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C00002 00002 ∂03-Jul-83 1437 JMC
C00004 ENDMK
C⊗;
∂03-Jul-83 1437 JMC
To: DFH
Please send CBCL to Carl Hewitt with a note
that he may find it relevant to his work on "open systems".
∂03-Jul-83 1444 JMC
To: DFH
Please get me a copy of "The System for Business Automation(SBA)" by
S.P. de Jong from Proceedings of the 1980 IFIP Congress, IFIP, Tokyo, 1980.
∂04-Jul-83 1450 JMC policy on computer usage
To: JEF@SU-AI
Does your memo merely codify present unwritten practice or is a
change proposed?
∂05-Jul-83 0037 JMC computer usage suggestion
To: ullman@SU-HNV
See what you think of the following idea. The drain on departmental
funds can be reduced if students otherwise unsupported earn their
use of various computers by writing useful programs for them. My
idea is that the student bureaucracy would supervise it. The effect
would be to put more of the financial load on projects and less on
the department without violating accounting rules that everyone must
be charged the same. I'll take it up Gene and others later if there
are no obvious bugs.
∂05-Jul-83 0143 JMC (on TTY20) exe einit.cmd/18p
To: BUG-e
I would like to be able to use a few macros from einit.cmd by putting
the above command in my einit file. I get a message saying
"illegal file specification", and indeed exe doesn't work if the
specification designates a page. Can this be fixed?
∂05-Jul-83 0200 JMC Gavan and Marr
To: kdf@MIT-OZ
1. If Gavan doesn't do AI at all, then this explains his preference
for terminology that cannot be applied to the situations in which
one actually has to write a program.
2. What is the full reference to Marr's "Vision"?
∂05-Jul-83 1444 JMC
To: ullman@SU-HNV
I read your supercomputer proposal, and I supposed that it more concerned
the organization of collaboration on super computers than a specific
idea for designing one. At least that was what I got out of it.
As to your own ideas of what a supercomputer should be, I didn't
get one from the paper. I would not conclude from that fact that
you don't have ideas. If I carelessly said something that gave that
impression, I apologize. However, I do think that the political
situation vis a vis Japan and the U.S. Government has given rise to
a scientific situation that has some unhealthy aspects. Namely, the
willingness to finance "supercomputers" has outrun ideas for designing
supercomputers or even specific ideas about how the computers should
be super. I'll read your proposal again, and perhaps I'll owe you
a further apology for missing something important when I read it
the first time. I am also surprised that Mike Harrison passed on
such casual remarks as representing his own opinion if he did.
You will discover on Thursday that my own ideas on supercomputers
are alas rather slight.
∂05-Jul-83 1446 JMC
To: DFH
No problem with TEX82 course.
∂05-Jul-83 1504 JMC
To: ullman@SU-HNV
It was not my intention to have any impact at all, because to have
any opinion on who should get what Government money, taking all factors
into account, would require a major effort on my part.
∂05-Jul-83 1625 JMC
To: pack@SU-SCORE
If you get this in time to come in this afternoon before 6pm that will
be fine. Otherwise, Friday would be good or try any afternoon next week.
∂05-Jul-83 1723 JMC
To: mrc@SU-SCORE
On LOTS, finger/last:<last name> gets people with that name.
∂05-Jul-83 1808 JMC
To: llw@S1-A
CC: rah@S1-A
I'm loaded with things to do here, so maybe I'd better wait till you're
available, but often I can come on one day notice. Weekends are ok too,
and the probability of making it on no notice is higher. You might
look at the file FESTCH[SHA,JMC] at S1 to see how far I got last week.
∂05-Jul-83 2316 JMC Common Lisp on 68000
To: RPG
I am surprised at your statement that CL is infeasible on a 68000.
Do you have in mind a configuration with a specific limit of memory
and disk or do you think that the architecture itself makes Common
Lisp infeasible?
∂05-Jul-83 2334 JMC
To: HST
A bed in the flat will be fine. I haven't understood whether your
lecture attributes to me the view that what the philosophers said
is uninteresting or the view that the rest of their ideas is
important. Neither exactly is my view. I think that some of their
current work may be helpful for AI, suitably understood and translated.
But we will have time to discuss this in person.
∂06-Jul-83 1219 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
If National Academy ever answers its telephone, I'll
try Press. If that fails I suggest Inman who can tell us what he proposes
to accomplish.
∂06-Jul-83 1307 JMC Minsky suggests Stanislaw Lem who wants to visit
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
If we fail on Press, we might try the Polish science fiction writer
Stanislaw Lem, who writes well about robots and who wrote something
called the inaugural address of Golem XIV and M.I.T. computer of
the late eighties. Of course, it would require quick action and
would cost us a round trip from Poland, but it's worth considering
if Press can't make it.
∂06-Jul-83 2212 JMC transcription
To: DFH
It must have been very difficult - as the Japanese put it. After listening
to it, I'm impressed you did as well as you did. Part of the problem was
using ordinary words as technical terms in a way that doesn't correspond
to their normal parts of speech.
∂07-Jul-83 1009 JMC
To: DFH
CC: ARK
∂07-Jul-83 1003 ARK Facilities Committee Mtg
Could you please try to schedule a meeting for Monday or Tuesday July 11-12.
∂07-Jul-83 1724 JMC
To: JJW@SU-AI
After 2pm I expect to be in.
∂08-Jul-83 1049 JMC
To: DFH
Monday at 1pm will be ok.
∂08-Jul-83 1517 JMC
To: pack@SU-SCORE
I'm in, and if you have some ideas I'll be glad to listen, but I am
more likely to have suggestions if we meet next week.
∂08-Jul-83 1629 JMC LISP program for rotation number
To: p.ping@SU-LOTS-A
Here is some program and some data values. The numerical output is the
result of executing the LISP DO statement. The fact that the result
varies below and above 1.0 shows that there are periodic solutions.
Actually there are probably two periodic solutions, and looking at the
transformation of the domain with finer resolution would show that some
of them are just the iterates of the others. It looks like the rotation
number is 3/4 in this case where the parameters are lam=.13, alpha =.8,
and q=4, where q is the number of iterations.
(defun f1 (x) (plus x lam (times alpha (red x) (difference 1.0 (red x)))))
(defun red (x) (difference x (fix x)))
(defun iter (x) (do ((i 0 (add1 i))
(r x (f1 r)))
((= i q) r)))
(setq lam 0.13)
(setq alpha 0.8)
(setq q 4)
(do ((x 0.0 (plus x 0.1))
)
((greaterp x .95))
(print (difference (iter x) x)))
0.13
0.97144531
1.00970621
1.01951692
1.01666892
0.98590214
1.03967026
1.02093393
0.961799055
1.03411104
1.02613264
NIL
∂08-Jul-83 1725 JMC
To: nilsson@SRI-AI
In that case, the CBCL talk should be in the first two weeks of October.
∂08-Jul-83 1729 JMC
To: p.ping@SU-LOTS-A
The rotation number is 1/4 in the example.
∂08-Jul-83 1824 JMC
To: hedrick@RUTGERS
Please phone me at 415 497-4430 or ARPAnet me a phone number.
∂08-Jul-83 1844 JMC
To: hedrick@RUTGERS
Did you receive previous net message?
∂11-Jul-83 1542 JMC
To: hewitt%oz@MIT-MC
I can't read it either. I suggest you cite it, after verifying meaning,
and remark that reprints are available from the author. It was given
at an IBM Symposium in Germany.
∂11-Jul-83 1736 JMC July or August?
To: ME
Your note in the log says you`ll be gone til July 31. Your PLAN says
August 31.
∂11-Jul-83 2242 JMC
To: bosack@SU-SCORE
My line seems to be busted; terminal works by phone.
∂12-Jul-83 1055 JMC
To: pack@SU-SCORE
The conceptual utility of natural kinds depends on the fact that
they are natural. It works best to consider children. A kind,
e.g. horse, is identified by those properties that are observed
the first time the kind is encountered, whether it is directly
perceived or merely talked about. The key thing is that the kind
has additional, yet to be discovered, properties. Everyone, but
a child most clearly, relies on this fact. For example, a child
sees his first horse, develops a subconscious visual ability to
recognize horses based on shape features that he has already
learned are more stable than markings. He is then prepared
to learn other facts about horses, e.g. that they eat hay and
grain, that they live in pastures and stables, and that they
can be ridden or used to pull carts. None of these are in any
way consequences of the appearance of horses. When the kind is not
discrete, e.g. a pond as compared to a lake or a puddle, a child
has more difficulty.
As for five yesterday, I think I had just gone to the
coffee shop or something like that. I'll be around all day
today except for such expeditions.
It would be useful if you would MAIL me a bibliography
of three or four items characteristic of the recent philosophical
interest in natural kinds. I believe that the considerations
I mentioned above are the most important ones for the AI interest
in natural kinds, but I'm not sure they are the ones the philosophers
have most emphasized.
∂12-Jul-83 1310 JMC Mycin on cholera
To: blum@SU-SCORE
I attempted to try Mycin on a patient with cholera. I gave it
vibrio-cholerae as an organism, and it recommended tetracycline and
no other treatment. If I did it right, this is a severe limitation
depending on how much common sense the doctor is supposed to have.
Did I do it wrong, and if so, could you give Mycin a case of cholera
to ponder?
∂13-Jul-83 2130 JMC re: credit union/comparison shopping (from SAIL's BBOARD)
To: OTHER-SU-BBOARDS@SU-AI
jmc - There seems to be an unrealistic desire to get good bank services
without having the bank make any money on one's account. Good luck, but
don't be too mad if you don't manage to write 20 free checks a month
while keeping an average balance of $50.
∂14-Jul-83 1454 JMC
To: burns.boulder@RAND-RELAY
did you ever write the 'advice taker'?
