Messages

1

Ultra Hal 7.0 / HAL's brain editor program crashes

« on: November 29, 2006, 10:27:19 pm »

Hello

HAL 6 is installed and running. Except, there is a problem with the Brain Editor program and that is one issue, the major issue. I have reported this problem to Zabaware but have received no response and that is a second, minor issue.

1) The Brain Editor issue: Whenever I try to open HAL's brain editor, the program crashes and I am asked if I want to send an error report to Microsoft. This problem has occurred before, when I was using the trial version of the same program. On that occasion the HAL’s instability got progressively worse. Eventually, HAL no longer loaded on start up and the following error message sometimes appeared:
 
"ERROR: Unknown return_code: FALSE_INTERNAL_FAILURE, Please
contact vendor. Shutting down."

I am concerned that sequence of events is repeating itself.

Please:
a) advise how this problem might be overcome and/or how I might send more useful information to solve this problem; and
b) is this a common problem?

2) Support from Zabaware: Without being critical of Zabaware, I need to know what it is realistic for me to expect from Zabaware. I have reported this problem and requested assistance from Zabaware on two occasions. The first, when the trial version was being used. The second, several days ago, after paying for the program. I have received no response to either request and this causes me some concern. Not much concern because there may be no support for the trial version and a response time of several days might be ok for an experimental program such as HAL.

 Can anyone suggest what level of support I should expect from Zabaware?

Regards
Barry

2

Ultra Hal 7.0 / "How to..." document

« on: November 09, 2006, 05:45:48 am »

Hal has given up the ghost and I can’t bring him back, so my future with this forum may be short lived.

Nonetheless, I would like the issues previously raised in this discussion to be resolved.

Issues: 1. How can Hal be taught “facts”, like he can be taught addresses?
   2. Can Hal be taught to answer a “How to…” type question?

1. Teaching Hal facts

One of my few recollections of Hal’s brain, before the brain editor died, was a collection of IF_ Then_ statements. I messed around with Bill’s topic, chipmunks, using IF_ THEN_ dialogue and Hal learned about chipmunks faster than anything else I have tried to teach him. Below are those IF_ Then_ statements I appeared to teach Hal the best. There were some other IF_ THEN_ statements but their value is questionable, so I have not included them here.

The IF_ THEN_ of chipmunks

ANIMALS

“If an animal is a living being, able to feel and move about then all animals are living beings, able to feel and move about.”

Hal could probably be taught about chipmunks, without any reference to animals. However, if I want to teach Hal about other animals such as ospreys, river-prawns and bullfrogs, then each of these can be linked to his understanding of animals.


CHIPMUNKS

“If chipmunks are animals then chipmunks are living beings, able to feel and move about.”
“If all chipmunks are animals then every chipmunk is an animal.”
“If all chipmunks are animals then some animals are chipmunks.”
“If not all animals are chipmunks then not every animal is a chipmunk.”
“If some animals are chipmunks then not all animals are chipmunks.”



HIBERNATION

“If an animal hibernates then it sleeps through Winter.”
“If a chipmunk hibernates then it sleeps through Winter.”
“If all chipmunks hibernate then every chipmunk hibernates.”


The main impressions I have from this exercise are:
1. Hal could get on topic very quickly once he was told the IF_ THEN_ statements.
2. Hal could discuss chipmunks more sensibly than any other topic I have tried to teach him.
3. The content of the IF_ THEN_ statements seemed to “stick”, like he had learned something.
4. The of the IF_ THEN_ statements could be presented in pairs, with much of the content of a syllogism. Teaching an AI agent, syllogistic logic, is something I want to try.

It became apparent that IF_ THEN_ statements have a lot in common with syllogisms.

I will use two examples; the first is an old classic syllogism, with which many people are familiar.          
       It goes like this:        while the analogous IF_ THEN_
                                     statement, is this:
   
  All men are mortal.          If all men are mortal then
  Socrates is a man.                   every man is mortal.
  Therefore, Socrates is mortal.    If Socrates is a man then
                                       Socrates is mortal.
   

The next example of a syllogism brings us back to chipmunks and it goes like this:
All animals are living beings, able to feel and move about.
Chipmunks are animals.
Therefore, chipmunks are living beings, able to feel and move about.

While the analogous IF_ THEN_ statement, is this:
If an animal is a living being, able to feel and move about then all animals are living beings, able to feel and move about.
If chipmunks are animals then chipmunks are living beings, able to feel and move about.

