Previous Weeks in STS 350

Week 1:  Monday, January 16

Reading:

Topic:  Introduction to the course

Monday

• Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday.  No classes or office hours.

Wednesday

• Introduction to the course

Friday

• Descartes sets the stage
• First read-and-respond assigned

Other Notes:

• Office hours begin next week.

Week 2:  Monday, January 23

Reading:

• Turing paper
• Textbook chapter 1
• Readings: Simon (reading 1)
• Lisp handout (for next week)

Topic:  Algorithms and computation

Is intelligence computable?  Can intelligence be modeled in some fashion using computers?  Or is this idea a dead end?  In order to decide what "computational intelligence" might mean, we need to know something about computation.  We begin this part of the discussion by looking at what a modern computer can do, and how it might be programmed.  We use the programming language LISP for several reasons:  Firstly, it is a programming language which is likely to be new to everyone in the class, the parts that we will need are fairly easy to learn, and, finally, since it is one of the primary languages used in artificial intelligence.

Monday

• Turing responds to Descartes
• First read-and-respond exercise due.

Wednesday

• A basic model for a computer
• What a computer can do

Friday

• Instruction fetch-execute cycle
• Algorithms

Other Notes:

• Readings from the reader will correspond to chapters assigned in the textbook.  Please see "Guide for the Reader" just following the table of contents in the book of readings
• Office hours begin this week.

Week 3:  Monday, January 30

Reading:

• Lisp handout
• Textbook chapter 2
• Readings: Johnson-Laird (reading 2)
• Marr (a read-and-respond on this paper, to be handed out this week, will be part of our discussion next week).

Topic:  A gentle introduction to Lisp

So - we have a notion of what a computer is and what it can do, and we have a notion of what an algorithm is.  How do we combine the two?  One way is to write programs in some basic computer language.  One of the easiest to learn is the programming language Lisp which is use for much of AI.

We will look only at enough of LISP for us to get an idea of how an algorithm may be implemented in a programming language, and will not examine the language beyond the basics needed to do this.  I can recommend books for those interested in taking these ideas further.

Monday

• An introduction to LISP - calculations, move data about
• Marr paper distributed

Wednesday

• Basic programming in LISP - lists and conditions; compare and branch
• Marr Read-and Respond assigned

Friday

• Basic programming in LISP - defun

Other Notes:

• We will go into the computer lab either late this week or early next (probably early next week).

Week 4:  Monday, February 6

Reading:

• Lisp handout
• Textbook chapter 3
• Readings: Anderson  (reading 3)

Topic:  An introduction to AI

We next examine experiments (as Simon would put it) attempting to explain cognition by writing computer programs which implement models and theories of cognition.  We begin with a brief overview of AI (symbolic and connectionist), and then dig deeper into the representations and algorithms of symbolic AI.  We will look at connectionist AI later on.

Monday

• A lab day on LISP

Wednesday

• An introduction to AI: 
• The tri-level hypothesis (Marr)
• Read-and-Respond on Marr due

Friday

• Representation and algorithms in AI
• Discussion of textbook and readings

Other Notes:

• The first hour exam will be next Friday

Week 5  Monday, February 13

Reading:

• Textbook chapter 4
• CLIPS handout (on the course home page)
• Start reading Newell and Simon on the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (link to be provided).  The link http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=360022&coll=Portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=37090202&CFTOKEN=15583524 may work.  Follow it to the PDF file containing the paper.  If not, please ask in class.

Topic:  An introduction to AI

We continue our discussion of symbolic AI by looking at problem solving and a simple expert system.

Symbolic AI can be viewed as Knowledge Representation and Search.  We will make a brief survey of these two ideas, learn about the Physical Symbol Hypothesis (next week), and play with a small expert system (next week or the week following).  We will also fit in (Friday) our first hour exam.

Monday

• Discussion on readings (both books)
• Knowledge Representation (notes)
• Be sure to say something about the Turing-Church hypothesis (forgot to do that again)

Wednesday

• Knowledge Representation (notes):  The case of the mild cat.
• Review for exam #1

Friday

• Exam #1

Other Notes:

• Monday, February 13, is the last day to drop with an automatic "W".