No. Various people have written programs along that line starting with
Fischer Black in 1964, but the epistemology has never been in good enough
shape for me to want to emphasize the program, especially since I'm better
at epistemology than at programming.
Incidentally, I'm at SU-AI. It is purely accidental that MC forwarded
the message.
∂14-Jul-83 1456 JMC MIPS & TV
To: jouppi@SU-SHASTA
I think you sent this to me by mistake.
∂14-Jul-83 1328 jouppi@Shasta MIPS & TV
Received: from SU-SHASTA by SU-AI with PUP; 14-Jul-83 13:26 PDT
Date: 14 July 1983 12:42:21-PDT (Thursday)
From: jouppi@Shasta
Subject: MIPS & TV
To: at , MCCARTHY, SIERRA
Cc: jouppi
I am currently verifying my results by comparisons with SPICE
and fab'ed performance of entire chips (e.g., Geometry Engine).
TV is oriented towards circuits with thousands of transitors,
hence the best test structures are VLSI chips themselves.
TV's models are calibrated by using SPICE parameters. If I
could get the SPICE parameters for the IC Lab run, as well as
the circuit for the ring oscillator (including all parasitics),
it should be enough.
Norm
∂15-Jul-83 0055 JMC DELETION
To: SHARON@SU-SCORE
Please delete JMC-LISTS@SAIL from the seminar notice list. I see them
on bboard.
∂15-Jul-83 0113 JMC Shackleton for festschrift
To: llw@S1-A, rah@S1-A
Have you looked at FESTSC[SHA,JMC] or have you written anything?
∂15-Jul-83 1957 JMC green form
To: p.ping@SU-LOTS-A
It's on the outside of my door. You can send me (M.MCCARTHY) messages at
LOTSA with results of computations, but phone me or my secretary to say
that there is a message.
∂16-Jul-83 0106 JMC possible admission
To: reid@SU-SHASTA
How difficult is it to admit one more. Stanford has just got
$15 million from SDF, and Joan Bresnan, who has just moved to
Stanford linguistics from M.I.T. in that connection, offers strong
support for one Kelly Roach transferring from M.I.T. Can we look
at his credentials or did we end up with too many?
∂16-Jul-83 1920 JMC
To: llw@S1-A, rah@S1-A
What is the real deadline for Festschrift Shackleton?
∂16-Jul-83 2241 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
We need to talk. What is your home phone?
∂18-Jul-83 1627 JMC
To: wallace@SU-WHITNEY
I have no special ideas about "the space station as an intelligent
system", though I'm all for space stations. What are your ideas?
∂18-Jul-83 1712 JMC slow substitution in E
To: ME
In order to count the spaces is a page, and thus to count words,
I asked E to substitute space for space, i.e αf α\ αβ∞. It took
41 seconds according to the WHO line to do 2114 substitutions, i.e.
about 20 milliseconds per substitution. Why is that?
∂19-Jul-83 1118 JMC
To: wallace@SU-WHITNEY
I can't imagine basing a spacecraft controller on HAL. There is to
big a gap between movie scenarios and a concrete list of functions
and means of achieving them.
∂19-Jul-83 1133 JMC
To: OP
Today would be ok. Phone 7-4430.
∂19-Jul-83 1157 JMC
To: RAC
(1) It should be this week, because I'll be away next week, and after
that I'll be doing a lot of traveling.
(2) Thursday or Friday dinner with Hogan would be interesting with
a slight preference for Thursday.
∂19-Jul-83 1456 JMC Re: policy on computer usage
To: YM, OP
∂04-Jul-83 2225 ullman@Diablo Re: policy on computer usage
Received: from SU-HNV by SU-AI with PUP; 04-Jul-83 22:25 PDT
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 83 22:27 PDT
From: Jeff Ullman <ullman@Diablo>
Subject: Re: policy on computer usage
To: JEF@Sail, JMC@Sail
No, it most definitely is a proposed change; in particular, the
idea of ALTO+(SAIL or SCORE) as a birthright would be replaced by
a SCORE account only; students would have to justify the need for
SAIl or the ALTO's (or anything else). Moreover, the account would
be limited, and would make certain activities (which are suspect
are contrary to departmental policy anyway, like courseork) too
expensive for students with no sponsor.
By the way, Gene is the one who is going to decide the issue,
so he's the one who should receive your comments.
∂19-Jul-83 1532 JMC
To: RSC
EXTENS.AX[S76,JMC] 15-Jun-76 Extensional forms
EXTENS[F77,JMC] 07-Oct-77 "#. Programs as objects and extensional forms."
NOTES[E78,JMC]/2p 30-Jul-78 iterativity is extensional in the functional
EXTENS[S76,JMC] 30-Jun-76 EXTENSIONAL FORMS
ABSTRACT FORMS - abstract synt + ext forms
∂19-Jul-83 1540 JMC accounts for useful hacking
To: OP@SU-AI, YM@SU-AI, REG@SU-AI, LB@SU-AI
Regardless of whether this turns out to be the main mechanism or
even a large mechanism for supporting student computing, it now
seems to me that a student bureaucracy supervised trade of services
for extra computer resources would be worth setting up. It would
reduce the load on CSD-CF management who could maintain control
only by limiting the total resources allocated to the purpose,
letting the student bureaucracy find what users consider worthwhile
utility programs.
∂19-Jul-83 1708 JMC
To: LB@SU-AI
That will be fine. Do you have the combination?
∂20-Jul-83 1447 JMC Let's see this when it comes around.
To: CLT
n042 1217 20 Jul 83
BC-REVIEW-''ZELIG''
(Newhouse 001)
Film review, for use when ''Zelig'' opens at local theaters
By RICHARD FREEDMAN
Newhouse News Service
(UNDATED) In Yiddish, ''Zelig'' means ''blessed.'' Linguistically
related to it is the English word ''silly.'' So it's no accident that
Leonard Zelig, the namesake and hero of Woody Allen's triumphant new
comedy, is a holy fool.
Son of an immigrant family (his father won fleeting fame as Puck in
an Orthodox Jewish version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''), young
Zelig yearned for acceptance in the mainstream of American life.
With deep inferiority feelings - produced partly by the fact that
he'd never read ''Moby Dick'' - he becomes the ultimate conformist, a
chameleon man who takes on the identity of those around him.
In the Yankee dugout, he becomes a teammate of Babe Ruth and Lou
Gehrig. In Chicago, he's both a rum-runner for Al Capone and a black
jazz musician. He poses for the camera between Presidents Coolidge
and Hoover. Popular songs are written about him - even Cole Porter
tries to fit his name into the lyrics of ''You're the Top'' - and
Scott Fitzgerald recalls meeting him at a Long Island garden party in
1928.
For ''Zelig'' is, among many things, a loving tribute to the 1920s
and '30s, our ''era of wonderful nonsense.'' He may well be Woody
Allen's brightest invention, and Allen plays the pixilated hero in an
extraordinarily modest, off-handed way.
Shot mostly in black-and-white, ''Zelig'' is also a parody of the
documentary film, with newsreel footage - both actual and faked -
tracing its hero's course from obscurity through media celebrity,
right on to disrupting a Hitler rally in Nuremberg and a gathering
with Pope Pius XI on a Vatican balcony.
He's the little man who's always there. But only barely.
Helping him with his chameleon problem - and ultimately falling in
love with him - is Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow gotten up to look
like the late Margaret Mead), a chain-smoking psychiatrist who could
use a little therapy herself.
Zelig, who claims to have been an associate of Freud's, is more than
willing to help. After all, didn't he once earn the maximum in
psychiatric fees by treating Siamese twins with split personalities?
''Zelig'' not only parodies newsreels of the '20s, television
documentaries of today and psychoanalytical case histories, but the
movie ''Reds,'' with its testimony by actual ''witnessess'' to the
life and times of radical journalist John Reed.
Here in the film's only color footage are such intellectual
heavyweights as Susan Sontag, Irving Howe, Saul Bellow and Bruno
Bettelheim commenting in the present on this long-forgotten,
imaginary folk hero of the '20s.
Formally, ''Zelig'' is a much richer and subtler repetition of what
Allen did in the 1969 ''Take the Money and Run,'' in which he
outlined the life of his ill-fated holdup man, Virgil Starkweather,
through interviews with people whose paths he crossed.
But the technical wizardry of ''Zelig'' in matching modern shots
with actual historic footage never has been approached before, not
even in the Steve Martin-Carl Reiner spoof of '30s tough-guy movies,
''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.''
For all the hoopla about the special effects in such films as
''Return of the Jedi'' and ''Superman III,'' there's no justice in
Hollywood if Oscars don't go to cinematographer Gordon Willis,
production designer Santo Loquasto and editor Susan E. Morse. Their
mastery is of the art that conceals art.
Incidentally, ''Zelig'' is Allen's fifth film to be shot at least
partly in New Jersey. At one point the hero visits Dr. Fletcher's
sister Ruth - who unfortunately married ''a mediocre and cowardly
bullfighter'' - in Teaneck.
Truly blessed, ''Zelig'' is never really silly, making in its
hilarious way profound observations about the nature of the Jazz Age,
the enduring American subjection to media hype, and that harried,
insecure search for identity that is one of our most persistent
cultural themes.
In a generally dismal summer of movies, ''Zelig'' comes as a
life-sustaining breath of fresh cinematic air.
X X X
FILM CLIP
''Zelig.'' Woody Allen's masterpiece about a chameleon-like figure
of the 1920s who blunders his way into the company of Babe Ruth,
Scott Fitzgerald, psychiatrist Mia Farrow, and other luminaries -
real or imagined. Consisting mostly of black-and-white newsreel
footage, this is both a hilarious, often very moving tribute to the
Jazz Age and a spoof of media hype about celebrities. Rated PG. (Four
stars)
JM END FREEDMAN
(DISTRIBUTED BY THE INDEPENDENT PRESS SERVICE)
nyt-07-20-83 1513edt
***************
∂20-Jul-83 2146 JMC name change
To: prolog-request@SU-SCORE
Please remove JMC@SU-AI from the Prolog Digest mailing list and
put JMC-LISTS@SU-AI in its place. This is address on which I
prefer to receive mailing list mail. Thanks.
