Discussion topics

1. Introduction to class format and informal discussion of intelligence.
2. 1950 Can A Machine Think in Computing Machinery and Intelligence by Alan Turing. Poses the problem of deciding whether an artifact can exhibit intelligence.
3. 1950 Chess Playing Programs and the Problem of Complexity by Allen Newell, J Shaw, and Herbert Simon. Can programs play difficult games well? Discusses approaches to game playing, including minimax, static evaluation, quiescence, and goals. Does this demonstrate intelligence? What else might be needed? How hard is chess?
4. 1956 Realization of a Geometry-theorem Proving Machine by H. Gelernter. Mathematical ability is often thought of as sign of intelligence. Can programs prove theorems? Presents theorem proving as a search through a space of goals and subgoals. Shows how to limit search by using models. Assignment question: Assume that you have a program that can prove theorems. Is this sufficient/not sufficient to indicate that you have created an intelligence program. Why or why not?
5. 1961 GPS: A Program that simulates Human Thought by Allen Newell and Herbert Simon. Can intelligence be revealed by any one ability? Does it require a host of abilities? N&S provide a general problem solving algorithm that relies on states, goals and operators. Assignment Question: How is this program similar or different from the way you solve problems?
6. 1977 Computers and Thought Lecture by Douglas Lenat. The ubiquity of discovery. Lenat surveys several programs that do scientific discovery, or do they? Assignment question: Are these programs doing scientific discovery? Argue for or against.
7. 1981 Rodney Brooks: Brooks argues that intelligence can be achieved without reason or representation, two key assumptions behind most AI research. Darpa issued a million dollar challenge for an autonomous vehicle that would traverse natural environments. Search for Humanoid robots via google. Asimov and Wakamaru are two. Others? Assignment question(s): Can we build Hal? Why or why not? What can programs do? Use specifics from readings.
8. 1982 Marvin Minsky Why People Think Computers Can't You may find Minsky's web site interesting. Assignment Questions Do you agree that his "web of meaning" yields meaning? Do you think computers can be conscious?
9. 1999 Tom Mitchell Machine Learning and Data Mining Assignment questions: Are these programs learning? Why or why not?
10. Tieing it all together: Assignment questions: What papers did you find most valuable? Is AI achieving intelligence?

Other Potential Topics/Papers

• What is Bioinformatics?
• Can Programs do medical diagnosis?
• Practical application of learning
• AM: A Mathematician by Douglas Lenat. Is proving theorems or solving differential equations an indication of intelligence? A more creative task is discovering theorems. Lenat demonstrates a heuristic approach to generate mathematical conjectures and definitions by examining examples.
• Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers by Arthur Samuel. (1954) Can programs learn? Demonstrates an effective learning algorithm and discusses the problem of representation. Does this convince you that programs can be intelligence? Why or Why not? What can programs do?
• The Principle Acts of Conceptual Dependency by Roger Schank. (1969) Provides a core conceptual language that he hoped would allow for representing the meaning of sentences. Representation is a key problem in AI.
• Mapping Ontologies into Cyc by Douglas Lenat. (2002) An attempt to store everything a child knows by the age of five or common sense knowledge. Cyc stores world knowledge in multiple forms, including first and second order logic. Inference is handled by special algorithms for efficiency. Currently has several million facts and rules.
• Prolog by Kowalski. Prolog is a programming language based on logic. Computation is viewed as logical deduction (formally resolution). In this context a program is simply a collection of facts and rules. You query the program and it used the facts and rules to generate a proof. <

Notes

• Complexity: $1,000,000 Clay (mathematics prize) for settling tennis pickup problem. Suppose you want pick up N tennis balls and return your spot, with the least amount of work. What is an upper bound on the number of operations you need to figure out the best path?
• Lenat on why he went into AI. (1971)
  One was that it was positively reinforcing --- you would be building something like a mental amplifier that would make you smarter, hence would enable you to do even more and better things.
  The second interesting property was that it was clear researchers in the field didn't know what the hell they were doing.
  
• Charlie Brown on Natural Language Processing:
  Lucy and Charlie are on the baseball field and it is raining. Lucy is holding an umbrella.
  Charlie says: "You can't catch a baseball holding an umbrella".
  Lucy says: "How did he know that?"