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From: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence
Summary: Intuition and Insight, Algorithmic Mapping
Keywords: Models, Algorrithms, Transcription
Message-ID: <43924@linus.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jan 89 19:24:46 GMT
References: <552@soleil.UUCP> <687@htsa.uucp> <244@verdix.verdix.com> <2894@xyzzy.UUCP> <43722@linus.UUCP> <3046@xyzzy.UUCP>
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Reply-To: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry Kort)
Organization: Garden Golems, Inc., Norbert, WI
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In article <3046@xyzzy.UUCP> throopw@xyzzy.UUCP (Wayne A. Throop) discusses
the non-algorithmic aspect of model construction.  Wayne writes:

 > the step in model building algorithm that Barry calls "comprehension"
 > or "capture" is not itself an algorithm, or an atomic operation of any
 > automaton known.

The selection of the substrate upon which to build a model is indeed
a non-systematic step.  It takes an Eastman, or a Land to find the
apporpriate substrate.  But after that, the transcription from real
object to image can be utterly mechanical, as we see in Xerography
and photography.

On Saturdays, I work as a volunteer in the Children's Discovery
room at the Boston Museum of Science.  One of the educational
toys found in the room is a construction set called Marble Works.
The plastic pieces can be put together to build wonderful structures
through which a marble rolls from top to bottom.  One day I discovered
that I could construct a tower in the form of a double helix.  Two
marbles raced down the intertwined paths and came out at separate exits.

A few weeks later, I coached a 9-year old boy to build a double helix
as his bemused father looked on.  It wasn't until later that it
dawned on him that the boy had constructed a model of DNA.  The lad
was just mechanically assembling the parts according to a suggested
pattern.

--Barry Kort