∂20-Jul-83 2319 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
1:30 will be fine.
∂20-Jul-83 2323 JMC
To: LLW@SU-AI, RAH@SU-AI
Are you planning to go to Pournelle's meeting?
∂21-Jul-83 0114 JMC
To: bosack@SU-SCORE
What did you determine?
∂21-Jul-83 1405 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
gunkel[s83,jmc] About Patrick Gunkel's proposed meeting
Patrick Gunkel proposes A CONFERENCE AND WHITE PAPER ON
"ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA" in a document
dated 1983 May 25. In my opinion the proposed conference is
probably not a good idea on account of the following circumstances.
1. Artificial intelligence (AI) is indeed as potentially revolutionary
as Gunkel says. It is also important to preserve America's lead
in the field.
2. AI is in a state where some useful applications are
possible, and many companies are hoping to cash in. However,
the state of the science limits the applications that can be
developed now. For example, robotic servants wait future
fundamental scientific discoveries. Let us compare artificial
intelligence with nuclear physics. In 1938 Rutherford could say
that he saw no possibility of nuclear energy for military use or
electric power. In 1939 when Fermi's 1933 experiments were correctly
interpreted as having exhibited fission, many scientists in many
countries immediately saw the possibility of a chain reaction
leading to bombs and power plants. There were differences of opinion
about whether a determined effort could develop bombs in time to
affect World War II. Thanks to Szilard's leadership, the U.S. was
the only country that drew the correct conclusion and mobilized
the necessary effort.
The situation in AI is quite different. There is no present
scientific basis for a Manhattan Project in AI, just as there was not before
fission was discovered. We cannot tell whether the situation
corresponds to that of 1938 or that of 1905 just after Einstein
published E = Mc↑2 as a consequence of the special theory of relativity.
(Perhaps the potential of nuclear energy wasn't really confirmed until
the masses of isotopes were know and mass defects were computed).
AI differs from nuclear physics in another respect that may or may
not be relevant in the present context. Namely, so far as we know,
we don't have to observe a natural phenomenon like fission. Instead
AI will be a construction of the human mind; we have only to program
computers sufficiently well. In this respect AI is like mathematics
rather than like physics in that the phenomena to be understood,
the relation between situations and the actions required to achieve
goals, are logical in character. It also resembles engineering in
that the point is to build something that works.
3. Given these facts, I don't like to encourage the establishment
to start Manhattan Projects. They are too likely to resemble the
nuclear airplane project of the 1950s that eventually collapsed in
failure and inhibits new attempts now that the technology has advanced.
Moreover, the ratio of AI people working on applied projects is
already too high. there is no more effort going into basic theoretical
and experimental AI research than there was in 1970, and the basic
theory is advancing rather slowly.
In my opinion the financial state of AI is as follows:
a. Good students who want to work in AI can find places
in graduate school and financial support. Too much of this support
is attached to applied and pseudo-applied projects. These are
projects that promise practical results a very few years but
almost never deliver. The demand for short range payoff that peaked
in Government research support had a more harmful effect in AI than
in almost any field.
b. Good PhDs are getting jobs, but again they have to make
promises of quick payoff in order to get research support.
4. The highest financial priority for AI is more research
money for unsolicited proposals judged solely on scientific merit
and not on adherence to some plan. I regard the DARPA speech
recognition project as having been mainly harmful, because it
focussed almost all American speech recognition research into
trying to satisfy the committee thus stifling diversity. It was
the very best committee, but the resuls were still harmful. A
committee planned research effort in general AI would be even
more harmful no matter who was on the committee. Einstein and
Planck and Schroedinger and Heisenberg weren't planned, and such
scientists are what AI needs.
5. The second priority is for postdoctoral fellowships
that will enable the holders to sit and think or write programs
according to their own choice. Therefore, it would be best if
the fellowships were to be awarded nationally rather than to
give more research associates to existing principal investigators.
Some of them should be awarded to smart people trained in other
fields who want to transfer to AI. AI is an attractive field
and many people with PhDs in other fields want to transfer to it.
6. The third priority is bricks and mortar for computer
science departments and endowed chairs. Because computer science
has expanded recently and will continue to expand, it is far
behind more established fields in its facilities. Providing
computers is also important, but this need has been recognized
and is being met.
7. The current enthusiasm for AI in companies and
governments is based on the expectation of a quick payoff.
Unless some fundamental discoveries are accidentally made,
these hopes are likely to be disappointed and AI will be
regarded as a fad. I oppose establishing institutions that
require quick applied payoff. Scientific discoveries should
be the criterion for continuing support of research projects
and research institutions. AI should be regarded as genetics
was before genetic engineering appeared or as like fundamental
physics.
8. Someone should identify the basic research in AI
that is going on and figure out how to increase it.
Here are some comments about some particular points of
the Gunkel draft.
9. "Its purpose would be to exploit the present critical
moment to reshape the general conception and course of artificial
intelligence research in the United States, . . .". I don't
want my research reshaped by any conference, and I don't want
to take part in reshaping anyone else's. I prefer to influence
other people's research by publishing papers and not by getting
my hands on their sources of financial support.
10. "Those countries that lead the world in AI are apt
to lead the world in other terms as well: in industrial growth,
world trade, per capita wealth, quality of life, science and
technology, education, social and political evolution, military
power, and cultural progress". This is seriously misleading.
Human level AI would indeed have all these effects, but that doesn't
seem to be in the cards immediately. In the meantime, AI should
not be regarded as a cure for all problems. Each of the above
matters requires separate efforts.
11. "AI researchers should seek from the outset to achieve
not merely artificial intelligence but artificial humanity: 'mechanical'
forms of emotion, purpose, imagination, creativity, character,
conscience, and kindness". This is a very bad idea of Gunkel's.
We want tools not artificial slaves who would eventually have
to be liberated. Fortunately, it isn't presently necessary to
harangue on the matter, since the possibility is far off. If it
were close, I would have to abandon my research and crusade against
Gunkel's recipe for disaster.
There are five more pages to comment on, but I'd rather
do research in AI. If the conference is held, I'll come lest
some bad grand plan come out of it. Of course, I would be pleased
if the conference were to recommend the measures proposed in
my points 4, 5 and 6.
∂21-Jul-83 1510 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
Remember to MAIL me the proposed schedule.
∂22-Jul-83 0030 JMC gurba.1
To: DFH
The papers to include are ascribing, first order theory of concepts
and circumscription.
∂22-Jul-83 1019 JMC
To: bosack@SU-SCORE
After a very short experiment, I think it's working pretty well, but it
sems to be dropping occasiona charac and skipping around. e errors
in tis message are not mine. Sometimes a carriage return causes it
to go up rather than down. I haven't seen this kind of malfunction
before.
∂22-Jul-83 1034 JMC
To: reddy@CMU-CS-A
.<<flib[e83,jmc] Electronic library for the Centre Mondial>>
.require "memo.pub[let,jmc]" source;
.cb An Electronic Library Project for the Centre Mondial
.cb "John McCarthy, Stanford University"
This is an adaptation of the proposals in my 1979 memorandum
%2Towards a nationally available complete electronic library%1.
I will not repeat the considerations of that paper.
For the reasons discussed in that paper, the time has already
arrived for it to be socially worthwhile and economically feasible
to put the world literature in the French language into computer form
and make it available world wide. Presumably the French should be
more motivated to do it than the Americans, though I suppose that
when the U.S. gets around to doing it, literature in other languages
than English will be included. However, if the French do it first,
then the French objective of promoting the French language and
literature will be advanced.
Imagine the following system. The French language literature
is put into computer form, either by optical character recognition
machines or by keyboarding in low wage countries. A central computer
library in France keeps this literature on the equivalent of about
1000 IBM 3380 disk files. Three large bandwith satellites are put
up to provide worldwide transmission facilities. Reading rooms with
suitable terminals are located in every place where there is sufficient
interest. A reader can call up any book or other document from any
terminal. When he does so, the first two pages are transmitted via the
satellite to the reading room computer and the first page is displayed
on his terminal. Perhaps the library catalog and other currently
popular documents are kept in local file.
Such a system is technically feasible today, and I believe
that it would be found cost-effective, but there is too much inertia
to make it likely that the French Government will put up the money
soon for the full system.
Therefore, we propose that the Centre Mondial undertake the
following pilot project.
1. A few RA81 disks are acquired from Digital Equipment
Corporation and attached to the Centre's VAX computer. This is
currently the most cost-effective disk file available.
2. A request for proposals for a few hundred thousand
dollars worth of book input is sent both to keyboarding companies
and those that do optical character recognition. In addition
existing computerized text is solicited from those who have it
for experimental use. The initial reading list is taken from the
public domain literature.
3. About 20 telephone lines are attached to the VAX, so
that the library is available from existing terminals and micro-computers
in the Paris area.
4. The necessary programs are written and installed.
At this point a technical demonstration is feasible. An
attempt is made to determine what is most attractive to the users
of the library within the budget available.
5. An experimental terminal cluster is installed in a reading
room in the Paris area. It should be a place that is open for
a large number of hours.
All this seems feasible within a budget of 1,000,000 francs
in 1983 and (say) 5,000,000 in 1984.
If the results are encouraging, the next steps include.
1. Giving the computerized library its own computer.
2. More books.
3. Obtaining the co-operation of publishers of current
books, magazines and newspapers for an expanded program. An
experimental financial arrangement should be adopted.
4. Design of a reading terminal that can be used in connection
with the French telephone system's electronic yellow pages.
5. An experimental reading room in an underdeveloped country
using existing satellite transmission channels.
