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From: ylikoski@csc.fi
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Doug Lenat's "cyc" project
Message-ID: <1990Aug19.145236.1@csc.fi>
Date: 19 Aug 90 14:52:35 GMT
References: <1990Jul31.034417.19350@nixtdc.uucp>
Sender: usenet@nic.funet.fi
Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET
Lines: 31

In article <1990Jul31.034417.19350@nixtdc.uucp>, doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) writes:
> The latest issue of "Discover" magazine has an article
> on Doug Lenat's "cyc" project, which is nothing less
> than a frame-based database of all of the common-place
> knowledge of the world that a typical human adult would
> have.
> ...
>  Lenat says it will be able to read and understand
> English text in 5 years, at which point the rate at which
> it can be educated will greatly increase.  Other authorities
> apparently feel he is too optimistic.
> ...
> My feeling is that someone is going to build an artificial
> mind sooner or later, and cyc is a plausible first step.
> 
> Doug Moen.

This resembles the "Advice Taker" project idea once proposed
by John McCarthy.  Perhaps JMC hinself could tell us about the Advice
Taker (or he might have useful contributions based on his Advice
Taker work).

Why not have the possibility to build incrementally (by means of the NL
interface) not only propositional but also procedural information
into the "cyc"?

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Antti (Andy) Ylikoski              ! Internet: YLIKOSKI@CSC.FI
Helsinki University of Technology  ! UUCP    : ylikoski@opmvax.kpo.fi
Helsinki, Finland                  !
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