SCXT 350
Read and respond exercise (a somewhat longer one)
Due: Wednesday, March 3 (in class). Please note change in
due-date.
Begin by re-reading the paper by Turing and the material in Marr on
representation. Then read the Newell and Simon paper in the anthology (page 84).
Finally go to the ACM portal on the library's web site (Research Gateway -> ACM
Portal) for the paper "Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and
Search" in the Communications of the ACM, March 1976, Vol 19 #3 pp 113 - 126.
Read this paper (it may take two or three readings) and reflect on it in a short essay which responds to
the following issues (together with any others that you want to
include):
- What is a physical symbol system? Please put this (and the
following) in your own words, as you would in explaining the idea
to someone you know).
- The Physical Symbol System Hypothesis says that a PPS has the
necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. What is meant by "necessary" and what is
meant by "sufficient" in that
statement?
- What (in Newell and Simon's paper) is the role of search in
problem-solving?
- What is the thesis of the Newell and Simon paper? Justify your
answer with references to the text of the paper.