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␈↓ ↓H␈↓␈↓βS␈↓∧ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Stanford, California 94305

␈↓ ↓H␈↓∧Telephone 415 497-4430␈↓ 	pJanuary 24, 1980 




␈↓ ↓H␈↓Professor Saul Amarel
␈↓ ↓H␈↓Department of Computer Science
␈↓ ↓H␈↓Rutgers University
␈↓ ↓H␈↓New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903

␈↓ ↓H␈↓Dear Saul:

␈↓ ↓H␈↓        I␈α∂have␈α∞talked␈α∂to␈α∞Reiter,␈α∂and␈α∞I␈α∂am␈α∞familiar␈α∂with␈α∞one␈α∂of␈α∞his␈α∂papers␈α∞"A␈α∂Logic␈α∂for␈α∞Default
␈↓ ↓H␈↓Reasoning"␈α
which␈αwill␈α
be␈αpublished␈α
in␈αthe␈α
special␈αissue␈α
of␈α␈↓↓Arti≡cial␈α
Intelligence␈↓␈αdevoted␈α
to␈αnon-
␈↓ ↓H␈↓monotonic␈αreasoning.␈α
 I␈αassume␈αthat␈α
he␈αgave␈αme␈α
as␈αa␈α
reference␈αin␈αspite␈α
of␈αour␈αslight␈α
acquaintance,
␈↓ ↓H␈↓becuse␈α∞I␈α∞am␈α∞the␈α∞senior␈α∞AI␈α∞person␈α∞interested␈α∞in␈α∞non-monotonic␈α∞reasoning.␈α∞ On␈α∞the␈α∞basis␈α∂of␈α∞this
␈↓ ↓H␈↓paper,␈α⊂I␈α⊂consider␈α⊂Reiter␈α⊂to␈α⊂be␈α⊂quite␈α⊂strong␈α⊂in␈α⊂the␈α⊂techniques␈α⊂of␈α⊂mathematical␈α⊂logic␈α⊂and␈α∂their
␈↓ ↓H␈↓application␈α
to␈α
arti≡cial␈αintelligence␈α
problems.␈α
 His␈α
paper␈αadds␈α
substantially␈α
to␈α
our␈αunderstanding
␈↓ ↓H␈↓of␈α
non-monotonic␈α
reasoning,␈αand␈α
it␈α
is␈α
mathematically␈αmore␈α
complete␈α
than␈α
the␈αcorresponding␈α
paper
␈↓ ↓H␈↓by␈αMcDermott␈αand␈αDoyle.␈α I␈αalso␈αthink␈αthat␈αhe␈αhas␈αchosen␈αa␈αgood␈αtopic␈αto␈αwork␈αon␈αthat␈αwill␈αlead
␈↓ ↓H␈↓to further substantial contributions to AI.

␈↓ ↓H␈↓        While␈αI␈αhave␈αhad␈αinsu≠cient␈α
occasion␈αto␈αobserve,␈αI␈αhave␈α
a␈αgood␈αimpression␈αof␈αReiter␈αas␈α
an
␈↓ ↓H␈↓expositor, so I think he would make a good teacher.


␈↓ ↓H␈↓Best regards,



␈↓ ↓H␈↓John McCarthy
␈↓ ↓H␈↓Director
␈↓ ↓H␈↓Professor of Computer Science