Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life Computer Science and Software Engineering Textbook Project by Ira Glickstein, PhD

Computer Science and Software Engineering Textbook Project

	Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life Can humans create REAL intelligence and life out of computer parts? Ira Glickstein, PhD
Media	Contents	Notes
AI/ALife CDROM (Supplied with the book)	d:/aial.htm Applications, PC Movies, Program Code, PowerPoint Charts, MS Word Documents	PUBLIC DOMAIN programs or applets welcome, email Ira
AI/ALife Web Resources	http://pages.prodigy.net/ira/b/aial.htm Hotlinks for the best AI/ALife websites	Suggested weblinks welcome, email Ira
E-Mail to Ira	ira@prodigy.net Thanks for your comments and suggestions!	This project is at a preliminary stage. All ideas are welcome and you will get a personal reply!
Snail Mail to Ira	Ira Glickstein, PhD 1242 Forest Hill Road Apalachin, NY 13732
Brandeis Summer Odyssey Core Course	http://www.brandeis.edu/odyssey/ Gifted high school students spend a month at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (Boston area) PowerPoint Charts are on CDROM at: d:/ppt/brandeis/	This year’s course is Jun 30-July 27 (Since 2001)
Binghamton University Undergrad CS Course	http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~iglick/cs465/cs465.htm CS465, Introduction to AI (PowerPoint Charts are available on above website)	Next class scheduled for Fall semester (Since 1999)
Misc. Download Materials	Some miscellaneous links not yet assigned to book chapters.

