From: pgs@ai.mit.edu (Patrick Sobalvarro)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 13:04:49 EDT
To: all-ai
Subject: GSB, Friday, April 14, 5:30 p.m., 7th floor playroom

Does it ever seem incongruous to you that so august a research institution
as our Laboratory would countenance the ugly spectacles that are our Girl
Scout Benefits?  Really, these bacchanalian orgies would shame the patrons
of even the toughest lumpen bars in Somerville.  But I would submit that
there is no contradiction here -- nay!  For we are conducting research --
research in artificial intelligence.

Important questions are addressed: after Oded Maron has consumed four or
five of those little blue bottles of Sam Adams Triple Bock, can he be
adequately modeled with a simple subsumption architecture?  If so, might it
then be profitable to take one of Rod Brooks's robots and try to extract
Triple Bock from it, gaining thereby something of value and leaving behind
a purer structure that is more intelligent?  Laugh if you will, but
consider this: I have seen Ian Horswill's robot navigate the seventh floor
playroom more successfully than a graduate student with a bellyful of
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

So much for subsumption; also we examine the nature of memory.  That first
sip of Paulaner Hefeweizen: does it evoke late August in the farmlands
south of Rothenburg ob Tauber, a lazy hot afternoon, the road meandering
through warm yellowing fields of wheat on the way into town, the coolness
of the park benches under the trees, a family of gypsies chattering among
themselves while further off a student tenderly plays the `Zigeunerweisen'
on his violin?  No?  I didn't think so.  But if it did, might we not send a
message to Doug Lenat advising him to pour some Hefeweizen into a machine
running CYC, by way of helping it to emerge into intelligence?  Indeed; we
might not.

And what of language?  When Robert Thau condenses for us into a short
fifteen-minute account the entire editorial content of the latest issue of
the New Republic, can anyone doubt that his linguistic gears have
been... oiled, shall we say... by liberal tugs at the bottle of IBC Root
Beer that is his constant companion on Friday afternoons?  Doesn't this
clearly indicate what will likely be a profitable direction of inquiry in
future natural language research?  The alert worker in the field will
require no further elucidation at this point, but for the rest of you let
me say just this much and no more: Sassafras root.  Juniper berry.
Relatus.

So, if the words "failed paradigm" occur to you with depressing frequency
these days, just come on down and jump-start your research at this week's

                    G I R L   S C O U T   B E N E F I T

to be held this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in the seventh floor playroom.  As
ever, experiments in natural and artificial intelligence will be conducted.