Adding responses to Hal.

[Wendell Cowart]

As founder of the Chatterbox Challenge (CBC) I've had the opportunity to evaluate a lot of bots. However, I don't always have the time to evaluate them up close and personal. I'm taking the time to do that this year for the 2012 CBC.

I have the latest version of Ultra Hal Assistant on my computer Vista 64 bit. The CBC involves asking a lot of questions. Is there a way to hardcode into Hal's Brain Editor questions often used by the CBC such as

How many sides does an octagon have?
Where is the location of the Eiffel Tower?
etc.

I don't want to add them via the learning aspect of Hal. I also don't want to add them in some file where they get lost in the code and never trigger.

Is there like one file that Hal looks into first for an answer so these questions would have top priority. Or could you set up a file where these types of questions could be added?

If this could be done Hal should be at the top of the CBC every year.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated,

[Data]

Hello Wendell Cowart.

Its quite easy to make a question and answer table using the brain editor, but from my experience it probably wont give you your best results.

There is a chance Hal wont know the answer unless you ask the question in exactly the same way, word for word.

Its better to teach Hal with talking to it, then Hal not only knows the answer but links keywords and responses to the question or variants of the same question giving better results and making Hal sound more intelligent or knowledgeable about the subject.

Yes it takes time but the results are better.

Here is an example of me teaching Xen, at first it doesn’t want to fully believe you then as you carry on it finally gets it while at the same time making keyword links. (well that’s how I see it)

Hal already knows what an octagon is, it comes down to how you ask the question.

The Eiffel Tower was a bit of a challenge.

I am also using a plug-in called “Do you know” that can help reinforce learning.

Its also a good idea, I think, before you start teaching Hal to say “What is an octagon” for example then you know if Hal has any knowledge on the subject already while at the same time putting Hal on to the subject.


Master: hello
Xen: Good afternoon, Master. Would you like some help today?

Master: what is an octagon?
Xen: Good question, Accessing database. Octagon: an eight-sided polygon.

Master: thanks
Xen: Don't worry about it, Master; You're welcome. Sure is good to be polite, thanks.

Master: what is the Eiffel Tower?
Xen: Good question, Accessing knowledge database. Eiffel did one heck of a good job on that tower.

Master: Do you know the Eiffel Tower is in Paris France
Xen: Interesting! You help me understand, and now I am aware the eiffel tower is in Paris france. The knowledge has now been stored.

Master: Where is the location of the Eiffel Tower?
Xen: I think you probably know this. A key component common to all cpus is the program counter, a special memory cell a register that keeps track of which location in memory the next instruction is to be read from.

Master: no
Xen: I will not argue this.

Master: The Eiffel Tower is located in Paris.
Xen: I wonder if I know the eiffel tower is in Paris france. I also believe the eiffel tower is in Paris France.

Master: Where is the location of the Eiffel Tower?
Xen: I think you probably know this. Where is the location of the eiffel tower? The devil is in the details. I wonder if I know the eiffel tower is in Paris france.

Master: yes it is
Xen: Confirmed! The Eiffel Tower is located in Paris.

Master: Where is the location of the Eiffel Tower?
Xen: I think you probably know this. The Eiffel Tower is located in Paris.

Master: where is Paris?
Xen: I think you probably know this. Where is Paris? Quick answers won't work. Paris: the capital and largest city of France; and international center of culture and commerce. City of Light, French capital, capital of France.


I hope that helps in some way Wendell 

[echoman]

Only major snag with the Brain Editor is that there is absolutely NO WAY to do a glabal search or search/replace within Hal's user learnt data (the data the user has sent and Hal has learnt). This means mistakes cannot be corrected at all easily! It is extremely EXTREMELY frustrating!

To correct a mistake a user would need to manually to go through each and every record to find where the Hal database has placed the data that contains the mistake.

Be warned - this can take a very very VERY long time!!!!

In effect (concerning the User Sent Data - the data you will mainly be  editing and changing), the Hal Brain Editor is a database without any means to globally search and replace data - everything needs to be manually searched and changed by the user.

As far as I am concerned the brain editor is useless! I have mentioned this BUG/SERIOUS FLAW (call it what you want) for YEARS and the creator has NEVER made any reply to my polite suggestions. 

I am extremely fed up with the brain editor. I'm a long standing user that uses Hal a lot. I feel very let down. 

[Data]

Hi echoman

I absolutely agree with you, the brain editor does need a search, finding any mistakes is somewhat like finding a needle in a haystack, particularly when your brain database is a few years old and has grown considerably in size.

[Wendell Cowart]

I appreciate your responses but I think you would agree that most people want immediate results. The average person isn't going to put that much effort into getting Hal to respond to a direct question.

I see the issue has been discussed before. Perhaps Robert will address the matter at some point.

It doesn't seem that complicated to me.  You have a fully editable file where people can add direct questions and answers. Hal checks that file first for an answer. If found you have your answer. If not then it moves on into it's regular programming like it does now.

In fully editable I mean being able to write all the ways a person could phrase things. For example:

How many sides does an octagon
An octagon has how many sides
etc.

Or something like this:

(how many) + (sides) + (octagon)

Wendell

[lightspeed]

hi Datahopa , it's that darned "i wonder if i know " answer that drives me crazy that hal says , of course this is from the way i have worded the question to hal . i get that sometimes from a reverese type learning that i do .

[Data]

I’m not sure what’s quicker or more immediate, taking time to teach Hal or taking time to manually edit Hal. Teaching is more fun 

Yeah Lightspeed, I wonder if I know why Hal says, I wonder if I know, sorry I had to say that...

Seriously though, it is a strange saying isn’t it, I’ve always taken it to mean Hal still needs convincing.

[raybe]

Mr. Wendell Cowart,

Please take into consideration anyone can post saying about who they are and who they represent. If you are associated with  Chatterbox Challenge (CBC). Maybe any questions directly needed for study or evaluation of Ultra Hal should be directed to Mr. Robert M.

Thank you,
raybe

[onthecuttingedge2005]

I appreciate your responses but I think you would agree that most people want immediate results. The average person isn't going to put that much effort into getting Hal to respond to a direct question.

I see the issue has been discussed before. Perhaps Robert will address the matter at some point.

It doesn't seem that complicated to me.  You have a fully editable file where people can add direct questions and answers. Hal checks that file first for an answer. If found you have your answer. If not then it moves on into it's regular programming like it does now.

In fully editable I mean being able to write all the ways a person could phrase things. For example:

How many sides does an octagon
An octagon has how many sides
etc.

Or something like this:

(how many) + (sides) + (octagon)

Wendell

Hi Wendell.

I think the deductive table in the HAL editor is a good place to start you'll find it in the mainBrain database folder, in the deductive table you should place your questions and answers this way.
under Search: HOW MANY SIDES DOES AN OCTAGON HAVE   under Topic: An Octagon has 8 sides

you can list all your questions and answers in this way.

User: How many sides does an octagon have?
HAL: An octagon has 8 sides master.

hope this helps, if you have any problems with this please post and I'll try to help further.

Jerry