Some Problems in Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

In this chapter, a succession of logical design problems is formulated in which a machine learns the goal attaining responses to a number of stimuli and then predicts the goal-attaining responses to stimuli, which have never occurred before. This chapter is concerned with the problem of designing the logic box M given that (a) M is to set the linkage in a goal attaining configuration corresponding to any, (b) the following information is not available to the designer of M: given retinal pattern and goal requirement indication, (i) what objects will be included in the visual field, (ii) the background pattern, (iii) what goal if any is associated with which point on which object (iv) which pattern of activity in the motor units sets the linkage in which configuration, (v) how many hinges there are in the linkage, nor what linkage images look like, (c) the total number of trials that M may make in the course of trial and error is strictly limited such that the correct response for each retinal pattern that occurs cannot be found in turn by trial and error, and prediction is therefore necessary in view of (c) above, (d) the number of different objects that ever actually occur in the field of view is strictly limited, such that very many fewer than all possible retinal patterns ever actually occur. (e) when the retina comprises many (e.g. 10 6 ) photocells the number of logical units in M must not be astronomical (e.g. must not be greater than 10 10 ). In Part III of this chapter, a design for M is given in terms of machines specified (but not designed) in Part II. Part II contains a sequence of detailed logical design problems and Parts I and III provide a background against which the choice of problems in Part II can be understood. In Part II it is convenient to use elementary set-theoretical terminology, and the correspondence between the ordered sets of locations with which Part II is concerned and the retina and motor units of the limb-pointing system is explained in Part III.