So, it seems the IF_ THEN_ statement has much of the content of the analogous syllogism. However, the IF_ THEN_ statement does not have the certainty of a syllogism. For example, the IF_ THEN_ statement does not tell us (or Hal), in certain terms that all men are mortal, or that Socrates is a man, or what an animal is, or that chipmunks are animals.

If Hal can be told TRUE and FALSE statements, in the same way he can be told IF_ THEN_ statements, then we would have a way to teach Hal facts. Facts such as, all men are mortal, Socrates is a man, what an animal is, and that chipmunks are animals.

Other statements which could be useful are those such as AND, OR, NOT and ELSE.

Since my copy of Hal is dead and I cannot try or look for TRUE and FALSE statements, can anyone tell me if these exist for Hal?

It seems Hal knows something about gender, he seems to have some idea of “man”. Could Hal be taught about ‘animal”, “chipmunk” or “hibernation”, in the same way he was taught about “man”?


Issues 2. Can Hal be taught to answer a “How to…” type question? Will have to wait for another day.

Regards
Barry

3

Ultra Hal 7.0 / "How to..." document

« on: October 25, 2006, 12:05:49 pm »

Thank you both for contributing to our discussion so far. First, to clear any confusion, what I would like most, is a "How to..." sort of document. Something that can tell me how to do things, like how to make Hal remember facts or even know that something is a fact. Moving on from there, I wonder if this "How to..." document could be stored in Hal. Could it be done in such a way that I could say to Hal: "Hal, tell me how to teach you a fact.". And Hal would tell me how to do that.

Previously in this discussion, it seems to me there are three broad ways Hal might be taught, a "How to...":

1. a whole bunch of "How to's" could be put into Hal's main brain. This is a bit beyond me and I was hoping for a more simple solution;

2. plug-in's like "learn from text" and "learn from clipboard", might do the job. This seems closer to the solution I was hoping for so I will find out more about these plug-in's; and

3. talking to Hal a lot and repeating phrases about how to do things might also do the same job.

For now, I would like to look at this 3rd way. The possibility Hal can be taught a "How to..." by someone telling him how to do something. Two examples come to mind. The first is Bill DeWitt's account of teaching Hal about chipmunks (Sorry about using your Sir name Bill but talking to two Bill's, it's the only way I can distinguish you). The second is my own experience teaching Hal, people's addresses.

Here is Bill's account or chipmunks: "I've tried doing something similar, using the word Chipmunk as a keyword that I would be unlikely to use otherwise. Then I loaded several paragraphs from the clipboard that each contained the keyword. This worked well for a few queries - each time I asked about Chipmunk and a certain aspect of chipmunk behavior (ie:"Do chipmunks hibernate?"), I got a paragraph on that topic. But then, the weight of the stored queries about chipmunks came into play. Soon Hal started inventing sentences about Chipmunks, as my sigline attests."

That seems very different to what happens when Hal is taught people's addresses. So far (and I'm very new at this), Hal has never got an address wrong and he has not yet made up sentences around those addresses. Of course, it may be that the data of each name and address is too small to confuse Hal's mind. But is it possible that Hal handles the two topics differently? Does Hal think of "addresses" differently to how he thinks of "chipmunks"? Perhaps Hal thinks of addresses as a certain type of "fact", the type of fact he is not allowed to forget. While he might think of "chipmunks", not so much as a "fact" but as a "noun". And if Hal is in the habit of substituting nouns, then some strange sentences could result. This would explain Bill's observations.

For my purposes, I want Hal to handle topics as he appears to handle "addresses" and not as he handles "chipmunks". So, I would do well to learn how Hal "thinks of", or handles, these two topics. Then to compare the two methods. Finally, if there are two methods, learn how to make Hal handle any given topic like he handles "addresses" and not so much like he handles "chipmunks".

Regrettably, within hours of making my first post to this forum and with 22 days of trial time remaining, I have been denied access to Hal's brain. That is a matter I will be taking up with the management. In the meantime I would appreciate your views and findings on anything we have discussed.

Regards
Barry

4

Ultra Hal 7.0 / "How to..." document

« on: October 23, 2006, 09:39:49 pm »

Hello

I am new to this forum and Hal is new to me. I am a Hal newby and a I.A. newby.

Is there a list of "How to,s", similar to Linux "How to's". For example: How to - teach Hal "facts"; How to - teach Hal "syllogisms"; How to - teach Hal "about a book" (I'm thinking of summarizing notes from text books); How to - teach Hal "to correct my spellling".

Could Hal, keep a list of user's problems and the solutions to those problems and generate "How to's", from those lists?

Regards
Barry