6. Developing an optical character recognition system optimized
toward reading books.
This memorandum needs to be rewritten with easily obtained
numbers concerning cost and performance.
The first stage should involve one person to negotiate the
contracts and promote meetings and write a paper and another person
to do the programming and supervise hardware installation.
What has to be done to implement an experimental system is clear enough
so that a long planning phase is not warranted, because it would
use up the budget without providing the confidence needed to undertake
a larger project.
This document is on line as FLIB[E83,JMC]@SU-AI on the Arpanet.
∂22-Jul-83 1036 JMC
To: reddy@CMU-CS-A
.require "memo.pub[let,jmc]" source
1979 (revised 1983 July)
.cb TOWARDS A NATIONALLY AVAILABLE COMPLETE ELECTRONIC LIBRARY
For some time it has been cost-effective to put the entire Library
of Congress into a computer file and make all its resources available
to anyone in the country with a computer terminal.
There is no need to argue that all printed paper will be abolished, but
I would certainly get rid of ninety percent of my books and magazines
if I could access it from my terminal at home.
A recent proposal to a Stanford University research group offered
a 1.2 gigabyte storage module for α$24,000. If we count a book as 500,000
bytes, then this module can store 2400 books. The space occupied by
the module would store about 300 books on shelves. The cost comes
to α$10 per book. Recent work information compression would give
another factor of four in storage density, reducing the cost to α$2.50
per book and reducing the storage volume to one twenty-fourth of
that required to store books on shelves.
Books cost much more these days and so does the space required
to store them, although the cost of cataloging the books is apparently
larger than either.
Still more recently IBM (3380) announced disk files storing 2.52 gigabytes
per unit which would store 20,000 compressed books in the space taken
by 300 on shelves. The Library of Congress would then require between
1000 and 2000 such disk units.
Digital videodisks storing much more are predicted for the
reasonably near future, but the project is practical with technology
now in hand. I think it is time to begin.
Consider the following system. In addition to existing
paper libraries, there would exist one or more computerized libraries
containing everything that has ever been published, i.e. a computerized
version of the Library of Congress. This library would be accessible
over the telephone network from any computer terminal in the country.
A reader could browse through the library catalog and various
bibliographies just as though he were physically present. He could
read any book by calling it page by page onto his terminal's screen
or he could have it transmitted to a local printer. At present,
the Canon company is beginning to market a printer that can print
arbitrary fonts for less than α$10,000, but we can envisage cheaper
printers in the future.
Most office workers would have terminals on their desks,
and many people would have them at home. At present a good enough
terminal costs about α$800, and high quality terminals should cost
about α$2,000 if manufactured in moderate quantity. Any office
would have a high quality printer.
Of course, yet better terminals may eventually be available.
We can imagine a pocket terminal consisting of a rolled up plastic
screen with a 1024 by 1024 array of liquid crystal dots accompanied
by another rolled up pressure sensitive keyboard and a pocket computer
with enough memory to store a book. Suppose that it has a modular jack
that can plug into any telephone so that the user can call the
library, scan it for a while and then reload his book memory.
This would be nicer than the technology now available, but the
available technology is good enough to justify a start.
From the user's point of view, the advantages of the
computerized library are the following:
1. All books, magazines and newspapers are available.
2. Anything can be obtained in a few seconds.
3. Nothing is ever out.
4. The library is open 24 hours a day 365.2425 days a year.
Many paper libraries would be found unnecessary. In particular,
university libraries could carry out their functions with much less
money and manpower, since their users would switch to the electronic
library for much of their work.
The establishment of such a system involves many problems
and will take some years, but we will mention some facilities
that can and should be started right away. Moreover, people who
don't have terminals at home now or on their desks or don't use
them at all may be difficult to convince of the advantages of
such a library.
Here are some of the problems:
#. It is expensive to convert the books to computer readable
form. Equipment for reading special type fonts is available and
reliable. The recent Kurzweil equipment reads arbitrary fonts with
training but is reported to rely to a substantial degree on a
blind person's ability to know when something was garbled and try
again and on his ability to understand imperfectly read material.
The lowest error rates are apparently those obtained by the
Information International Grafix I system. This machine is very
expensive, mainly because it uses obsolete computer hardware, but
the company would update it if the market existed. Even if much
of the material had to be retyped by hand, the project would be
worth what it would cost.
Of course, much new material is generated in computer-readable
form, but many forms are used, and as yet no-one has developed a
system for putting all this material into a common form.
#. The copyright law requires permission to put copyrighted
material into computer form. In my opinion, copyrights should be
respected and suitable financial arrangements based on readership
should be negotiated. Once a computerized library exists, it will
be so much more accessible than other libraries that authors and
publishers will find it to their advantage to negotiate suitable
deals.
#. The best arrangement might be that the copyright owner
could set whatever price he pleased for reading his material. The
reader could decide whether or not to pay it.
#. There is a problem of unauthorized copying. The problem
exists whether a national library exists or not, and the temptations
will increase as copying machines get more convenient and cheaper
and when a general purpose machine for reading documents from paper
to computer files becomes available.
#. At present an author gets ten to twenty percent of the
retail price of his books, except that he gets nothing for unsold
books and less for mass market paperbacks. An electronic
publishing system could afford to give the author eighty
percent of the price paid by the readers, because there would be
no physical production or distribution costs. This would permit
increased income for authors and reduced prices for the readers.
Presumably there is some price elasticity for reading that would
produce more reading with reduced prices and greater convenience.
This would greatly reduce the temptation to copy illegally, since
the reader would find it less burdensome to pay the writer his due.
#. I think it likely that the amount of illegal copying
would be low enough so that the system would survive. If not we
will eventually have to go to a system where reading is essentially
free and writers are paid according to a formula by the Government.
This would have many disadvantages, since no formula could take
fully into account the fact that different writers have different
abilities and put different
amounts of work into books of different kinds. Of course, the
present system doesn't take this into account very well either,
but there are some works now that charge very high prices, i.e.
newsletters. I suppose these could still operate outside the
standard system.
Getting Started
Already there exist numerous databases available by telephone
from anywhere in the country. Some of them contain bibliographic
information, i.e. abstracts and references, but others contain the
texts of the material. Some of them are subsidized by government
grants, e.g. many of the medical databases, and others, e.g. the
legal databases and the %2New York Times%1 Databank,
are profit making businesses. The charges for using them range
from α$25 to α$200 per hour except for subsidized customers.
One important step could be taken by the Federal Government.
It is required by the Freedom of Information Act and other laws to
make very large amounts of information available to the public.
This information would be much more conveniently available if it
were in a database accessible from anywhere in the country. This
especially includes the Federal Register where all new laws,
regulations, announcements of hearings and requests for comments
are published.
Technical problems
While it is easy to compute the costs of the storage media,
which are already cheaper than paper, it is harder to calculate the
costs of the computers. This is because present systems have not
really been optimized for handling very large numbers of users.
It will also be necessary to optimize telephone access. For this
there are many possibilities.
A daytime cross-country call costs 54 cents for one minute.
In a minute 36,000 bytes can be transmitted at 4800 bits/second.
This means from α$7.50 to α$15.00 to transmit a book uncompressed
or from α$1.87 to α$3.75 with a compression of 4. We can imagine
a terminal that could store a minute's worth of text and could
decompress it for reading. These costs are unpleasantly high, but
they can be reduced in various ways. First, technology permits
substantially lower long distance transmission costs. Indeed the
one minute transcontinental charge late at night is 16 cents
making our compressed book cost from α$.56 to α$1.12 if transmitted
all at once. This probably less than the cost of a trip to a
library if one's time is worth much.
The independent long distance telephone companies are often 40 percent
below ATα&T, which brings our optimistic number down to 33 cents,
which is reminiscent of the days when pocket books were a quarter.
We can suppose that the terminal could remember the telephone
number and catalog number and automatically phone for another minute's
transmission when the reader is close to the end of what it has in
storage. These costs are even less attractive when browsing is wanted.
A solution for that is to use the European telephone charging system
which allows calls as short as a 4 seconds.
Current networks keep the cost for maintaining a connection down by
time-sharing lines, but this doesn't reduce the cost of straight
data transmission.
An obvious possible saving is to have local libraries with frequently
consulted books and magazines. My guess is that with optical fibers
and other new means of transmission, the transmission costs can be
brought down to the point that local libraries will be unnecessary.
∂22-Jul-83 1037 JMC two documents
To: reddy@CMU-CS-A
CC: asbury@CMU-CS-A
I have sent you by U.S. and computer mail two documents about the library
project, one general and one oriented toward the Centre Mondial.
Have these been received?
∂22-Jul-83 1152 JMC It needs work.
To: bosack@SU-SCORE
Extra characters are being generated going from the keyboard
to the computer. It's somewhat dangerous to use in its
present state because of this. Random things happen.
∂22-Jul-83 1424 JMC
To: janet.asbury@CMU-CS-A
The last line of your message was cut off. What I received ends
"I would imag". I also received an acknowledgement from him. Also
please MAIL me a complete U.S. mailing address for the Centre Mondial.
∂22-Jul-83 1616 JMC
To: LB@SU-AI
Thanks again.
∂22-Jul-83 1722 JMC me too please
To: minker.umcp-cs@UDEL-RELAY
I would also like to get copies of the generalization of circumscription
and also the GCWA.
∂22-Jul-83 1839 JMC for Todorovich
To: DFH
Please mail him a copy of WPPS[E83,JMC] if you haven't already.
∂23-Jul-83 0033 JMC meeting
To: pourne@MIT-MC
Last I heard from Lowell was that he wasn't able to come. I don't know
about Rod. I probably won't come, because I'm tied up through Friday
and feel no expertise and have no opinions about defense other than that
we need it.
∂23-Jul-83 0058 JMC
To: CLT
I forgot to ask. What do you think of Diana's reservations?
