Why People Think Computers Can't MOST PEOPLE ARE CONVINCED computers cannot think. I think those specialists are too used t,o That is, really think. This leads them to believe that there can't "thinking." This essay explains why they are wrong . Can Computers Do Only What They're Told? concerned with huge numerical computations: that's why the things were called computers. Most people think that "creativity" Yet even then a fringe of people envisioned what's now If so, then no computer can create-since, clearly, they realized that computers could manipulate not only numbers anything machines can do can be explained. To see what's wrong with that, we'd better turn aside able to go beyond arithmetic, perhaps to imitate the informa-from those outstanding works our cuhure views as very best Con processes that happen inside minds.

We describe a program for verifying that a set of rules in an expert system comprehensively spans the knowledge of a specialized domain. The program has been devised and tested within the context of the ONCOCIN System, a rule-based consultant for clinical oncology. The stylized format of ONCOIN's rule has allowed the automatic detection of a number of common errors as the knowledge base has been developed. This capability suggests a general mechanism for correcting many problems with knowledge base completeness and consistency before they can cause performance errors.

I apologise for any mistakes or misinterpretations I may therefore have made. In October 1981,.Japan announced a national project to develop highly innovative computer systems for the 199Os, with the title "Fifth Generation Computer Systems " This paper is a personal view of that project, The fifth generation plan its significance, and reactions to it. In late 1978 the Japanese Ministry of International Trade THIS PAPER PRESENTS a personal view of the Japanese and Industry (MITI) gave ETL the task of defining a project Fifth Generation Computer Systems project.

A major strength of frame-based knowledge representation languages is their ability to provide the knowledge base designer with a concise and intuitively appealing means expression. The claim of intuitive appeal is based on the observation that the object -centered style of description provided by these languages often closely matches a designer's understanding of the domain being modeled and therefore lessens the burden of reformulation involved in developing a formal description. To be effective as a knowledge base development tool, a language needs to be supported by an implementation that facilitates creating, browsing, debugging, and editing the descriptions in the knowledge base. We have focused on providing such support in a SmallTalk (Ingalls, 1978) implementation of the KL-ONE knowledge representation language (Brachman, 1978), called KloneTalk, that has been in use by several projects for over a year at Xerox PARC. In this note, we describe those features of KloneTalk's displaybased interface that have made it an effective knowledge base development tool, including the use of constraints to automatically determine descriptions of newly created data base items.

Three experiments have been conducted, and some novel designs and design rules have emerged. The paradigm for Eurisko's exploration is a loop in which it generates a new device configuration, computes its I/O behavior, tries to "parse" this into a functionally it already knows about and can use, and then evaluates the results. In the first experiment, this loop took place at the level of charged carriers moving under the effects of electric fields through abutted regions of doped and undoped semiconductors. This was unsurprising, as they were short sentences in the descriptive language we had defined (a language with verbs like Abut and ApplyEField, and with nouns like nDoped Region and IntrinsicChannellRegion).

OUR SUMMER ISSUE departs from the usual format and designers of integrated circuit,s. The authors show how the is devoted to a single thememPapplications of knowledge engineering "engineering of knowledge" can modulate the creation and in VLSI design. Wit,h these examples they expand the usual scope of the the fruits of microelectronics. In t,he second article, collectively explore the opportunities provided by substantially Lenat, Sutherland, and Gibbons consider ways to extend increased amounts of silicon computing power.

Eurisko is an AI program that learns by discovery. We are applying Eurisko to the task of inventing new kinds of three- dimensional microelectronic devices that can then be fabricated using recently developed laser recrystallization techniques. Three experiments have been conducted, and some novel designs and design rules have emerged. The paradigm for Eurisko's exploration is a loop in which it generates a new device configuration, computes its I/O behavior, tries to "parse" this into a functionally it already knows about and can use, and then evaluates the results. In the first experiment, this loop took place at the level of charged carriers moving under the effects of electric fields through abutted regions of doped and undoped semiconductors. Many of the well-known primitive devices were synthesized quickly, such as the MOSFET, Junction Diode, and Bipolar Transistor. This was unsurprising, as they were short sentences in the descriptive language we had defined (a language with verbs like Abut and ApplyEField, and with nouns like nDoped Region and IntrinsicChannellRegion).

The acquisition of expert knowledge is fundamental to the certain of expert systems. The conventional approach to building expert systems assumes that the knowledge exists, and that it is feasible to find an expert who has the knowledge and can articulate it in collaboration with a knowledge engineer. This article considers the practice of knowledge engineering when these assumptions can not be strictly justified. It draws on our experiences in the design of VLSI design methods, and in the prototyping of an expert assistant for VLSI design. We suggest methods for expanding the practice of knowledge engineering when applied to fields that are fragmented and undergoing rapid evolution. We outline how the expanded practice can shape and accelerate the process of knowledge generation and refinement. Our examples also clarify some of the unarticulated present practice of knowledge engineering.

In Memoriam: John G. Gaschnig

BBN's project in knowledge representation for natural language understanding is developing techniques for computer assistance to decision maker who is collecting information about and making choices in a complex situation. In particular, we are designing a system for natural language control of an intelligent graphics display. This system is intended for use in situation assessment and information management.