Week 6  Monday, February 20

Reading:

• Textbook chapters 4,5
• Readings chapters 5 and 6 (we will skip the Pinker reading for now)
• CLIPS handout (on the course home page)
• Start reading Newell and Simon on the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (link to be provided).  The link http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=360022&coll=Portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=37090202&CFTOKEN=15583524 may work  Follow it to the PDF file containing the paper..  If not, please ask in class.

Topic:  Symbolic Artificial Intelligence (GOFAI)

We spend this (and next) week discussing symbolic AI and the physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH).  Our discussion will be primarily on Marr's second level of explanation, focusing on representational structures and process which are viewed in symbolic as knowledge representation and search.  At the end of a preliminary discussion on knowledge representation and search, we see the application of symbolic AI to expert problem-solving, and look at the underlying assumption of symbolic AI, the physical symbol system hypothesis.

Monday

• Knowledge Representation and search (notes)
• The "Big Picture"
• "CRUM"
• Thinking = mental representation + computational procedures
• Computational procedures:  Algorithms, search
• Thinking is computable
• What is computable?
• Turing-Church hypothesis - whatever is computable in any reasonable sense is Turing-computable
• Informally, computable by a properly programmed digital computer with adequate resources.
• A survey of knowledge representation techniques

Wednesday

• A survey of knowledge representation techniques
• Search

Friday

• Instructor traveling to a history of science conference.  No classes or office hours.

Other Notes:

Week 7  Monday, February 27

Reading:

• Textbook chapters 4,5
• Readings chapters 5 and 6 (we will skip the Pinker reading for now)
• CLIPS handout (on the course home page)
• Start reading Newell and Simon on the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (link to be provided).  The link http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=360022&coll=Portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=37090202&CFTOKEN=15583524 may work.  Follow it to the PDF file containing the paper..  If not, please ask in class.  A read-and-respond will probably be assigned for Wednesday, March 6.

Topic:  Search and representation in symbolic AI

We spend this  week continuing the discussion on symbolic AI and the physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH).  Our discussion will be primarily on Marr's second level of explanation, focusing on representational structures and process which are viewed in symbolic as knowledge representation and search.

Monday

• Finish discussion on knowledge representation
• Records/database
• Frames (slot-and-filler structures)
• Scripts
• ISA hierarchies
• Semantic Networks (SNePS)
• Logic
• Rules/productions/condition-action pairs/etc.
• Discussion of term paper / project

Wednesday

• Problem-solving as search
• Happy St. David's Day!

Friday

• Problem-solving as search
• Paper / project proposals due (email OK for this milestone)

Other Notes:

Week 8  Monday, March 6

Reading:

• Textbook chapters 4,5
• Readings chapters 5 and 6 (we will skip the Pinker reading for now)
• CLIPS handout (on the course home page)
• Start reading Newell and Simon on the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (link to be provided).  The link http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=360022&coll=Portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=37090202&CFTOKEN=15583524 may work  Follow it to the PDF file containing the paper..  If not, please ask in class.  A read-and-respond will be assigned for Wednesday, March 22

Topic:  Heuristic search and Expert Systems

This week we conclude our discussions on search and knowledge representation with a practical example:  An expert system.

We will conclude our discussion on symbolic AI in the first few days after Spring Break..  After a brief tour after the break of connectionist AI, we will begin a discussion of grammars, computation, and the language problem.

Monday

• Heuristic Search
• Expert Systems

Wednesday

• CLIPS

Friday

• More on CLIPS
• A read-and-respond will be assigned Friday  for the Wednesday following our return from Spring Break..

Other Notes:

• Next week is Spring Break!
• The second hour exam will be Friday following our return from Spring Break.

Week 9:  Monday, March 13

• Topics
• Spring Break (no classes or office hours)
• The second hour exam will be the Friday of next week (March 24)

Week 10  Monday, March 20

Reading:

• Textbook chapter 6
• Readings chapter 7
• CLIPS handout (on the course home page)
• Read Newell and Simon on the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (link to be provided).  The link http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=360022&coll=Portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=37090202&CFTOKEN=15583524 may work  Follow it to the PDF file containing the paper..  If not, please ask in class.  A read-and-respond will be assigned for Wednesday, March 22

Topic:  The Physical Symbol System Hypothesis

We spend this  week continuing the discussion on symbolic AI and the physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH).  Our discussion will be primarily on Marr's second level of explanation, focusing on representational structures and process which are viewed in symbolic as knowledge representation and search.  At the end of a preliminary discussion on knowledge representation and search, we see the application of symbolic AI to expert problem-solving, and look at the underlying assumption of symbolic AI, the physical symbol system hypothesis.

