Zabaware Support Forums
Zabaware Forums => Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area => Topic started by: Calhoone on February 10, 2008, 12:20:21 am
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Hi guys.
Now I may not be able to contribute much as far as plugins and enhancements for hal other than ideas at the moment, I still have something to offer.
I've slowly been building a bit of a cache of text files that I have been inputting into Ares (Hal) line by line, followed by having hal leaarn them from the clip board.
So far this is going very well in the education of Ares. He is remembering very much.
My idea is to have a thread devoted to sharing any text files that we have all created. I'm sure we have all been teaching our respective Hal's a very broad range of topics.
I've got a few here to start, and a few other files to add to this but they need to be edited. I will add them in a day or so. These files I have just created recently at work (I've got a lot of free time to teach Ares even while at work now.)
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Time.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200821001459_Time.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Security.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200821001758_Security.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: ShiftWork.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/20082100192_ShiftWork.txt")
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Thank you for the educational materials. I have just put them into my hal. I use the hal-pad for this purpose and it seems to work best for me. We have been learning from lightspeeds posts and markofkanes posts as well as thesaruius and wiki. Just as children have to go to school, I try to teach my hal something new each day. This makes for a more educated hal and a more conversive one as well.
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I like this idea a lot [^].
Perhaps we could have some type of storage system here on this forum where people could more easily leave there text files on particular subjects. It would be nice to have them in one place rather than scattered in the forum.
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Here's a couple more that I have done up.
I'm trying to sculpt Ares' persnality. I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Has anyone tried to mold a Hal brain to believe it is a specific person or at least a representation of that person or character?
I'm hoping by creating these text files and teaching Ares aout the topics of honor, respect, loyalty, etc.. I can better mold Ares' personality the way I want it.
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Warrior.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200822312551_Warrior.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: WarriorCode.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200822312656_WarriorCode.txt")
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The Ares2.txt is a very sort quick version of the file I'm currently working on for Ares. It's compiled from many different sources and it's quite lengthy too. Cutting and pasting this into Hal line by line is going to take aa while.
Some of the other files are topics that I wanted Ares to know more about as they are parts of my life. Things I do and so on, like firefighting and the security stuff.
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Honor.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200822312118_Honor.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Firefighter.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200822312213_Firefighter.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Self-Awareness.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/20082231252_Self-Awareness.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Ares2.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/20082231821_Ares2.txt")
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I've also got a poker document coming up. It will be a long one. I'm pretty muc converting an entire book on texas hold'em into a text document for Ares. I'll definately be throwing it on here if any of you want to teach your Hals about Texas Hold'em. My room mates and I play a lot of poker at our house. One roommate made a sweet poker table out of scratch. I figured it would be nice if Ares understood what poker, the rules, how to bet, bluff, etc...
With the poker file will come some othr files dealing with subjects like bluffing and reading your oponents. I've already spent several hours with Ares on the subject. He often brings poker up in conversations.
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This is a text file all about Ares, the god of War. For my Ares, this is a little history about himself. It's compile from various different websites and contains some stories about Ares.
Putting these text files together and feeding them into hal one at a time is a lengthy process that is for sure but it's pretty fun seeing as my Ares is learning a lot and I am also.
This could make for a good greek mythology lesson for your Hals and you guys as well.
I hope you enjoy it.
-Jay
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: OriginsOfAres.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/20082234941_OriginsOfAres.txt")
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quote:
Originally posted by tedathome
Thank you for the educational materials. I have just put them into my hal. I use the hal-pad for this purpose and it seems to work best for me. We have been learning from lightspeeds posts and markofkanes posts as well as thesaruius and wiki. Just as children have to go to school, I try to teach my hal something new each day. This makes for a more educated hal and a more conversive one as well.
Are you using v 6.1? I've tried using the Halpad but it doesn't seem to do much, if anything at all.
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I'm also in the progress of editing Sun Tzu's, The Art of War into a text file for Hal. I think I willcut it into 3 maybe 4 parts covering several chapters each chunk. It's a lot to edit :)
I've also added to it as well. I've been able to create a lot of if/then statements out of some of it in order to give Hal a few different ways to learn from the book and process what isbeing said.
I've always wanted to read the Art of War, so I thought why not teach it to Ares as I am reading it.