Web Resources

Chapter	Resource and Hyperlink
1	A. I. Movie website. Have a conversation with the “Chatbot”. Review the history of robots, including dates in the future. Click on robot resources and learn what the current state-of-the-art is. Lots of great information and links at this site. http://aimovie.warnerbros.com
1	Read the opinions of experts on all sides of the AI controversy. http://www.computer.org/intelligent/articles/AI_controversies.htm
2	Watch Richard Dawkins lecture on “Survival of the Fittest – The Fittest What?” Summarize Prof. Dawkins’ arguments. Do a web search on Dawkins and “The Selfish Gene” and gather and analyze opinions, both pro- and con- on his gene-centric concepts. (In particular, do a web search on altruism and “group-selection” to obtain contrasting views.) http://www.boxmind.com/lectures/survivalofthefittest/frame1_56k.asp
2	Watch the animations of primitive and modern prokaryotic cells. What would you say about their level of “life” and “intelligence”? http://www.cedarville.edu/dept/sm/jwf/division.htm
3	Review the materials at this excellent source of information about the nervous system and brain. http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/BioBookNERV.html#The%20Brain
3	According to this chapter, hierarchical structures, consisting of folded strings with spans of five to nine, are optimal from an information theory point of view, and are typical of the structure of RNA, DNA, and proteins. Learn why this is. http://pages.prodigy.net/ira/derive.htm
4	Run the simulation of Turing machine addition and subtraction simulation. Try your hand at writing a Turing machine program and run it on the simulation. http://www.nmia.com/~soki/turing/.
5	Have an online conversation with ALICE at: http://alicebot.org/. Follow the links and examine the transcripts of the modern-day Turing test.
6	Download AIML and Alicebot code from: http://www.alicebot.org. Examine the code and use it to make an intelligent chatbot of your own.
	Chat with Cybelle, who is quite knowledgeable about online agents, at: http://www.agentland.com/.
	Chat with Iniaes: http://iniaes.org/iniaes/iniaes.html.
	Query web-based search agents, particularly the natural language agent Ask Jeeves at: http://www.askjeeves.com, and the more pedestrian search agents such as Google at: http://www.google.com, and Vivisimo at: http://www.vivisimo.com. Vivisimo is an example of hierarchical design in that it queries other search engines. It also has the ability to group responses according to common key words.
	Story and Paper Generators. “Sentai Story Generator” http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/sentai.html generates story concepts in the classic Japanese sentai style. Generate a professional-looking academic paper about post-modernism. http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/ and http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/community/postmodern.html The Dada Engine Manual is at http://dev.null.org/dadaengine/manual-1.0/dada_toc.html
7	Go to http://mapsonus.switchboard.com/ and use Maps On Us to plan a trip within a large city near where you live. Also use it to plan a highway trip from your home to some city 1000 miles away.
	Get the Java applet that allows you to try different types of AI search. http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/AI-Search/Product/
	Review the description of the patented “Real-time mission adaptable route planner” and understand how it works. The patent description document is available at: http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ft00&s1=glickstein.INZZ.&OS=IN/glickstein&RS=IN/glickstein
8	TBS
9	TBS
10	TBS
11	Cooperative learning Wiki wiki front page http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki.
12	TBS
13	The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a summary of Searle’s original paper and the subsequent exchanges between him and his opponent. Access this material at: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/c/chineser.htm.
	The author of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy piece is Larry Hauser, who does an evenhanded presentation. However, his personal views are strongly in opposition. Hauser says “Searle's argument, despite its rhetorical flash, is logically and scientifically a dud.” As a balance to the generally favorable views towards Searle’s argument in this book, you may read Hauser’s personal views at: http://members.aol.com/lshauser/chiboxab.html, and an electronic version of his 1993 PhD dissertation on the Chinese Room argument at: http://members.aol.com/wutsamada/disserta.html.
	Do a web search on “John Searle” AND “Chinese Room”. You will see that there is a tremendous amount of commentary, both pro and con (mostly con) on this controversial thought experiment.
14	The absolute best program you can download for free from the Web to run Conway’s “Game of Life” on your PC, http://psoup.math.wisc.edu/Life32.html
	Cellular automata programs available at: www.ventrella.com.
15	Thomas Ray’s Tierra program is discussed at: http://www.isd.atr.co.jp/~ray/pubs/images/index.html
16	Have a look at the MindRover web site and download a demo copy of their great program that allows you to build virtual robots and test them on your PC. http://www.cognitoy.com/
16	The LEGO Mindstorm Robotics Invention System website is at: http://mindstorms.lego.com/
17	TBS
18	Stevan Harnad of the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University wrote a key paper with specific comments on Searle’s Chinese room thought experiment (Harnad, S. (1989) Minds, Machines and Searle. Journal of Theoretical and Experimental Artificial Intelligence 1: 5-25). It is available at: http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad89.searle.html
19	The Evolutionary Computation Journal publishes both theoretical and practical developments of computational systems drawing their inspiration from nature, with particular emphasis on evolutionary models of computation such as genetic algorithms (GAs), evolutionary strategies (ESs), classifier systems (CSs), evolutionary programming (EP), and other evolutionary computation techniques. Their web site is at: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=4&tid=25
19	Natural Selection, Inc.^Ò is a leading company in the application of evolutionary programming concepts to practical problems. Their web site is at: http://www.natural-selection.com/
20	Excellent source of information about history and technology of ANNs: http://hebb.cis.uoguelph.ca/~skremer/Teaching/27642/BP/BP.html
20	Applets for neuron simulation: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umcorbe9/perceptron.html
21	PC movies of the simulation and of the physical implementation are available at: http://www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu/golem/
22	Multi-cell ALife (Thomas Ray) http://www3.shore.net/~kht/text/alife4/alife4.htm
23	TBS

