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From: throopw@xyzzy.UUCP (Wayne A. Throop)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: AI is not a SMOP
Message-ID: <2984@xyzzy.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jan 89 19:27:42 GMT
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> demers@beowulf.ucsd.edu (David E Demers)
>> Before anybody thinks I'm saying that AI is a SMOP, 
>>					         ^^^^
> Um, are we all supposed to know what this means?

Well, yes, you all are.  Or anyhow, I *thought* most people would be
familiar with it (or one of it's cousins).  It represents the phrase
"Small Matter of Programming", a member of the phrase schema "Small
Matter of X", where X is typically "Engineering", or "Construction",
or "Technology", or something else representing a relatively well
understood disipline or craft, with little or no creative insight
required.  As in "Building a synchronous, anchored skyhook on Earth is
a small matter of engineering.", or (especially if uttered in the
1960's) "Fusion power is a small matter of technology.".

Again, the implication is that all the required understanding is
already present, and that all that is left is the "legwork".

--
Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience,
when it has no soul to be damned, and no body to be kicked?
                              --- Lord Edward Thurlow
-- 
Wayne Throop      <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!throopw