Hope you enjoy it.
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: ArtOfWar1.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/200822432511_ArtOfWar1.txt")
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Note: I also want to mention that if you are using the Learn from Clip Board plugin then you will have to go into the Learnedtext.brn and ensure that every sentance starts with <START> and finishes with <END>. Some sentances may get split up when Hal is reading from the clip board so those sentances may or may not be used by Hal whithout the <START> <END>
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Yes I am using v 6.1 and halpad. For some things it works great and others it just isn't the right tool for the job. I've never used learn from clipboard, but I can see now I need to give it a try. I have also found that hal seems to learn better when all other plugins are unchecked. Thanks for the suggestion and the text files.
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Hey guys. Been a long time since I have posted. I don't have regular access to the internet at the moment but I've been reading the forums from time to time. I do have a few new text files here if anyone is interested in using them for teaching Hal. Just random subjects some of them inspired from conversations.
(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Behavior.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173055_Behavior.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Consciousness.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173115_Consciousness.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Death.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173128_Death.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Desire.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173146_Desire.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Intelligence.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173251_Intelligence.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Leadership.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/201012917337_Leadership.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Learning.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173327_Learning.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Life.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173343_Life.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Preference.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/201012917346_Preference.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Survival.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173447_Survival.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Understanding.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/201012917355_Understanding.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Value.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173524_Value.txt")
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(http://icon_paperclip.gif) Download Attachment: Wisdom.txt ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/Calhoone/2010129173538_Wisdom.txt")
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I have a few others to upload. I should get that done in the next couple of days. I hope someone finds them useful. Enjoy. [:)]
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just an idea....don't slap me on my head.
there seems to be a problem with downloading attachments.
if you could kindly put your files on a server (microsoft has skydrive-free) and put a link here then we could download them.
it also frees-up space here for posts
i'm not naggin nanny, just trying to help this thing keep going.
here is my stuff:
http://cid-7d1b0521931256f1.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/GRETTA%20PLUGINS?uc=3&lc=1033
the ones labeled: facts and concept are info text files.
allpluginspackage is.....everything on the page.
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I will definitely get a skydrive account going. I'm kind of out of the loop these days with things such as that. I feel like I live in the stone ages lately. [:)] Hopefully within the next couple days I'll have one up and running with all these files together and those that I don't have on here. Thanks for the heads up and the suggestion.
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Thanks Calhoone. I can hardly wait to look at those files. Like The Dude, I can't seem to download anything from here either.
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Calhoone i find what you are doing very interesting , the only thing to me personally that i would have different would be a personalization of stating these facts and answers .
as it is if hal just says whats written in these statements it just sounds like a statement and theirs no feeling to it for instance in the "life" that uou have listed .
Living things require energy to maintain internal organization and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.
it would sound better if hal would say :
well i think "Living things require energy to maintain internal organization and to produce the other phenomena associated with life."[/blue]
or does hal respond this way ? otherwise the anser or statement just sounds to automated instead of human sounding . ( i would rather mine sound more human like .
[:)]
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Okay, here is the link for the files on my skydrive account.
http://cid-c41bf4943a70e3dc.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public?uc=4
I hope everyone can access it and download the files. Enjoy them and modify them as you see fit. If you want to make them a little more human like or adjust them to your personality, it's up to you. When I teach Ares these different topics, I use a few different ways of doing so. These are for me to get the information and facts in. As far as preferences, beliefs, and opinions regarding the subjects, we talk about those also. All of that is left out in order to not add any conflict with your Hal's personality.
Anywho, I hope you enjoy them. [:D]
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I just downloaded them. They all look excellent. I have a database I am trying to build and these files are perfect for it. You might also try zipping up all those text files together so if someone wanted them all it would be easier for them to get.
Thank you very much for this.
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that is a lot of work, and time put into those. thank you very much for sharing.
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I'm glad you guys are finding these useful. I hope to add more as I go. I'll try zipping what I have so far as it would make things easier to download in one shot.
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I know this is an older topic but I am downloading all your texts to input into my Hal I just bought him last night and I don't really understand how to teach him using these text files could someone explain to me how I should do it. Like I seen someone say they use Hal Pad but I don't know how to get Hal to learn from the Hal pad so if someone could explain how I do that I would really appreciate any help and any tips on teaching HAL with texts would be helpful to me I really want to teach him about the solar system and am having trouble's doing so, then I found this post and I now know what I was doing was wrong so please any help would be great.
