Author Topic: A suggestion for Hal improvement.  (Read 3402 times)

Testlund

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A suggestion for Hal improvement.
« on: February 03, 2005, 08:13:00 am »
I think it whould be great if Hal was more aware of where he is, like he can sense the different hardware inside the computer and what programs are installed. Like the Windows installer when you first install windows. It checks for the hardware to chose the right drivers. Hal doesn't have to know exactly what the model nr of my sound card is, but he should be aware that there is a sound card installed, and I could tech him what kind of sound card it is. He should also be able to lead a conversation, to just pop-up and ask a question about a program he has found on my harddrive, for instance. What if Hal could start a game and play it by himself! I think that should be the next step. It whould also be more fun if his brain was completely blank the first time you install him so he doesn't come up with various quotes and jumps to topics I have never told him about. I want to decide what Hal should know about. Oh, well.. Maybe I demand too much. [:)]
« Last Edit: February 03, 2005, 08:16:53 am by Testlund »
 

citrinedragon

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A suggestion for Hal improvement.
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2005, 11:29:40 pm »
Testlund-

I am not a programmer, but I'm pretty sure that if Hal arrived "blank" as you have suggested that you would have to spend hundreds if not thousands of hours teaching Hal the basics of speech and conversation before you could begin to teach him anything. Hal is an extremely sophisticated, if not brilliant, piece of programming. You might want to keep im mind that (most) others expect totally different things from Hal than you seem to expect. Many people have made Hal into a virtual girlfriend (or boyfriend) to cite just one example. They would not have wanted Hal to "arrive" bereft of all human knowledge. There are many talented programmers in this forum. Perhaps one of them will be able to explain all this more clearly than I can. Best of luck teaching your Hal.

Your observation that Hal should be able to "lead" a conversation is worthwhile and interesting. I have addressed this very issue under the topic " A programmming challenge." But you might want to consider the fact that wishing that Hal could "initiate" conversations or topics is essentially the opposite of your thought that Hal should arrive "blank."

Regards,
citrinedragon
"A watched dragon never sleeps."
http://www.dawndragon.com

Testlund

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A suggestion for Hal improvement.
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2005, 10:07:04 am »
Well, maybe not completely blank, but maybe somebody can come up with a brain wich only contains the basic of conversation, not a bunch of topics and quotes. Then A person can start learning Hal things that is in that persons interests. I think as an alternative to the brains you can download here.
 

The_Blackness

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A suggestion for Hal improvement.
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2005, 02:42:03 pm »
actually all you have to do is delete all of the topics in his brain and then he will be completely bereft of all external knowledge. i could be slightly off, ask von what to delete and you should be set. what i was thinking of for a good idea would be upgrading his text learning ability. what i mean is when you give him a page to read and he learns from it. so that you can put in all sorts of formats like pdf, and what not. it would also be nice to be able to put in lots of pages of information so that hal can learn from say 20 pages of random information or a solid 200 page internet text book. im going into college this year and i think it would be awesome to just scan the relevant pages from a text book into hal and have him learn about what im learning.
 

Art

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A suggestion for Hal improvement.
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2005, 04:56:03 pm »
I think a scanned book page might have too much garbage in the way of non pertinent information.
What I have had success with is text that is in a direct learning format like a dictionary:
Coal: Made of carbon from decayed vegetation over a very long period of time.
Coffee: A beverage made from beans that have been roasted and ground from a tropical shrub.

And so on...

Hal will currently call on this type of knowledge only if he/she can't find an appropriate response in any other of it's brain files.

Cool idea though, but you'd need a large HD to hold all the scanned text pages.

In the world of AI it's the thought that counts!

- Art -