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C00004 00003	.every heading()
C00006 00004	.cb Proposed Research
C00011 00005	.cb Supplementary Request
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.every heading();
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.center;
%5Computer Science Department
Stanford University

%15 March 1980




%1Proposal to

%5National Science Foundation

%1for continuation of

%5Basic Research in Artificial Intelligence
.skip 2
John McCarthy
Professor of Computer Science
Principal Investigator
.skip 10;
%3Abstract
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.begin fill;
%1This is a request for continuation of NSF Grant MCS78-00524
supporting Basic Research in Artificial Intelligence.  The renewal will
continue for the third year the activities proposed for three years in
our proposal of April 26, 1978.  The amount requested is α$121,074. We
are also requesting a supplement in the amount of α$48,248. to support
Jon Doyle, Research Associate, for one year.
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.cb Proposed Research
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	For the academic year 1980-81, Professor John McCarthy
will return to the Computer Science Department of Stanford
University, having completed a year as a Fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS)
at Stanford where he was chairman of a study on
artificial intelligence and philosophy by a group of six
computer scientists, philosophers and psychologists.

	McCarthy will continue his research
on non-monotonic reasoning and the further formalization of concepts.

	Non-monotonic reasoning, as described in the paper
%2Circumscription Induction - A Way of Jumping to Conclusions%1, is
increasingly seen as a requirement for AI systems.  Drew McDermott of Yale
and Jon Doyle of M.I.T. recently wrote a paper on non-monotonic reasoning
proposing a different approach from McCarthy's.  An impromptu
mini-conference on non-monotonic reasoning was held at Stanford in
November 1978 and attracted 50 participants who heard papers by John
McCarthy, Drew McDermott, Terry Winograd and Richard Weyhrauch.  The
proceedings of the conference will be a special issue of the journal
%2Artificial Intelligence%1.

	Recently McCarthy determined the relation between circumscription
and the McDermott-Doyle and Reiter non-monotonic formalisms.  It
turned out that these formalisms differed along two dimensions.
McDermott, Doyle and Reiter treat possibility modally by
model theory, while McCarthy used sentence schemata.  The
approaches are substantially but not precisely equivalent, but
the sentence schema approach is more readily used by a computer.
The second difference is that circumscription refers to minimal
models and the other methods use arbitrary models.  Which is
more useful depends on the application.

	2. Applying circumscription to proofs of non-knowledge
seems promising.

	In 1980-81 McCarthy expects to continue work begun this
year on concepts in approximate theories.  The idea is that many concepts
used in common sense reasoning such as %2causes%1 and %2beliefs%1 cannot
be defined in terms of the state of the world but only in terms
of an approximate theory of some aspect of the world.  They are
useful concepts that seem to disappear when examined closely.
We believe this phenomenon to be widespread and of fundamental
philosophical and practical importance.

	Three papers based on previous work have been published:
%2Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines%1 in %3Philosophical Perspectives 
in Artificial Intelligence%1, Martin Ringle (ed.), N.Y., 1978, and
"First Order Theories of Individual Concepts and Propositions", in 
%2Machine Intelligence 9%1, Donald Michie (ed.), Scotland, 1979.
%2Circumscription - A Form of Non-Monotonic Reasoning%1 in
%2Artificial Intelligence%1, early 1980.
.cb Supplementary Request
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	Recent work on formalization of common sense reasoning
has advanced to the point where it is again reasonable
to plan an Advice Taker program as originally proposed in
McCarthy's 1960 paper %2Programs with Common Sense%1.
Jon Doyle, who has worked on non-monotonic reasoning
and truth maintenance syytems at M.I.T. will receive
his PhD in June and will be available.  Supplemental
funds are requested for his support in 1980-81 as a research
associate.