CDROM Resources

Chapter	Resource and Directory
1	TBS
2	Go to the CDROM and run the program simulating RNA folding, which is at: (download all items to the same directory in your PC) d:/programs/R1.exe, d:/programs/egavga.bgi, d:/programs/ibm8514.bgi, d:/programs/pc3270.bgi, d:/programs/goth.chr, d:/programs/litt.chr, d:/programs/sans.chr, d:/programs/trip.chr. Use the program to design an RNA sequence that folds into a “hairpin” or “clover” form and is as long as you can make it and still have it fold reliably. You will probably be able to get up to about a dozen nucleotides. Do a web search on RNA and you will discover that natural RNA has hundreds or thousands of nucleotides, yet folds reliably into complex shapes.
2	Go to the CDROM and run the annotated animation and movie of eukaryotic mitosis (cell division) at: d:/programs/mitosis.exe.
3	The AutoCat program and code are available at: (download all items to the same directory in your PC) d:/programs/A1.exe, d:/programs/egavga.bgi, d:/programs/ibm8514.bgi, d:/programs/pc3270.bgi, d:/programs/goth.chr, d:/programs/litt.chr, d:/programs/sans.chr, d:/programs/trip.chr
4	TBS
5	Talk to Eliza using the program available on the CDROM at: d:/programs/eliza.exe.
6	Examine Eliza’s response data file at: d:/programs/response.dat. Modify the responses to improve Eliza’s performance or to make her talk about sports or some other topic of interest.
6	Examine Eliza’s code at: d:/programs/eliza.pas. Modify the code to make Eliza smarter.
7	Obtain a CDROM mapping and route-planning program, such as DeLorme Street Atlas USA, and use it to plan a trip within a large city near where you live. Also use it to plan a highway trip from your home to some city 1000 miles away.
8	TBS
9	TBS
10	TBS
11	TBS
12	Use the Bayesian AI Advisor spreadsheet on the CDROM. It is at: d:/spreadsheets/Bayes.xls.
	Use the Nash Equilibrium AI Advisor spreadsheet on the CDROM. It is at: d:/spreadsheets/Nash.xls.
	Use the Decision AI Advisor spreadsheet on the CDROM. It is at: d:/spreadsheets/Decision.xls.
13	TBS
14	TBS
15	The Hexlife program and code are available at: (download all items to the same directory in your PC) d:/programs/H4.exe, d:/programs/egavga.bgi, d:/programs/ibm8514.bgi, d:/programs/pc3270.bgi, d:/programs/goth.chr, d:/programs/litt.chr, d:/programs/sans.chr, d:/programs/trip.chr
16	TBS
17	TBS
18	TBS
19	TBS
20	TBS
21	TBS
22	TBS
23	TBS

AI/ALife Core Course at Brandeis Summer Odyssey

(Initial class in Summer 2001, next class Summer 2002)

Prerequisites: General familiarity with PCs. Programming ability a plus, but not required.

Required Text: None. Students will receive a loose-leaf set of notes and a CDROM with learning materials and programs.

Course Objective: Search for the answer to the following question:

Can humans create “real” intelligence and life out of computer parts?

From the 17^th century Golem of Rabbi Loew of Prague to present-day experiments in computer and genetic engineering, people claim to have done created intelligent life out of non-organic materials. Others say the artifacts of artificial intelligence and artificial life are merely pale imitations or simulations of the real thing. (Our objective will be met if students gain a better understanding of the implications of the key questions, and I expect that the answer may differ for each student!)

Methods: We will embark upon a fascinating survey/overview of many of the philosophical, social, biological and technological aspects of these emerging fields. Students will get hands-on experience conceptualizing, learning, experimenting with and (optionally) programming artificial creations. They will use well-established artificial intelligence techniques and knowledge-based “expert systems” as well as advanced means such as neural networks, evolutionary genetic programming and artificial life genotypes and phenotypes. A combination of lecture, readings, videos, individual and group projects, group discussions (including my AIra@topica.com discussion group) and field trips will be utilized to cover this topic area. A number of classical and recent papers will be read and discussed. We will also take a video look at how Hollywood and science fiction have treated artificial intelligence and life. In addition, students will complete individual and group projects and papers and make use of computer programs to experiment with their own artificial intelligence and artificial life entities. This course is not just for “computer jocks”. Students do not have to know how to program a computer since all programming exercises will be optional.