∂23-Jul-83 0226 JMC
To: LB@SU-AI
Does ftp work to lotsa?
∂23-Jul-83 0230 JMC results
To: p.ping@SU-LOTS-A
I have copied them into a file, and I'll look at them. I would like other
values of p than 1, because I suspect that p = 1 may behave
unusually. Making some graphs would help understand the output.
∂23-Jul-83 1652 JMC reference
To: DFH
I have mislaid my copy of Daniel Dennett's Herbert Spence lecture,
and I need to refer to it. Please find it or the reference. The
last resort is to telephone the Philosophy Department at Tufts
University and speak to his secretary.
∂23-Jul-83 1655 JMC
To: DFH
If she can spare another copy, it would be nice.
∂23-Jul-83 2100 JMC job applicant
To: REG
If you turn out to need someone additional for the giant tape copying,
Sarah is looking for more work this summer. She is ignorant, but very
trainable.
∂29-Jul-83 1450 JMC
To: walker@SRI-KL
I will be at IJCAI and will be glad to attend the Executive Committee
meeting.
∂29-Jul-83 1451 JMC IJCAI Executive Committee Meeting
To: walker@SRI-AI
∂26-Jul-83 2317 WALKER@SRI-AI.ARPA IJCAI Executive Committee Meeting
Received: from SRI-AI by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 26 Jul 83 23:17:30 PDT
Date: Tue 26 Jul 83 23:12:07-PDT
From: Don Walker <WALKER@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: IJCAI Executive Committee Meeting
To: IJCAI-83-Executive-Committee: ;
PLEASE RESPOND IMMEDIATELY IF YOU GET THIS MESSAGE; LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN COME
You are cordially invited to participate as a member of the Executive
Committee at IJCAI-83. The functions of the Committee are to select
the site of the next conference, elect the Conference and Program
Chairs for that conference, elect a trustee to the IJCAI Board of
Trustees for a three conference term, and discuss other issues that
may arise. Executive Committee members are selected to be broadly
representative of the artificial intelligence community.
The site being proposed for IJCAI-85 is UCLA; a group from the Los Angeles
area will present that bid. The dates tentatively set aside for the
conference are 18-24 August 1985.
The Executive Committee will meet from 12 noon to 1:30 pm on Wednesday,
10 August, at the NANCY Restaurant.
Cordially,
Don Walker, Secretary-Treasurer
International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, Inc.
-------
I will be at IJCAI and will be glad to attend the Executive Committee
meeting.
∂29-Jul-83 1453 JMC
To: SAP@SU-SHASTA
McCarthy@SCORE is me. Perhaps you meant MCCARTHY@SIERRA?
∂29-Jul-83 1500 JMC
To: minker.umcp-cs@UDEL-RELAY
I agree to be on the AAAI panel, but having two such sessions in one
year may be regarded by some as our using Lerner to get unrefereed
papers into the meeting. Therefore, if we do it at AAAI this year,
I would not be agreeable to doing it next year unless there was some
strong new reason.
∂29-Jul-83 1553 JMC
To: dgs@S1-A
Please tell Lowell I'm just leaving Stanford now.
∂01-Aug-83 1307 JMC on line reports, etc.
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
CC: nilsson@SRI-AI
Mike, would you like to lead a discussion of your proposals during the
second part of the AAAI executive committee meeting? If you see a need
for more preparation that you have time for, you might recruit a henchman
or henchwench. I need a prompt reply, because I want to send out that
part of the agenda later this week.
∂01-Aug-83 1333 JMC further work
To: p.ping@LOTS-A
I have had time to go through your output in order to make suggestions.
If I have time later this week, I'll do it, but I may not, and I'm going
abroad for a week after that. Our ultimate object is to get some idea
about how the length of the lambda-interval goes to zero as q (the
denominator) goes to infinity. As a preliminary it would be interesting
to know how it varies as a function of the numerator. It would be
nice to have your present results tabulated more readably, e.g. with
p and q explicit. I suspect that the behavior as a function of alpha
will also be interesting. See what you can find that is interesting.
∂01-Aug-83 1333 JMC aaai mailing list
To: DFH
aaai.dis[e83,jmc] is a mailing list for the executive committee of aaai.
In addition, Charles Rieger gets announcements by U.S. Mail. Please
get his address from Claudia Mazzetti at AAAI.
∂01-Aug-83 1356 JMC
To: nilsson@SRI-AI
Your message didn't include the net addresses. However, I had
already copied and edited the list associated with your previous
message about the agenda, and I assume that's complete. I'll remember
about poor Chuck. I hope to get the supplementary agenda out this
week. Tentatively, the two items will be proposals for AAAI
sponsored workshops in particular topics and Mike Genesereth's ideas
on on-line reports. I'm waiting for Mike to agree. He isn't already
on the agenda, is he? My goof. I see he is. OK, one item.
∂01-Aug-83 1356 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
Disregard previous. I see Nils has already done it.
∂01-Aug-83 1409 JMC ∂01-Aug-83 1359 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:LERMAN@SRI-KL.ARPA AAAI publications comm. meeting
To: lerman@SRI-KL, bengelmore@SRI-KL, aaai-office@SRI-AI
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 1 Aug 83 13:59:24 PDT
Received: from SRI-KL.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Mon 1 Aug 83 13:59:29-PDT
Date: Mon 1 Aug 83 14:55:07-PDT
From: Lee Erman <LErman@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: AAAI publications comm. meeting
To: ATP.Bledsoe@UTEXAS-20.ARPA, BEngelmore@SRI-KL.ARPA,
Feigenbaum@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA, McCarthy@SU-SCORE.ARPA,
Minsky%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA, Nilsson@SRI-AI.ARPA, Price@USC-ECLC.ARPA,
Reddy@CMU-CS-B.ARPA, Walker@SRI-AI.ARPA, AAAI-office@SRI-AI.ARPA
The AAAI publications committee will meet on Thursday, Aug. 25, 7:30-9:00 AM
in the Hemisphere Room. Breakfast will be provided.
In my absence, Bob Engelmore has agreed to chair the meeting. Please
let Bob and Claudia (AAAI@sri-ai) know if you are coming. If you have any
agenda items, please send them to Bob and to me.
--Lee
-------
Agenda item for AAAI publication committee
I would like to discuss the possibility of semi-annual journal, "Critical
reviews in AI". Each issue would contain two to four critical reviews
of pieces of recent AI research. The object is to raise the standards
of evaluation of work. Of course, there would have to be an editor and
people willing to write such reviews.
∂01-Aug-83 1415 JMC
To: ohlander@USC-ISI
CC: RPG@SU-AI, JK@SU-AI
Creary will be leaving my group in December, so I'll need to revise the
parts of the proposal that concern him. He will be replaced, but the
empahsis will change. I also understand that there will be revisions
of Gabriel's activities. Will there be anything else.
∂01-Aug-83 1737 JMC
To: DFH
Please draft something to Kuo for me to sign.
∂02-Aug-83 1105 JMC
To: ME
ap is dead and not revivable by tty exist 16.
∂02-Aug-83 1106 JMC
To: ME
nyt seems dead too.
∂03-Aug-83 1012 JMC
To: rindfleisch@SUMEX-AIM, RPG@SU-AI
I'm afraid I must proceed separately, because I want to have a session first
with RPG and the members of the Formal Reasoning Group. RPG: would you
put together a draft proposal for our order that we can discuss?
∂03-Aug-83 1314 JMC
To: DFH
The Kuo letter is ok. Give his wife a blind copy.
∂03-Aug-83 1317 JMC
To: DFH
The flight to Frankfurt is ok. I prefer the 1:10pm flight to AAAI,
and I want to return Friday evening. I made the reservation for an
extra night just in case there is a reason to do otherwise.
∂03-Aug-83 1336 JMC
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
If you can spare a copy of Elaine Rich, ..
∂03-Aug-83 1405 JMC
To: LEP
I'll be here only this week. Please come by when you can.
∂03-Aug-83 1521 JMC
To: bracewell@SU-SIERRA
I don't know how to get NASA reports.
∂03-Aug-83 1526 JMC
To: BYY
Yes, on dinner.
∂03-Aug-83 1545 JMC
To: CLT
cate 321-1225
∂03-Aug-83 1845 JMC
To: RWW
What about that NSF report?
∂03-Aug-83 1854 JMC
To: ef%oz@MIT-MC
Amarel@RUTGERS,bobrow@PARC,buchanan@SUMEX,
BEngelmore@SRI-KL,LErman@SRI-KL,
csd.genesereth@SCORE,grosz@SRI-AI,hart@SRI-KL,
csd.mccarthy@SCORE,mcdermot@YALE,minsky@MIT-MC,
nilsson@SRI-AI,reddy@CMU-10A,rich@MIT-MC,
aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM,stan@SRI-AI,gjs@MIT-MC,
tenenbaum@SRI-KL,walker@SRI-AI,dwaltz@BBNG,
bonnie.upenn@UDEL,carbonell@CMUA,
rhayes-roth@SRI-KL,bledsoe@UTEXAS,lenat@SU-SCORE,
lourobinson%sri-ai
∂03-Aug-83 1856 JMC
To: ef%oz@MIT-MC
Rieger, Charles Scion, 12310 Pinecrest Rd.,Weston, VA 22091
(703) 476-6100
∂03-Aug-83 1911 JMC Gunkel-Fredkin-Reddy meeting
To: reddy@CMU-CS-A, ef%oz@MIT-MC
CC: nilsson@SRI-AI
I am a bit dubious about a proposed meeting on "AI and the future
of America" or anything like that. However, if it is to occur, it
is reasonable to discuss it at the Executive Council of AAAI. Would
you and Ed like to have an agenda item in the second half (chaired by me)
of the meeting at AAAI?