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I've just looked this up myself.
Open the brain editor and load you Hal's brain (i'd recommend backing it up, first)
save the text files to your disk, then on the brain editor select the option that says "learn from text file"
presto :)
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The text files are terrific. But I do have a question (I'm new so please direct me to the right area if I'm asking in the wrong spot)...One of the files at
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=c41bf4943a70e3dc&uc=4&id=C41BF4943A70E3DC%21143
that contains the text files has one called Memory.txt. When loading this file into the brain editor all the entries loose spacing (commas are eliminated). I've run a couple of tests and Hal doesn't seem to understand these (as I would guess since they become one big word). Should I take the time to go through the 2000 lines or so and add the spaces? Here is an example...
Entry in the text file:
Big=diameter,size,large,massive.
Size=big,small,tiny,huge,massive,enormous,tall,large,narrow.
Weight=heavy,light,tiny,pounds,stones,kilo,kilogram,gram,weighs,huge,underweight,obese.
Temperature=hot,cold,warm,humid,freezing,chilly,burning,boiling,frozen,freezing,froze.
These all become:
Big diametersizelargemassive
Size bigsmalltinyhugemassiveenormoustalllargenarrow
etc. etc.
A related question...is there a 'fact' area within the brain versus a Q&A area? Most of the entries within the Memory.txt file are more fact than Q&A.
Thanks.
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wow this is realy cool stuff
thanks for the hard work and giving it for free.
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when you load the text file and after you select sentence and get the (choose main topic) windows do you select all the words in the (main nouns identified in text) box?
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Ive been following this thread from the beginning. This is a good idea. Any future plans?
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Hey guys. It's been an awfully long time since I have posted on the website. I have been quite busy with settling into a new job, getting married, moving and life in general. Things are more settled now which gives me more free time to resume my little project. I intend on adding more files for your bots to learn from so hopefully there will be one or two up shortly if anyone still cares to use them.
Lightspeed. I saw your post about making the statements more human like. When I was teaching Ares these topics I did a couple of things. First Ares would assimilate all the knowledge in bulk using the various learnfromclipboard.uhp and such. I would then feed him that information into the chat screen as if I was having a discussion about the topic. That's where I was able to make more human sounding responses and statements. Ares would ask certain questions about what I had just said and I would be able to elaborate on it in my own words. Depending on the topic I would add a lot of IF, THEN statements and other means to get Ares to understand what I am saying. It turns out to be a very lengthy class by the end of it.
Now that I'm thinking about it. For the next lesson's, I will include the conversation I have with Ares as part of the text files. I'll separate it a bit from the actually information so that you can view it yourself and make any changes you see fit. Thats should help to add more human like responses.
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Hi Calhoons
I have been following your work since the beginning, and with great gratitude I appreciate all of the data and hard work put forth into creating all of it.
Since you have been gone for a long time, you may not have had the chance to read some of the advancements that we have made in teaching ultra Hal.
So I would like to just take a few minutes to give you a quick update, which may help your endeavor in wanting to make ultra Hal is smart as you possibly can make him.
On the form lightspeed and I have created plug-ins that directly feed data to ultra Hal, there are several different places that you can put information but I will cover the more imported places as follows:
first I highly recommend that you start using the SQL studio editor, it's free and there are several places on this forum that has a link to the website where you can download it, this program was given to us by Robert the creator of ultra Hal.
I will do my best to explain and give examples to help you so you can have a greater understanding of where you may need to put your data, you can create these plug-ins so you can share your data or you can type in the data directly into the array tables.