We will conclude our discussion on symbolic AI in the first few days after Spring Break..  After a brief tour after the break of connectionist AI, we will begin a discussion of grammars, computation, and the language problem.

Monday

• A lab day on CLIPS

Wednesday

• The "Big Picture" (being a survey of where we are, and where we are going in the course)
• The physical symbol system hypothesis
• A read-and-respond on the Newell and Simon paper will be assigned for this day
• Review for exam #2

Friday

• Exam #2

Other Notes:

Week 11  Monday, March 27

Reading:

• Textbook chapter 7
• Readings chapter 8
• Connectionism Handout

Topic:  Connectionism

A contrasting approach to symbolic AI is the idea of using a biological model as the basis for an implementation-level explanation of cognition.  We explore that idea this week.

Monday

• The "Big Picture" (being a survey of where we are, and where we are going in the course)
• An introduction to connectionism

Wednesday

• Perceptrons as classifiers

Friday

• Perceptrons as classifiers
• The XOR problem

Other Notes:

Week 12  Monday, April 3

Reading:

• Readings chapter 4
• Turing Machines and the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (revisited)
• (Possibly) a Pinker handout.

Topic:  Grammars, Computation, and Language

In the final part of the course, we consider the problem of language, and try to tie together the various parts of the course.  We begin with an introduction to Turing Machines, move on to a discussion of grammar, and, using those two tools, begin to consider the problem of language.

Monday

• Feed-forward networks
• Hopfield networks

Wednesday

• No class - family illness

Friday

• Handouts on Turing machines, Steven Pinker

Other Notes:

• Friday, April 14 (next Friday):  First draft due (formal progress report and completed code for projects).  Please note that this is 25% of your overall term paper grade.  This is intended to be a substantial (i.e., nearly completed) draft that I can comment on and make suggestions for the final draft. 
• The third hour exam will be two weeks from this Friday, Friday, April 21.

Week 13  Monday, April 10

Reading:

• Readings chapter 4
• Turing Machines and the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (revisited)
• (Possibly) a Pinker handout.

Topic:  Grammars, Computation, and Language

In the final part of the course, we consider the problem of language, and try to tie together the various parts of the course.  We begin with an introduction to Turing Machines, move on to a discussion of grammar, and, using those two tools, begin to consider the problem of language.

Monday

• Computation in general
• Finite state automata

Wednesday

• No class - family illness

Friday

• Finite state automata
• Augmented transition networks
• Turing machines (a brief introduction)
• Paper draft due

Other Notes:

• Friday, April 14:  First draft due (formal progress report and completed code for projects).  Please note that this is 25% of your overall term paper grade.  This is intended to be a substantial (i.e., nearly completed) draft that I can comment on and make suggestions for the final draft. 
• The third hour exam will be two weeks from this Friday, Friday, April 21.

Week 14  Monday, April 17

Reading:

• Readings chapter 4
• Turing Machines and the Physical Symbol System Hypothesis (revisited)
• Pinker handout.

Topic:  Grammars, Computation, and Language

In the final part of the course, we consider the problem of language, and try to tie together the various parts of the course.  We begin with an introduction to Turing Machines, move on to a discussion of grammar, and, using those two tools, begin to consider the problem of language.

Monday

• Turing machines

Wednesday

• Grammars and Language

Friday

• Discussion on homework
• The exam scheduled for today has been moved a week to Friday, April 28

Other Notes:

• The third hour exam has been moved a week to Friday, April 28

Week 15  Monday, April 24

Reading:

• Readings chapter 4
• Pinker handout.

Topic:  Grammars, Computation, and Language

In the final part of the course, we consider the problem of language, and try to tie together the various parts of the course.  We begin with an introduction to Turing Machines, move on to a discussion of grammar, and, using those two tools, begin to consider the problem of language.

Monday

• More on grammars
• Ambiguity and the role of common sense
• Perceptron exercise due
• Finite State Automata exercise due

Wednesday

• Final comments on language
• Ambiguity and the role of common sense
• Review for exam #3

Friday

• Exam #3

Other Notes:

Other Notes:

• The third hour exam has been moved a week to this Friday, April 28