∂03-Aug-83 1915 JMC prospectus of proposed meeting
To: ef%oz@MIT-MC, reddy@CMU-CS-A
CC: nilsson@SRI-AI
If the Executive Council is to discuss the meeting, there should be
a one page document about why such a meeting is important mailed out
before the AAAI. If you can get it to me, I can distribute it.
I again mention my dubiousness.
∂03-Aug-83 2327 JMC
To: RWW
Perhaps Jussi has a reading on whether it's in the critical path of his money.
∂04-Aug-83 1105 JMC
To: reddy@CMU-CS-A
Actually it seems to be the Fredkin meeting now. Frankly, I'm glad you're
not promoting it. We'll listen to Ed, but I think he'll have hard work
convincing us that the meeting would be worthwhile. I even suspect that
the task of producing a one page written plan may prove overwhelming.
∂04-Aug-83 1124 JMC
To: stan@SRI-AI
I am dubious about the propriety of discussing question 4; it would lead
to a lot of speculation, veiled attacks on the Japanese motives and
equally veiled defenses. I would also favor greater emphasis on what are
the problems in achieving the expert system, knowledge engineering and AI
goals. My own interest is in common sense which was part of the original
goals but seems to have been de-emphasized. When I visited ICOT in May, I
asked who was working on it and was told "no-one". If common sense has
been dropped as a goal, what is the level of AI ambition in performance
terms. Is it well-defined. Is it suitable for a development project or
does it, as I suspect, require fundamental advances.
∂04-Aug-83 1739 JMC
To: jjw@S1-A
Would you like to TA cs206 again?
∂04-Aug-83 1748 JMC
To: jjw@S1-A
OK. I just wanted to give you first choice if you wanted it.
∂04-Aug-83 2002 JMC MIT-LCS TR-295: The Revised Maclisp Manual
To: YOM
∂03-Aug-83 1738 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:GSB@MIT-ML MIT-LCS TR-295: The Revised Maclisp Manual
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Aug 83 17:38:14 PDT
Received: from MIT-ML by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Wed 3 Aug 83 17:33:37-PDT
Date: 3 August 1983 15:04 EDT
From: Kent M. Pitman <KMP @ MIT-MC>
Subject: MIT-LCS TR-295: The Revised Maclisp Manual
To: ARPANET-BBOARDS @ MIT-MC
Remailed-date: 03 Aug 1983 2024-EDT
Remailed-from: Arpanet-BBoards-Request at MIT-ML
They said it would never happen, but look for yourself...
The Revised Maclisp Manual
by Kent Pitman
Abstract
Maclisp is a dialect of Lisp developed at M.I.T.'s Project MAC (now the
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science) and the MIT Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory for use in artificial intelligence research and related
fields. Maclisp is descended from Lisp 1.5, and many recent important
dialects (for example Lisp Machine Lisp and NIL) have evolved from
Maclisp.
David Moon's original document on Maclisp, The Maclisp Reference Manual
(alias the Moonual) provided in-depth coverage of a number of areas of
the Maclisp world. Some parts of that document, however, were never
completed (most notably a description of Maclisp's I/O system); other
parts are no longer accurate due to changes that have occurred in the
language over time.
This manual includes some introductory information about Lisp, but is
not intended as tutorial. It is intended primarily as a reference
manual; particularly, it comes in response to users' pleas for more
up-to-date documentation. Much text has been borrowed directly from the
Moonual, but there has been a shift in emphasis. While the Moonual went
into greater depth on some issues, this manual attempts to offer more in
the way of examples and style notes. Also, since Moon had worked on the
Multics implementation, the Moonual offered more detail about
compatibility between ITS and Multics Maclisp. While it is hoped that
Multics users will still find the information contained herein to be
useful, this manual focuses more on the ITS and TOPS-20 implementations
since those were the implementation most familiar to the author.
The PitMANUAL, draft #14 May 21, 1983
Saturday Evening Edition
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Lisp, List Structure, Maclisp,
Programming Language, Symbol Manipulation
Ordering Information:
The Revised Maclisp Manual
MIT-LCS TR-295, $13.10
Publications
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
545 Technology Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
About 300 copies were made. I don't know how long they'll last.
--kmp
mdp - That probably depends on the type of paper, the quality of the
ink, the cover and binding materials...
DON - Which reminds me of one of my favorite radio ad lines: "These cars
are fresh from the factory and they won't last a week!"
∂05-Aug-83 0113 JMC
To: pmf@S1-A
CC: ullman@SU-SCORE
∂05-Aug-83 0011 PMF@S1-A
Received: from S1-A by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Aug 83 00:11:48 PDT
Date: 05 Aug 83 0012 PDT
From: Mike Farmwald <PMF@S1-A>
To: jmc@SU-AI
I'd like to talk sometime about ``Virtual Multiprocessors'' (the
idea of using simultaneously running many processes on a single pipeline.)
I have a lot of new ideas.
Good. Let's talk the next time I come to Livermore which unfortunately
won't be soon, because I'm travelling. Let me also suggest that you
consider talking in Jeff Ullman's supercomputer seminar. That's why
I'm forwarding this to him.
∂05-Aug-83 0119 JMC my microcassette recorder
To: JJW@S1-A, llw@S1-A, rah@S1-A
Lowell has it, because we dictated some stuff on our way back from L.A.
I'd like to take it on my trip to IJCAI (less the cassette in it), so
I would be grateful if you would bring it back when you return to
Palo Alto tonight if this is convenient. You could leave it with me
or Carolyn or in Diana's office or at worst in my mail box. Lowell or
Rod Hyde or one of the secretaries would know where it is.
∂05-Aug-83 1037 JMC
To: bscott@SU-SCORE
You might as well do it.
∂05-Aug-83 1040 JMC
To: DFH
Use "Artificial Intelligence" for the Newell reference, and you've got the
Searle reference correct.
∂05-Aug-83 1044 JMC
To: kjb@SRI-AI
The message concerned going to dinner the other night. Probably you
should send ME a note asking to have mail to BYY as SAIL forwarded
automatically to KJB at SRI-AI. ME (Martin Frost) can also tell you
how to make your virtual terminal from SRI look like a SAIL terminal.
I plan no action until the beginning of September on Ostrom. Splitting
him might be if we decide to go in that direction.
∂05-Aug-83 1455 JMC
To: reid@SU-GLACIER
It's not a question of interests but of making the best decision on
how to spend $393,000 in a short time. I would really like your
help in making these decisions. However, as it turns out I have a
very bad cold and welcome any excuse to postpone the meeting. Len
Bosack will try to reschedule it for Thursday the 18th or Friday
the 19th. (If my cold lets up, I'll be going to Germany for the
IJCAI and won't be back till then). I hope your back is ok.
∂05-Aug-83 1507 JMC
To: CLT
I have gone home again.
∂06-Aug-83 1339 JMC Unix emulator for VMS...
To: RSC
∂05-Aug-83 1152 N.WONG@SU-SCORE.ARPA Unix emulator for VMS...
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Aug 83 11:52:14 PDT
Date: Fri 5 Aug 83 11:45:51-PDT
From: N.WONG@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Subject: Unix emulator for VMS...
To: su-bboard@SU-SCORE.ARPA
I have heard that Rice U has a better(?) unix emulator for VAX/VMS systems
than EUNICE. Does anyone have information on this (contacts?) or experience
with it?
doug wong (N.WONG@SU-SCORE)
-------
∂06-Aug-83 1534 JMC
To: REG, ME
It would be good to take Brian Reid's leaf server into account.
∂06-Aug-83 2202 JMC
To: golub@SU-SCORE
Abstain for now on Guibas.
∂06-Aug-83 2237 JMC
To: bscott@SU-SCORE
Any chance of getting the other half of the Creary office?
∂06-Aug-83 2334 JMC
To: JK
∂06-Aug-83 1945 ZZZ REPORT
THANKS FOR SIGNATURE. I AM ON VACATION,
BUT WILL RETURN ON TUES AND WILL
GIVE IT TO BETTY WED MORN.
HAVE A NICE TRIP.
RICHARD
∂07-Aug-83 0115 JMC
To: "@AAAI.DIS[E83,JMC]"@SU-AI
The following item will be on the agenda of the part of the AAAI
executive committee meeting that will be chaired by John McCarthy.
There may be one additional item.
AAAI sponsored workshops. They would emphasize special research
topics. Tentatively, each will be organized by a single individual
who will decide on location (usually near his own), what papers will
be presented, and criteria for attendance. It is hoped that many of
them will be sufficiently specialized that there will be little need
for selectivity in either papers or attendance. Tentatively also,
no funds will be sought to support the workshops and participants will
make their own travel and housing arrangements. In short, the object
is to reduce the ratio of organizational to scientific work.
JMC suggests workshops on some of the following:
a. non-monotonic reasoning
b. pattern matching and unification
c. planning
d. learning
e. curriculum
f. criteria for judging progress in AI
g. formalization of common sense
Those contemplating volunteering to organize one of the above or
to propose or organize others should think about as many details as
possible in advance of the meeting so as to make proposals as precise as
possible.
∂07-Aug-83 0122 JMC forward to Rieger
To: aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM
Please forward the message about an additional agenda item to
Chuck Rieger.
∂16-Aug-83 0944 JMC
To: rindfleisch@SUMEX-AIM
I'll be back Wed pm, but RPG won't.
∂17-Aug-83 2306 JMC
To: chappel@SRI-AI
That should have been jmc-lists@sail.
∂17-Aug-83 2311 JMC
To: vvawh@MIT-MC
I cannot imagine why anyone would suggest contacting me about difficulties
with MC. I'm a very occasional user at Stanford.
∂17-Aug-83 2318 JMC check from Santa Cruz
To: genesereth@SUMEX-AIM
I received a check for $4,200 which is twice what I expected.
Did you receive a check also, or did they pay me for both of us?
∂18-Aug-83 0918 JMC
To: aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM
CC: nilsson@SRI-AI
Claudia:
Please put the Halbrecht proposal for awards on the agenda and arrange for
someone to present the proposal - yourself if you like.
