There has been much discussion in the popular media recently on the topic of Expert Systems (for example the BBC ‘Horizon’ of 21st March, 1983, or the Sunday Times, 1st May…
Abstract
There has been much discussion in the popular media recently on the topic of Expert Systems (for example the BBC ‘Horizon’ of 21st March, 1983, or the Sunday Times, 1st May, 1983). Expert Systems are ‘computer programs that can acquire knowledge from experts and make it available in the form of advice to those less skilled’ (Landsdown, 1980). Such expert systems are one of the main building blocks of the ‘fifth generation’ computers, which are under development, with massive government encouragement, in Japan.
Automating the construction of machine‐interpretable knowledge‐bases is one of the immediate next moves in the emerging technology of information. Feasibility of computer…
Abstract
Automating the construction of machine‐interpretable knowledge‐bases is one of the immediate next moves in the emerging technology of information. Feasibility of computer induction of new knowledge from examples has been shown in more than one laboratory. Means are described for generating knowledge‐based programs that are automatically guaranteed analysable and executable by machine and human brain alike.
Professor Donald Michie, the Director of the Turing Institute, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, has discussed a breakthrough in artificial intelligence in an article in the UK Observer…
Abstract
Professor Donald Michie, the Director of the Turing Institute, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, has discussed a breakthrough in artificial intelligence in an article in the UK Observer newspaper. Writing at the end of last year he said that:
The purpose of this paper is to list and discuss several workers on cybernetics and systems, all fairly recently deceased. Online sources of further details are quoted.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to list and discuss several workers on cybernetics and systems, all fairly recently deceased. Online sources of further details are quoted.
Design/methodology/approach
The aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.
Findings
The demise of these workers is a great loss.
Practical implications
For all of the people listed, it is instructive to contemplate their achievements and to speculate on what else they would have done had they lived.
Originality/value
It is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.
Details
Keywords
Three themes in complex information processing are revealing themselves to be mutually interconnected: problem‐solving mechanisms, automatic program writing, and the organization…
Abstract
Three themes in complex information processing are revealing themselves to be mutually interconnected: problem‐solving mechanisms, automatic program writing, and the organization of large bodies of knowledge in machine memory. Interconnections are discussed in the contexts of chess and of automatic assembly. Reference is also made to automated chemistry systems.
Machine Intelligence and the Human Window Writing in Applied Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 5 No. 1, 1991, pp. 1–10), Donald Michie of the Turing Institute, Glasgow, UK, considers…
Abstract
Machine Intelligence and the Human Window Writing in Applied Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 5 No. 1, 1991, pp. 1–10), Donald Michie of the Turing Institute, Glasgow, UK, considers Machine Intelligence and the Human Window. He says that:
This paper reviews the history of separate online system interfaces, leading to efforts to develop expert systems for searching databases, particularly for end users, and…
Abstract
This paper reviews the history of separate online system interfaces, leading to efforts to develop expert systems for searching databases, particularly for end users, and introduces the research in such expert systems. Appended is a bibliography of sources on interfaces and expert systems for online retrieval.
The recent copy of the ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 14, 3, 1982, deals with some of the problems of the “User‐Interface”. All who use computer systems, and particularly the…
Abstract
The recent copy of the ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 14, 3, 1982, deals with some of the problems of the “User‐Interface”. All who use computer systems, and particularly the Cybernetician, are concerned at the way in which information is stored, retrieved and edited. All too often, untried methods are implemented, and software engineers fail to search the literature for established and efficient techniques. Two papers in this issue of Computing Surveys brings together details of current editing and user interface developments. The first paper is about using and implementing interactive editing systems and the second, concerned with document formatting systems. Here interactive editing refers to the process of making changes to documents by direct, rather than batched, communication with the computer, during which the user's actions are interleaved with the computer's feedback on the results of each action.
APPLICATIONS OF MICROPROCESSORS TO INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES Controlling an industrial process using a large central main frame machine, or even an hierarchy of such machines, is…
Abstract
APPLICATIONS OF MICROPROCESSORS TO INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES Controlling an industrial process using a large central main frame machine, or even an hierarchy of such machines, is hardly new. But now it is becoming positively old‐fashioned as cheap micro‐processors are being developed to take control of industrial processes. Devolution is at work, with an army of micros controlling factory processes at the points where direct control is required. Each microprocessor can monitor and control a single part of the process and, if failure occurs, a second or even a third micro can take over the functioning or alternatively the rest of the process will be undisturbed. For example, it may still be necessary for a central computing machine to supervise a number of different functions such as initiation of some function like switching on a motor, or controlling a valve. But each function could be individually controlled in turn by its own micro‐processor unit.