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Re: [ontolog-forum] electric sheep

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Dennis L. Thomas" <DLThomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 11:03:57 -0700
Message-id: <DE8DBB3E-07CA-4192-9133-E9B1AE7C57BA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Steve, Sean and Peter,    (01)

Yes, "let's get on with the engineering."   We are proponents of what  
we call "theory-based semantics," meaning that from our perspective,  
the facts of the observable world are understood according to the  
theory that binds them.   Knowledge = Theory + Information, or  
Knowledge = Theory + Reality.  Well justified theory, such as  
scientific, axiomatic value-based understandings, business (buy low  
sell high, its better to have it sooner than later), etc., are more  
important than unfounded imagination.   Theory lasts decades,  
centuries and millenniums and makes sense of our world as we  
encounter it.  It understands the who, what, when, where and how much  
information of situations and circumstances.  For this reason, theory  
is also predictive.    (02)

Based on this, as a matter of practical knowledge engineering, we  
modeled/simulated very complex domains simply by integrating the  
knowledge content of books, policy and procedure manuals, documents,  
databases and the very knowledge in the minds of knowledge workers  
and subject experts.  As a result, our systems provided precise  
answers to who, what, when, where, how much, and how, why and what if  
questions within seconds and minutes when it previously took hours,  
days, weeks and even months to arrive at the same answers (developed  
and tested through 50 projects of national importance). http:// 
www.knowledgefoundations.com/pdf-files/2003KEProjects.pdf    (03)

That 2nd generation software system had a database backend, which  
topped out at the complexity barrier.  Now, our 3rd generation  
semantic knowledgebase system, called Mark 3, is designed to be a  
self-building, self-organizing and self-transcending system that  
scales to unlimited dimensions to simulate every from of human  
knowledge and to reason with that knowledge like people.  This means  
that non-programming professional can build very complex  
knowledgebase products, stored at Ballard/Shannon bit-limits, made  
available through conventional network and user systems.  A small  
semantic knowledgebase would have 10,000 to 50,000 concepts, a medium  
knowledgebase from 50,000 to 250,000 concepts and a large  
knowledgebase into the millions of concepts.    (04)

This is an enterprise tool, though we plan to offer a FREE limited  
trail copy the size of a large database for people to play with.  I  
will be developing an advance notice list for anyone who is  
interested in receiving this trial version.    (05)

Dennis    (06)

Dennis L. Thomas
Knowledge Foundations, Inc.         (07)

On Aug 31, 2007, at 7:23 AM, Barker, Sean (UK) wrote:    (08)


Steve    (09)

In the Odyssey, Odysseus was 'agathos' (good) exactly because he lied
and cheated in defence of his people, as was his duty as the king. I'm
not sure that is the forum to discuss whether we have progressed - or
whether this is an issue of philosophy or politics. I have read your
disclaimer.    (010)

Sean Barker
Bristol, UK    (011)

This mail is publicly posted to a distribution list as part of a process
of public discussion, any automatically generated statements to the
contrary non-withstanding. It is the opinion of the author, and does not
represent an official company view.    (012)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Steve Newcomb
> Sent: 31 August 2007 14:31
> To: [ontolog-forum]
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] electric sheep
>
>
>                *** WARNING ***
>
> This mail has originated outside your organization, either
> from an external partner or the Global Internet.
>      Keep this in mind if you answer this message.
>
> Sean Barker wrote:
>
>>      At what level of complexity do I need to start
> concerning myself with
>> Semantics rather that just Pragmatics? At what point would
> one say the
>> robot "understands concepts", rather than behaves according to
>> particular pragmatics?
>
>>      I should add that as we develop increasing complex autonomous
>> systems, we need to create architectures that provide proper
>> separation of concerns, so this is primarily a question about
>> engineering, rather than philosophy.
>
> Autonomous military systems require significant "separation
> of concerns", especially including separation of the concern
> for humanity as a whole from concern for the success of a
> narrowly-defined military mission.
>
> A robot that fetches claret is amusing, but an autonomous
> target selector/destroyer is monstrous.  If we must have such
> things, then it might be a good idea to insist that their
> behaviors reflect deep "concerns" about many things other
> than their narrowly-defined missions.
>
> In a 19th-century novel that still reverberates strongly in
> popular culture, Mary Shelley wrote about what happens when a
> marvelous engineering task is accomplished in the absence of
> awareness of broader issues.
>
> In a series of novels about robots, Isaac Asimov examined the
> implications of having "Laws of Robotics" that reflect the
> broadest concerns for the welfare of humanity.  One of the
> later novels is kind of a murder mystery; it's all about a
> robot who is already dead when the novel begins.  By the end
> of the novel, we understand that the robot had got himself
> into a jam in which he had no options at all, under the
> "Laws" he was bound to obey.  As a result, he suffered from a
> kind of halting problem.  It turned out to have been neither
> murder, nor suicide, nor a system failure.  In a sense, the
> Laws of Robotics were Broken As Designed (BAD), in that they
> did not provide a way for a robot to survive their demands.
>
> It's so much easier to build a monster.  Let's just forget
> about those pesky philosophical questions.  Let's get on with
> the engineering!
> (;^)
>
> -- Steve
>
> Steven R. Newcomb, Consultant
> Coolheads Consulting
>
> Co-editor, Topic Maps International Standard (ISO/IEC 13250)
> Co-editor, draft Topic Maps -- Reference Model (ISO/IEC 13250-5)
>
> srn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.coolheads.com
>
> direct: +1 910 363 4032
> main:   +1 910 363 4033
> fax:    +1 910 454 8461
>
> 268 Bonnet Way
> Southport, North Carolina 28461 USA
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> (This communication is not private.  Since the destruction of
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> Congress on August 5, 2007, no electronic communications of
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> Shamefully, our own generation, acting on fears promoted by
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> (codenamed "unitary Executive") to be usurped by those very
> same rogues.  Hail Caesar!)
>
>
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>    (013)

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Dennis L. Thomas
Knowledge Foundations, Inc.     
Ofc (714) 890-5984
Cell (760) 500-9167
DLThomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.KnowledgeFoundations.com
------------------------------------------------
Managing the Complexity of Enterprise Knowledge    (016)




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