Note that I am JMC@SAIL, not SCORE.
∂18-Aug-83 0921 JMC
To: wunderman@SRI-AI
My U.S. mailing address is:
John McCarthy
Computer Science Department
Stanford, CA 94305
tel: 497-4430
arpanet: JMC@SU-AI
∂18-Aug-83 0926 JMC
To: bledsoe@UTEXAS-20
Glad you're better. IJCAIs seem to be unhealthy for you. We'll keep
you informed.
∂18-Aug-83 1247 JMC
To: TK@SU-AI
Understand you're on West Coast. Can you give me a call?
∂18-Aug-83 1322 JMC Hacker's Dictionary
To: gs70@CMU-CS-A
Thanks for the copy from the publisher. On p. 97 you refer to a prime
"(has no advisors)". Ho, ho.
∂18-Aug-83 1615 JMC Your AI book
To: phw%oz@MIT-MC
Thanks for the draft of the second edition, which I have not had time
to read. However, I have two criticisms of the first edition. First
is the use of the word "thankfully" to mean "fortunately". "Thankfully"
is an adverb referring to an action by a person doing something in
a thankful manner. The second criticism is substatntive, and refers
to the notion of a pattern. You have an example somewhere in which
various patterns of circles, triangles, etc. are used. However, you
use a definition of pattern that excludes the following as a pattern.
Suppose we have a set of pictures each of which contains circles, triangles
and squares. The different pictures have differing numbers of each.
However, pictures satisfying the pattern is distinguished from those
not satisfying it by the fact that in the figures are approximately
concentric in that there is a common point to each figure. We can
also have non-pictorial examples of the pattern. Thus the triplet
(U.S. California Sacramento) is an example while (Massachusetts Boston
Cambridge) is not. I have tried "find the odd picture" examples on
subjects including psychologists. It is of medium difficulty; many
get it and many don't. Anyway I object to a definition of pattern
that excludes such cases.
∂18-Aug-83 1628 JMC Stoyan invitation
To: boyer@UTEXAS-20
I think Herbert Stoyan of the University of Erlangen in West Germany
should be invited to give a paper on the history of Lisp at the next
Lisp conference. You may remember that he started that interest when
he was in Dresden in East Germany. Since he emigrated (after eight
months in prison), he has dug up interesting material from interviews
and old memos and old files at M.I.T.
∂18-Aug-83 1632 JMC more on Stoyan
To: boyer@UTEXAS-20
He has also worked in LISP compiling and has several papers. He
wants to visit the U.S. for a year or two, and it occurs to me that
the University of Texas might be interested and might be good for
him. He is HST@SU-AI. I can tell you more about him if it is
relevant.
∂19-Aug-83 1734 JMC
To: restivo@SU-SCORE
I would be glad to see Phillippe Roussel and will be at Stanford then.
∂21-Aug-83 1050 JMC Keith Clark seminar
To: DFH
Please find a room for a 3pm seminar by Keith Clark and announce it.
The title and abstract are the PARLOG you typed in. The announcement
should also be MAILed to SUPER@SCORE, e.g. by the command
MAIL SUPER@SCORE @PARLOG[E83,JMC]
after you have decorated that file with time and place.
∂21-Aug-83 1144 JMC (→16055 1-Oct-83)
To: "#___JMC.PLN[2,2]"
At AAAI till August 26, then here till Sept. 4, then in Europe till Sept 27.
∂21-Aug-83 1156 JMC
To: bledsoe@UTEXAS-20
Woody, I just ran into your message again, and I must warn you not
to have anything to do with Frenchmen now that you are without a
gaul bladder.
∂21-Aug-83 1159 JMC
To: LEP
Perhaps we can discuss traffic lights during week of Aug 28.
∂26-Aug-83 2101 JMC
To: golub@SU-SCORE
Yes on Brooks.
∂26-Aug-83 2104 Mailer failed mail returned
To: JMC@SU-AI
In processing the following command:
MAIL dek,golub%score,feigenbaum%sumex,library
The following message was aborted because of a command error,
namely, nonexistent recipient(s):
library
------- Begin undelivered message: -------
∂26-Aug-83 2104 JMC
To: DEK@SU-AI, golub@SU-SCORE, feigenbaum@SUMEX-AIM
%score,wiederhold%sumex
I strongly support Harry's proposals, and I think we can regard
the file space as a CSD-CF service to all its users.
------- End undelivered message -------
∂26-Aug-83 2105 Mailer failed mail returned
To: JMC@SU-AI
In processing the following command:
MAIL golub%score,dek,feigenbaum%sumex,wiederhold%sumex,
The following message was unsent because of a command error:
------- Begin undelivered message: -------
∂26-Aug-83 2105 JMC
To: golub@SU-SCORE, DEK@SU-AI, feigenbaum@SUMEX-AIM,
wiederhold@SUMEX-AIM, library@SU-SCORE
I strongly support Harry's proposals, and I think we can regard
the file space as a CSD-CF service to all its users.
------- End undelivered message -------
∂26-Aug-83 2108 JMC
To: restivo@SU-SCORE
11:30 Tuesday would be fine for meeting with Roussel. Phone me about
other appointment any afternoon.
∂26-Aug-83 2112 JMC
To: ullman@SU-SCORE, meindl@SU-SIERRA
I would be glad to take part in CIS panel.
∂26-Aug-83 2116 JMC
To: CLT
Oct. 19 for Midsummer is impossible. Others fine.
∂26-Aug-83 2118 JMC A draft of your book
To: DFH
∂23-Aug-83 0521 TARNLUND@SRI-AI.ARPA A draft of your book
Received: from SRI-AI by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 23 Aug 83 05:21:44 PDT
Date: Tue 23 Aug 83 05:23:10-PDT
From: TARNLUND@SRI-AI.ARPA
Subject: A draft of your book
To: McCarthy@SU-AI.ARPA
May I send you a little reminder of our agreement in
Karlsruhe that you send me a draft of your book and
I send you a dollar per student that is using it.
-------
We sent him that didn't we?
∂27-Aug-83 1316 JMC
To: tk@MIT-MC
Thanks for the advice.
∂28-Aug-83 1729 JMC
To: aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM
Please MAIL me a current file of council net addresses.
∂28-Aug-83 1730 JMC
To: aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM
In fact, please MAIL it to all current council members.
∂28-Aug-83 1815 JMC discussing traffic lights
To: pack@SU-SCORE
If you are still interested, we can meet some time this week other than
Tuesday. I have looked at the version on SAIL. After this week, I shall
be away till Sept. 27.
∂28-Aug-83 1817 JMC how about Tuesday?
To: pmf@S1-A
If you are available and interested in discussing circular pipeline
machines, I can come to Livermore Tuesday.
Later in the week is also possible, but I would like to intersect
with Lowell also.
∂28-Aug-83 1820 JMC
To: restivo@SU-SCORE
Tuesday may not be possible, but another day this week is.
∂28-Aug-83 1842 JMC
To: restivo@SU-SCORE
Either looks ok now. Can I make it definite tomorrow without inconvenience?
∂28-Aug-83 2332 JMC
To: ME
Is the xgp broken?
∂29-Aug-83 0043 JMC reference
To: minsky%oz@MIT-MC
What is the reference to your paper of 1974 in which you discuss
non-monotonic reasoning?
∂29-Aug-83 0954 JMC
To: tarnlund@SRI-AI
We sent it shortly after IJCAI.
∂29-Aug-83 1158 JMC
To: DFH
Please print bibel.xgp[let,jmc] when xgp is working again.
∂29-Aug-83 1202 JMC Stoyan address
To: DFH
He grumbles that his address has no been changed for
announcements of CS reports. He is no longer in East Germany.
His address is the computer science department, University of Erlangen,
Erlangen, WEST GERMANY.
∂29-Aug-83 1414 JMC
To: restivo@SU-SCORE
Tuesday at 11:30 is best after all.
∂29-Aug-83 1545 JMC
To: churd@SU-SCORE
Fine. They all say you misinterpreted a message aimed at the CSL and
OR accounts that are being terminated, because their own computer
(Sierra) is now working well enough so that there is no justification
for their continuing to have SCORE accounts.
∂29-Aug-83 1756 JMC
To: JK
from Boyer:
You may be interested to know that David Russinoff, who got
Wilson's theorem through our theorem-prover, has recently
gotten the law of quadratic reciprocity through. That's
a much deeper theorem, I'm told.
∂29-Aug-83 1759 JMC
To: pack@SU-SCORE
09-01 2pm, Leslie Pack about traffic lights
∂30-Aug-83 0145 JMC
To: churd@SU-SCORE
I forgot what book you wanted to borrow.
∂30-Aug-83 2313 JMC
To: minker%umcp-cs@UDEL-RELAY
The person who will have the best information about Mints is Vladimir Lifschitz
in the Computer Science or Mathematics Department of the University of
Texas at El Paso. He is a fairly recent emigre. He will also know
whether Mints wants publicity.
∂31-Aug-83 1726 JMC
To: bonnie%upenn@UDEL-RELAY
It is Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY (914)255-1000.
∂31-Aug-83 1732 JMC
To: TOB@SU-AI
CC: RPG@SU-AI, rindfleisch@SUMEX-AIM
RPG tells me that he talked to you while the proposal was being prepared,
and you expressed no interest at the time.
∂01-Sep-83 0055 JMC Livermore and common[e83,jmc]
To: DFH
My expense for Livermore today were the round trip and $13 for food.
I have finished COMMON, so please xgp it to get a good copy to send
to the NY Academy.
∂01-Sep-83 2133 JMC directory
To: gotelli@SU-SCORE
I have created a directory 1,smc for my daughter Sarah McCarthy on SAIL.
Basically I'd like it to be charged to me personally or whatever arrangement
is customary for family members.
