO
TO:  DAN SULLIVAN @MRO
TO:  ESTHER HOLDERBY @MRO
TO:  SHERRY GRONOWSKI @MRO
TO:  KAREN CALZONE @MRO
TO:  JULIE BEAUDET @MRO
TO:  HRATCH ASTARJIAN @MRO
TO:  TRAVERS @FRICK @VAXMAIL
TO:  Sherry Lawler                        ( LAWLER AT A1 at OFFPLS at MKO )
TO:  Bob Heinz                            ( HEINZ AT A1 at OFFPLS at MKO )
TO:  CHARLIE MOEDER @MRO
TO:  MARY ANN HODGES                      ( HODGES.MARY ANN AT A1 at OFFPLS at MKO )
TO:  BRUCE GOLDBERG @MRO
TO:  NICK AFENTAKIS @MRO
TO:  JOHN STINEBAUGH @MRO
TO:  BEVERLY MANSFIELD @MRO