Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!isi.edu!smoliar From: smoliar@isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: Just Minds and Machines this time Message-ID: <16558@venera.isi.edu> Date: 30 Jan 91 16:40:41 GMT References: <11656.9101241836@s4.sys.uea.ac.uk> <1991Jan25.022026.12999@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <16510@venera.isi.edu> <1991Jan27.185935.18038@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <16537@venera.isi.edu> <1991Jan29.165646.17764@watdragon.waterloo.edu> Reply-To: smoliar@venera.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Organization: Information Sciences Institute, Univ. of So. California Lines: 31 In article <1991Jan29.165646.17764@watdragon.waterloo.edu> cpshelley@violet.uwaterloo.ca (cameron shelley) writes: > For example, the system should deal differently with: >"%^%#*%^&%^%^%%^$#@!#$#" (noise), "After being run *^@r by the truck, >the man said 'Ouch'!" (where "over" can be interpolated), "flying >airplanes make people ill" (ambiguity), and "pick peek poke pack puck pink" >(nonsense). Should I interpret the last as a description of a >psychodelic hockey game, or just respond "What?" I think both should >be options, but NN's (as they exist currently) do not have a choice >in such a case. > Cam, you interpreted my account of Peter Todd's work as suggesting "that the notion of 'ill-formed' is context-dependent." I would say that the above nonsense example supports a similar conclusion: How you choose to interpret depends upon the context in which you received it. I would even say the same of your noise example. If you saw those symbols in some avant-garde poetry magazine, you might very well try to kick in SOME attempt at interpretation, rather than just writing them off as noise (even if they had been scrupulously generated by a truly random source). Nevertheless, I think we are basically in agreement. Todd's system "works" because its architecture assumes a single context. I have not seen any convincing demonstration of a neural net which would be capable of maintaining multiple contexts, such as your nonsense example requires, let alone having a level of control for DECIDING which context is appropriate for a given interpretation task. -- USPS: Stephen Smoliar 5000 Centinela Avenue #129 Los Angeles, California 90066 Internet: smoliar@venera.isi.edu