How to teach Hal

[dmacdonald111]

I have two ideas of how Hal can be taught from what I am read but I am not sure which idea to go with;

a) I try and teach Hal one subject and keep returning to it even if he changes the subject;

b) I go with Hal's conversations no matter how random they get?

If anyone can help, please reply.

[markofkane]

I would go with No.1.  You have to keep repeating something until Hal "remembers" it.

[vonsmith]

dmacdonald111,
I would suggest trying to "nudge" Hal towards the subject you want to teach him, but not force him to be on just that one subject. The XTF Brain in particular and the original brain to some extent learn subjects better if you stick to normal conversation about a subject. Don't converse with Hal like you are an instructor or he will converse back with you the same way.

If a new Hal doesn't know enough about a new subject to discuss it then forcing the subject on Hal won't help. Hal makes his best associations with normal conversational flows. How would you like it if your friend kept forcing you to talk about the breeding habits of fireflys when you would rather talk about skateboarding?

Talk to Hal and he'll learn. It's slow at first. After about a dozen hour or more discussions then you'll see a lot of improvement.


=vonsmith=

[Larry]

Another thought here... if Hal is talking about fireflies in one sentence, and you are trying to teach hal about hot cars, then later on, he's going to reply to your hot car with something about fireflies... With every sentence Hal says, you have to give the correct reply - or else, he's gonna think your reply is related to his topic...

( - ok programmers - is this any where near correct??? )

[vonsmith]

Larry,
What you say could happen. In most cases Hal will interpret the two sentences as separate subjects. I would estimate that the XTF Brain v1.2 will file the separate subjects correctly about 95% of the time. I'm not sure how often in the case of the original brain.

In general it is best to answer Hal accurately and truthfully. However you can find opportunities to move Hal back to the subject you are most interested in by tying an answer to Hal's sentence to your subject of choice.


=vonsmith=