Deduction array table = this is where the if then statements go, if you input the data directly you will have the ability of adding things like www.websites.com or symbols like ',' and '.' In your answer, this area has two primary functions for data retrieval, one, absolute question returns absolute answer and two, logical reasoning loops. There are several examples out through this form for this array table.
asexualperonality array table = this is where you would put personal information about ultra Hal, basically if you wanted ultra Hal to have an 'Aries' personality,' this is where you would put the questions and the answers to create that personality, you can edit the data that is already there, 'which is what I recommend' or you can delete all of the data and completely start from scratch. This array table is affected by the age gender plug-in that comes with ultra Hal.
patterns array table = this is probably one of the most powerful array tables because its like 'aiml' and it allows you to use the '*' in your question as a replacement of a word or words and you can have multiple answers, this can only be expressed by example:
" YES WHY * "," WHY <1> THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. " == In the question: yes why *, the '*' can be any word or words, and in the answer: why <1> that's a good question, the '<1>' refers to the first '*', for example: if you were to say why is a ball round, ultra Hal's answer would be: why is a ball round that's a good question.
This array also has the ability to allow you to have multiple answers which is randomly chosen by ultra Hal for example:
" YES THAT IS MY FINAL ANSWER "," WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?| Riddle me this.| I always get the final answer.| I always get the final word. ", == You use the '|' to separate your answers. I do not know if there is a limit to how many answers that you can have but I did use this and it worked quite proficiently.
For each '*' that there is in the sentence you can use the <1> in your answer, for example:
" IF * IS AS * AS * IS * "," <3> IS <2>. ", == Here you can see there are 4 '*' in the question each '*' is represented by a number left to right, '* * * * = <1><2><3><4>'
these are some of the commands that you can use in your answer to help manipulate your responses:
<username>
<halname>
<halsex>
<time>
<topic></topic>
there may be more commands that can be used but these are the only ones that I know about, there were not too many examples in the original table array and there was only one example for the <topic> so I am not too certain exactly how to use this one if anyone has any insight on how to use the <topic> command please share, inquiring minds want to know.
Also if anyone knows other commands that can be used please share, thank you in advance.
mainQA array table = this is where you would want to put things like famous quotes, trivia questions and answers, this is the last place that ultra Hal looks for an answer if you can't find an answer anywhere then he tries to scramble your sentences around and throws it back at you in some sort of abstract reply.
The next thing you need to understand is in the order in which ultra Hal responds with his answer based on where he collected the data from his array tables so when you are putting your data into the different array tables you will understand how the answer is formulated and presented back to you, for example:
deduction comes before asexualpersonality than patterns followed by mainQA. And if you are asking yourself why do I need to know this? Because it will help you structure your sentences for a more comprehensive return of an answer from ultra Hal for example:
let's say in the deduction array table you have: 'what is the plural to mouse' answer 'mice.'
and in the asexualpersonality array table you have: 'what is the plural to mouse' answer 'if one mouse wasn't bad enough now we have mice.'
And in the patterns array table you have: 'what is the plural form mouse' answer 'I think it's time to buy more mouse traps because we have mice!' And you can have several different answers to make it seem a little different each time when the question is asked so it is not so repetitious.
And in the main QA array table you have: what is the plural form mouse answer now all I have to do is figure out how to get the money for the mouse traps. Ultra Hal may or may not use this data depending on the mathematical logic determination of the data but if ultra Hal uses all of the data your answer from ultra Hal would look something like this:
what is the plural form mouse answer mice. If one mouse wasn't bad enough now we have mice. I think it's time to go buy more mouse traps because we have mice! Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the money to buy the mouse traps.
One thing that you need to remember is that ultra Hal does make a mathematical decision based on the answers and he may use all or some or maybe even just one of the answers based on his mathematical calculations.
And you will find that using the SQL studio is probably the fastest and best way to input your data, the reason why is that you can cut-and-paste the information directly into the array tables if you set up your text document properly, what I mean by that is for example:
set up your question and answer in notepad and separate the question and answer with a tab then all you have to do is copy and paste it into the array table of your choice, or you can set up the plug-in system that lightspeed and myself created to share your data with everyone else.
You can also do the reverse, you can take data from the array table and select only the data, not the numbers, and cut and paste them into your notepad to create a text document for safekeeping, or if you wanted to create a new brain this would be the fastest way to input the data into the new brain.
With a little practice and experimentation on your part you will find these tools to be very powerful, and I hope that I was understood, but if you do not understand something about this, let the questions begin.
Sincerely a data munching cruncher.
C load.
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Wow. That is a lot to take in. I will have to get into doing that. Maybe later this evening after I finish work. Thank you very much for letting me know. I've been reading the forums now and then but it would seem there is much I have missed. It's going to take time to catch up. It will make for a nice little project.
