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Louis Savain savainl at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 26 02:11:20 EST 1998


In article <sDfLLsjVtFDj-pn2-dK6DZE6411zu at ppp033.southern.co.nz>,
markj at southern.co.nz (Mark Jordan) wrote:

[Note follow-up in header]

>On Fri, 23 Jan 1998 09:46:15, savainl at earthlink.net (Louis Savain) wrote:
>
>> In article <sDfLLsjVtFDj-pn2-sdTpughPXpyb at ppp033.southern.co.nz>,
>> markj at southern.co.nz (Mark Jordan) wrote:
>> 
>[...]
>> > I found the tone of
>> >the discussions there to be somewhat arrogant as well.
>> 
>>   Well I regret that I have offended you.  Could it be because I
>> unequivocally take the stance that the solution to the AI problem must
>> be simple at its core?  I do realize that, in so doing, I seem to be
>> dismissing a large portion of AI research.  Well, I do.  There are too
>> many incompatible approaches to AI out there for me not to take side.
>> That there are so many is indicative of a fragmented science, a
>> science in disarray.  My main criticism of AI scientists *in general*
>> (I do admire a sizable few, especially makers of autonomous learning
>> robots) is not they are not bright (they are some of the brightest
>> people on earth), or that they have not accomplished much.  The
>> problem is that they worship complexity for its own sake.  They expect
>> the solution to the common sense problem be hard and complicated and
>> they conduct their research accordingly.  That, IMO, is a sure recipe
>> for failure.
>
>No that's not it. I have no preconceived ideas about the
>"solution to the AI problem" and no vested interests in any
>particular hypothesis.

  I think you do.  No one is neutral in this field.

>Your criticisim of AI scientists is irrelevant. Concentrate
>on criticising their work not their intelligence.

  I think you should read the above one more time.  I do not criticize
the intelligence of AI scientists.  On the contrary.  I have spent a
good part of last year defending AI and AI scientists against the
attacks of a certain psychologist who insists on calling them
misguided.

>[...]
>I hope you will consider the criticisms of your *WORK* and see
>them as oppourtunities to improve, rather than discard them
>as personal attacks.

  But you have not criticized any part of my work.  You've criticized
me personally.  But don't worry, I did not take offense.

Regards,

Louis Savain

President, Marengo Media, Inc.



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