Tag Archives: understanding
07 Jun Finding a Tree in the Forest
Complex Search Finding the information you need can be a problem, particularly when you have to look through tons (or terabytes) of data. I recall when geocaching first became popular. The idea that a technology could create a model for an entertaining activity that connects people in unusual ways is quite diverting. Will it still be popular […]
05 Jun Intelligent Traveling Salesmen
Another Sample Problem Several specific reasoning or inference problems have provided fodder for AI textbooks and experiments. One of these is the traveling salesman problem (Get an explanation and an example applet here): Given a traveling salesman who must get to x number of cities, find the shortest route the salesman can travel to reach […]
03 Jun Distributed Knowledge Representation
Distributed KR Knowledge representation schemata may be top-down, or bottom-up. In a top-down approach, one would define an area or domain of knowledge, then list the concepts within the domain and their attributes. Behaviors within the domain are often defined by that domain, and the concepts may not be able to exist independently. This approach helps enforce a […]
02 Jun Framing Formal Logic
Formal Logic Formal logic often uses set theory. Set theory uses existential (an assertion that something applies to some members of a set) and universal (a statement that applies to all members in a set) quantifiers. Despite the utility and noncommittal correctness of existential quantifiers, set operations using existential quantifiers are weaker then those using universal quantifiers. The […]
30 May State of the Art in Knowledge Representation
KR Evolves Slowly The state of the art in computer programming has evolved toward data-driven techniques. In early programs, the data was “hard-coded” into the program with specific functions operating differently on each data item and type. Gradually, programmers began storing data and templates in different files, attempting to write orthogonal procedures to introduce a modularity […]
28 May Data and Modeling
Data modeling is essential in the early stages of any information system design. By moving toward a data-centered model, we can make our data, and our system, smarter. There are many data-modeling techniques, but we will focus on two for now: Entity Relationship Diagramming (ERD), and Object Role Modeling or object relational modeling (ORM). Entity […]
26 May AI Domains and Approaches
Grouping, Classifying and Categorizing How do you solve big technical problems? Rather than selecting or inventing an approach and then attempting to apply it to a problem to see how well it works, let’s analyze the problem and see if we can find or invent a solution that matches the problem space, and see if […]
22 May What Constitutes a Brain
By: Joe Roushar – May 2014 Mechanical Brains In its most general sense, the term mechanical brain could be applied to any man-made contrivance that is capable of functioning or generating information in some manner analogous to thinking. Under this broad definition, if the function were remembering an image (as we remember people’s faces), a camera with […]
21 May Modeling After a Fashion
Perennial Image Problems Artificial Intelligence has an image problem. Yes, there are cybernetic characters like R2D2, C3P0 and Commander Data whom we love, but some products built using AI techniques have the dubious reputation of being useful but not entirely dependable. Think of songs sung about Sirius Cybernetics Teleporter products (see lyrics below). It is possible that […]
20 May Cybernetic Modeling for Smarty-Pants
Introduction Model railroads come in several scales: O, HO and N gauge enable hobbyists to model real-world objects in miniature using successively smaller standards. In N gauge it is possible to build an entire city in the basement. A good model photographed with still or motion pictures may be so realistic that viewers believe they are looking […]