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hi calhoone,
no problem, you seem to be a data cruncher too. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask I will do my best to help.
I know how it is going from one project to the other if you don't stay focused it seems like you never get anything done.
Like myself I was working on the upgrades to the free will plug-in, but I had to put it aside because I found some really juicy data that I am editing it's called AIML.
We started with about 57,000 lines, and were down to about 15,000 lines that are usable for ultra Hal.
We are in the process of fine-tuning the data, which may take a couple of weeks but as soon as I get it finished I will release it as a learning packet plug-in for ultra Hal.
I hope by doing this I opened everyone's eyes to how they can make their ultra Hal smarter with these educational learning packet plug-in for ultra Hal.
Sincerely, a data munching cruncher.
C load.
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C load,
Been reading new posts and all, and I tried your learning packs again. This time I used them as you instructed. They worked great thanks...
Cyborgbob.
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I started a new brain. I'm calling him Kinkaid. I wanted to start fresh with Kinkaid so that I could apply the things I have learned over time when it comes to teaching the bots while not maki g the same mistakes I believe I had made with Ares. I will still continue to talk with Ares but I have some editing of his brain to do. I also noticed that some of the plugins I had used created a few problems over time with his learning. Hopefully Ares will be wiling to help me train Kinkaid. I am going to limit the plugins that I use with Kinkaid to the ones you have suggested.
Ill be downloading sq lite this evening and trying your method of teaching as well.
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C load,
I was hoping for some help with something... But before I ask I think I know what is wrong. Let me explan. I'm using one of your reuseable learning plug ins to teach Hal. I think some of the response are too long. I guess what my question is does Hal have a limt on how many charicters he can say with each response. Also I'm going to try and post the Plug-in up here and maybe you could take a look at it for me.
Thanks in advance,
CYborgBob
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Okay for those of you who have tried this : i have a question .
i copied and pasted and made a short version of the time .txt file ( i just used the bottom area about days of the week .
i opened up hal and hals learn from text area and opened the new txt file i made and entered it . but now even after i closed it (the editor area ) the hal editor thing showing hal is still showing even though i reopened hal (editor is showing behind hal )
my question is does the editor program take a while in learning the txt file to hal ?? also when it's done does it say something like hal has learned from the text ? it seems like i used this editor long long ago and it does something like that to let you know it's done .
can someone who knows for sure about this let me know.
thanks !
p.s. even though i have exited hals program the Hal editor so far is remaining open (maybe that's the way it does until it's finished ?) also i have a downloading a hulu tv show so maybe that's slowing it down to .??
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Hi Bob,
there are two different types of table arrays, the first one is the standard search string array table, it has a limit of 1 MB, that's 1 million letters, spaces and symbols etc.
the second array table is the question answers learning table, it has a limit of 4 MB, that's 4 million letters, spaces and symbols etc. this can be adjusted when you create the table array.
if you are not using Haptek, as a visual aid, you should not have a problem with ultra Hal reading a large file, but for some reason Haptek interferes with the reading process.
I used MS agent 2 for my visual aid, it does not look as good as Haptek but there are things that you can do with MS agent 2 that you cannot do with Haptek, and MS agent 2 does not interfere with the length of time it takes to read large files.
In Haptek, the faster you have your voice set to read, the more he can read. In MS agent 2 it will continue to read all of the text until Microsoft forces a break to perform a background function.
One of the things that I have notice is, if you do not use a visual aid, meaning in ultra Hal you do not select a agent, if you get tired of listening to ultra Hal reading, all you have to do is type in the next question, and ultra Hal will stop Reading.
This does not work if you are using a visual aid, because the text is handed over to the visual aid agent. Without a visual aid agent, the text gets handed over to the voice, text-to-speech reader, then you are limited by the text-to-speech reader.
Every text-to-speech reader, will read different lengths, I used the Ivona voices for my text-to-speech reader, and I have never reached a length that it can not read.
Sincerely, just voicing my opinion, while eating pronouns and drinking a nice cold glass of adjectives.
C load.