∂02-Sep-83 0258 JMC
To: JJW@SU-AI, pmf@S1-A
Keith Clark gave many good examples of parallelism to test
architectures with.
∂02-Sep-83 1749 JMC EKL Manual
To: JK@SU-AI, JJW@SU-AI, YOM@SU-AI
Part of the problem with EKL last year was that the manual wasn't ready
at the beginning of the Quarter. I hope there will be a manual this year.
∂04-Sep-83 0035 JMC (→16051 27-Sep-83)
To: "#___JMC.PLN[2,2]"
I will be in Europe from Sept. 4 to Sept. 27. Diana Hall (DFH) knows
my schedule if something is urgent.
∂04-Sep-83 0104 JMC
To: aaai-office@SUMEX-AIM
Here is Ed Fredkin's (EF@MIT-MC) proposal for a meeting and white
paper on AI. I suppose the issue for the Council is whether we
consider a push for high level attention to AI at this time
appropriate and, if so, whether this is the right way to go about
it. Though Fredkin is not currently active in AI, he
is energetic and knows lots of people. I suppose
the Council should be represented more specifically on the Steering
Committee if we decide to proceed.
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
We believe that the United State may be at a turning point,
facing either a great opportunity or a potential risk, depending
on the course of action taken now in the field of Artificial
Intelligence. The reason is not because of any startling new
research developments or breakthroughs, but rather because, for
the first time, there is a dramatically increased awareness of
the possibility of practical applications evolving from AI
research, especially in Japan. The Fifth Generation book is
actually the number one best seller (non-fiction) in Japan this
week, the last week in August. This comes at a time when the
rapid progress of computer technology finally allows AI programs
to run on relatively inexpensive systems. The confluence of
events may make it possible to do things now, that may not be
possible later. The reason that we are at a turning point is
because we face a window of opportunity that we must not miss.
For the past twenty years, the US government, through DARPA,
has supported research in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
While the work, which started at MIT and Stanford, was an obscure
area of basic research in the late fifties, it is now realized
that the practical applications of that research may have a very
large and increasingly important effect on the future strength of
this country, vis a vis its economic competitors. Japan, is
today the country with the most ambitious national program in the
field of AI. England has also embarked on a national effort.
While the US has been the leader in this field, we may not be
able to maintain that lead without embarking upon efforts of
greatly increased scope. The payoff, of maintaining our
preeminent position, appears to be so large as to justify very
great investments in this area. On the other hand, should we
fall behind in this technology, the risks we might face are not
merely economic ones, since, someday, advanced AI technology may
be an important factor in other aspects of national power. Most
importantly, the opportunity to precipitate large scale
governmental support appears to be present today, it was never
present in the past and, if this opportunity passes by, it may
not be present again for some time.
THE MEETING AND WHITE PAPER
The goals envisioned for the meeting would be to consider
certain aspects of AI research, development and applications
possibilities, consider what other nations are doing in that
context, and finally consider possible recommendations for
national action in the US. While it would be healthy for the
conferees to consider broadly the realm of future possibilities,
quite conservative extrapolations of what we already know should
be sufficient to allow one to conclude that the scale of prudent
activity for the US is greater than presently being considered.
If one looks at the range of practical applications, using
industry standard criteria such as projected return on
investment, a possible conclusion will be that the most
reasonable level of investment in all aspects of AI, from basic
research to practical applications of proven technology, may be
far greater than what is now being done. If the right group of
conferees did come to such a conclusion, and if it was able to
support its conclusions with reasoned arguments, then it is
likely that its recommendations might result in appropriate
governmental action.
WHO SHOULD BE INVITED
Attendance at this meeting should be limited to a small
number, perhaps 20 participants. The participants should consist
of two groups, those very familiar with AI, who are good at
conveying the concepts, possibilities and possible consequences
of various courses of action to a group of intelligent laymen
(laymen in the field of AI). And then the others, who should be
persons of great prestige who would be drawn from government,
science and industry.
ATTENDEES DRAWN FROM THE AI COMMUNITY
The members of the AI community, who attend the meeting,
will have the responsibility of educating the others, and
communicating the possible scenarios consequent to various
proposed actions. There is a great tendency for the experts in
an obscure field to talk over the heads of the most intelligent
of laymen, resulting in very little communication. In this case,
it will be very important to work hard at conveying the
information from expert to layman in ways that result in
understanding and appreciation for the most important issues.
There is, in this plan, the implication that it would be
sensible for the members of the AI community who attend the
meeting, to be of one mind on the important issues, and if that
is not possible, then there may be no point in holding the
meeting. The Japanese have made a great art of coming to a
consensus, where the natural tendency to display one's ego by
vociferous disagreement is suppressed. Some of the superstars in
the field AI are infamous for the opposite, never participating
in a meeting without showing strong disagreement with some point,
as a matter of principal. While the AI community can know and
love its heros for their weaknesses as well as for their
strengths, if we want to have an effect on the world, we will
have to be pragmatic, and hold back a little of our
individualism. The AI persons need not agree on all points, but
they must understand in advance what they disagree about, they
must be able to delimit and make clear the consequent
alternatives, and they must not allow such differences to get in
the way of communicating the broad areas of agreement. As a
consequence, the AI participants must get together before the
meeting to explore the issues and to come to a consensus.
THE NON-AI PARTICIPANTS
The main objective of the meeting will be to communicate the
rationale for greatly increasing government funding of various
aspects of AI research and technology. The audience should
consists of a group of prestigious movers and shaker who are
able to appreciate the possibilities. It will be important to
have representatives from three major groups: Government, because
they will best understand the process of turning such concepts
into actions; Industry, because much of the economic consequences
will be a result of what American Industry chooses to do, and
because of the practical experience of such persons; Science,
because the government is used to, for good reason, consulting
with certain trusted scientific advisors. Again, since the
objective is to give the best opportunity to the realization of
the goals of the meeting, the non-AI participants need to be very
carefully selected.
PERTINENT MATERIALS AND THE WHITE PAPER
A very important aspect of the conference would be the
distribution to the conferees, prior to the conference, of
materials that detail what is happening in the field of AI.
Examples might include the Fifth Generation by Feigenbaum and
McCorduck and papers such as "Artificial Intelligence: An
Assessment of the State-of-the-Art and Recommendation for Future
Directions" by David Waltz et al, in the Fall 83 issue of AI
Magazine. In addition, the organizers of the meeting should
write and distribute condensed background information that can be
easily and quickly digested. Subsequent to the conference, a
white paper should be prepared and distributed. That white paper
will be the focal point of consensus and a document that makes
specific recomendations for action.
THE SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATION TO THE AAAI COUNCIL
The council should agree that the AAAI should sponsor a
meeting, along the lines outlined above. While the AAAI would
sponsor the meeting, the opinions and conclusions expressed by
the participants would be their own, and not official positions
of the AAAI. A steering committee consisting of Raj Reddy,
Gordon Bell, Ed Fredkin, Bob Kahn (if he is willing) and perhaps
one or two others should be constituted. Ed Fredkin would be the
Chairman of the committee and meeting. The meeting will be at no
cost to the AAAI, it will pay its fair share of all expenses
incurred by the AAAI and return a modest profit. Claudia Mazzetti
has indicated that she would be able and pleased to handle
various arrangements for the meeting, for which the AAAI would be
reimbursed. The most likely site would be in the Washington
area, and the meeting would take place sometime before the end of
the year.
∂04-Sep-83 1327 JMC closing the consulate
To: JK
Your idea is a good one. If the organizations protesting had signs suggesting
closing the consulate, it would make the Russians more nervous than any other
kind of sign and would have some probability of being picked up by the media
and actually happening.
∂27-Sep-83 0001 JMC Expired plan
To: JMC
Your plan has just expired. You might want to make a new one.
Here is the text of the old plan:
I will be in Europe from Sept. 4 to Sept. 27. Diana Hall (DFH) knows
my schedule if something is urgent.
∂27-Sep-83 2101 JMC Working group on Programming Language Semantics
To: CLT
∂23-Sep-83 1030 @SRI-AI.ARPA:Barwise.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA Working group on Programming Language Semantics
Received: from SRI-AI by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 23 Sep 83 10:30:24 PDT
Received: from PARC-MAXC.ARPA by SRI-AI.ARPA with TCP; Fri 23 Sep 83 10:31:31-PDT
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 83 10:30 PDT
From: Barwise.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Working group on Programming Language Semantics
To: CSLI-Folks@SRI-AI.ARPA
cc: Barwise.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Working Group in C1: Semantics of Computer Languages
Brian Smith and I plan to have a working group that meets
Monday afternoons from 4 to 6 at PARC. We have decided that this
will not be an introductory reading group, but rather a working group
for people with some familiarity with the basic material.
The first meeting will be on Monday, October 3, 1983. We will
assume that people have read much of Gordon's book "The Denotational
Description of Programming Languages" (Springer Verlag, 1979). At
that meeting will will decide what we will work through next, but the
plan is to read Dana Scott's recent paper "Domains for Denotational
Semantics". Other things we might pursue are a draft of a new book
by Plotkin, Stoy's book, or a paper by Martin-Lof.
Let me know if you plan to attend. More detailed instructions
on room, etc., will be sent out later to those who repond.
Jon Barwise
∂27-Sep-83 2107 JMC reply
To: HST
Many thanks for your hospitality, and I got back fine. I just got back
today from another trip to Europe. I don't know the address of Kennedy.
∂27-Sep-83 2109 JMC
To: pourne@MIT-MC
Just got back from Europe. Do you want me to do something?
∂27-Sep-83 2110 JMC (→16100 20-Oct-83)
To: "#___JMC.PLN[2,2]"
I got back from Europe Sept 27.
∂27-Sep-83 2116 JMC
To: Bossu.GIA@MIT-MULTICS
Pat Hayes is PJH@SU-AI, but he hasn't logged in since May.