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From: klb@unislc.uucp (Keith L. Breinholt)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: What Has Traditional AI Accomplishe
Message-ID: <1990Oct24.132505.11410@unislc.uucp>
Date: 24 Oct 90 13:25:05 GMT
References: <3200031@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Unisys, Unix Systems Quality Assurance
Lines: 42

From article <3200031@m.cs.uiuc.edu>, by gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu:
> 
>> We could add to the list a host of medical instruments such as
>> cat-scans (sp?) and Ultra-sounds. (Both look at internal organs
>> without surgery) Then there are tools such as character readers, text
>> and graphic scanners, and the nifty little barcode readers at the
>> supermarket.
> 
> It is wrong to classify individual problems as "AI".  I deeply resent
> this when AI researchers commit this error, as the person above has.
> The work on Catscans and NMR/MRI is good physics and a good application
> of known methods of exact scientific computation, period.
> 
> Either AI is a scientific method of making computers solve problems or
> it is nothing at all.

To correct what you thought I said.  I was not classifying anything as
"AI".  What I was doing was giving a list of technologies that use
fruits from AI research as a common usage/practice.  Everything
mentioned above has benefited in one way or another.

There is not an imaging device in existance (except photography
equipment) that is not a benifactor of AI vision research, Catscans
and NMR/MRI included.

>> Our definition of AI is basically "whatever we haven't figured out how
>> to do yet."  As soon as AI research refines the methods, the problem
>> falls out of the AI category.
> 
> Once again, the person who wrote the above quote has made an error in
> judgement.  If a refinement of an AI method continues to solve a
> problem (and no other methods produce superior results), then it is a
> triumph of AI.

I think you just made my point.

Keith
-- 
___________________________________________________________________________

Keith L. Breinholt		hellgate.utah.edu!uplherc!unislc!klb or
Unisys, Unix Systems Group	kbreinho@peruvian.utah.edu