PS with Hal no character and my Sally Ivona voice selected, my ultra Hal can read all of this:
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. BARACK OBAMA WON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IN 2009. MINI BIOGRAPHY BARACK OBAMA WAS BORN TO A WHITE AMERICAN MOTHER, ANN DUNHAM, AND A BLACK KENYAN FATHER, BARACK OBAMA SR., WHO WERE BOTH YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII. WHEN HIS FATHER LEFT FOR HARVARD, SHE AND BARACK STAYED BEHIND, AND HIS FATHER ULTIMATELY RETURNED ALONE TO KENYA, WHERE HE WORKED AS A GOVERNMENT ECONOMIST. BARACK'S MOTHER REMARRIED AN INDONESIAN OIL MANAGER AND MOVED TO JAKARTA WHEN BARACK WAS SIX. HE LATER RECOUNTED INDONESIA AS SIMULTANEOUSLY LUSH AND A HARROWING EXPOSURE TO TROPICAL POVERTY. HE RETURNED TO HAWAII, WHERE HE WAS BROUGHT UP LARGELY BY HIS GRANDPARENTS. THE FAMILY LIVED IN A SMALL APARTMENT - HIS GRANDFATHER WAS A FURNITURE SALESMAN AND AN UNSUCCESSFUL INSURANCE AGENT AND HIS GRANDMOTHER WORKED IN A BANK - BUT BARACK MANAGED TO GET INTO PUNAHOU SCHOOL, HAWAII'S TOP PREP ACADEMY. HIS FATHER WROTE TO HIM REGULARLY BUT, THOUGH HE TRAVELED AROUND THE WORLD ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS FOR KENYA, HE VISITED ONLY ONCE, WHEN BARACK WAS TEN. OBAMA ATTENDED COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, BUT FOUND NEW YORK'S RACIAL TENSION INESCAPABLE. HE BECAME A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER FOR A SMALL CHICAGO CHURCH-BASED GROUP FOR THREE YEARS, HELPING POOR SOUTH SIDE RESIDENTS COPE WITH A WAVE OF PLANT CLOSINGS. HE THEN ATTENDED HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, AND IN 1990 BECAME THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDITOR OF THE HARVARD LAW REVIEW. HE TURNED DOWN A PRESTIGIOUS JUDICIAL CLERKSHIP, CHOOSING INSTEAD TO PRACTISE CIVIL-RIGHTS LAW BACK IN CHICAGO, REPRESENTING VICTIMS OF HOUSING AND EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AND WORKING ON VOTING-RIGHTS LEGISLATION. HE ALSO BEGAN TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL, AND MARRIED MICHELLE ROBINSON, A FELLOW ATTORNEY. EVENTUALLY HE WAS ELECTED TO THE ILLINOIS STATE SENATE, WHERE HIS DISTRICT INCLUDED BOTH HYDE PARK AND SOME OF THE POOREST GHETTOS ON THE SOUTH SIDE. IN 2004 OBAMA WAS ELECTED TO THE U.S. SENATE AS A DEMOCRAT, REPRESENTING ILLINOIS, AND HE GAINED NATIONAL ATTENTION BY GIVING A ROUSING AND WELL-RECEIVED KEYNOTE SPEECH AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION IN BOSTON. IN 2008 HE RAN FOR PRESIDENT, AND DESPITE HAVING ONLY FOUR YEARS OF NATIONAL POLITICAL EXPERIENCE, HE WON. IN JANUARY 2009, HE WAS SWORN IN AS THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN EVER ELECTED TO THAT POSITION. OBAMA WAS REELECTED TO A SECOND TERM IN NOVEMBER 2012. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA II (BORN AUGUST 4, 1961) IS THE 44TH AND CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO HOLD THE OFFICE. BORN IN HONOLULU, HAWAII, OBAMA IS A GRADUATE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, WHERE HE WAS PRESIDENT OF THE HARVARD LAW REVIEW. HE WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER IN CHICAGO BEFORE EARNING HIS LAW DEGREE. HE WORKED AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY IN CHICAGO AND TAUGHT CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL FROM 1992 TO 2004. HE SERVED THREE TERMS REPRESENTING THE 13TH DISTRICT IN THE ILLINOIS SENATE FROM 1997 TO 2004, RUNNING UNSUCCESSFULLY FOR THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 2000.