Mike, Stan, et al, I have recently had some interesting off-line discussions that may be pulling things together, so I thought that I would run the emerging concept up the flagpole here and get any opinions.
I have previously posted here the horrific problems trying to deal with the Wiki people, as they apparently perceive value in impeding a good AI/AGI interface to Wikipedia. Apparently, even their own internal people can't get help here, as it might lead to loosing control over the search business. However... The Wikipedia software is open source, and some companies even maintain their own domain-specific wikis as knowledge base. Further, the AI/AGI interface problem is certainly not their only problem. The 2nd biggest problem is their implicit insistence on a single model/paradigm behind every article, which limits Wiki to being of value only for grade-school support. Note in passing the value of faulty models. Often the most accurate model suggests no means of correction, whereas a less accurate model suggests corrections that quite often (but sometimes don't) work (see puppy update below). Limiting articles to single models destroys MOST of the potential value of Wikipedia, as does blocking an AI/AGI interface. Proposal: Start a new AI/AGI Wikipedia, starting with the present open-source Wikipedia software with minor mods to collect additional information from authors and build a database on an associated FTP site for anyone to download. This should soon take over the Wiki business from the present Wikipedia folks. A well placed patent application would impede their following suit, thereby seizing this entire marketplace. Unfortunately, this is too big of a project to be funded with my lunch money or built and maintained with my limited spare time. However, with an investor to cover miscellaneous expenses, a server to hold the site, and some co-conspirators to help make it go; and this could quite easily take over much/most of the Internet in a way that would be MUCH bigger than ever envisioned by Wikipedia. *Does anyone else here share my dream of a worldwide AI with all of the knowledge of the human race to support it - built with EXISTING Wikipedia and Dr. Eliza software and a little glue to hold it all together?* Note that unlike the present Internet, that Dr. Eliza is pretty much language-independent. You can even put in a problem statement in one language, and get the unanswered questions and analysis out in another language. The principles underlying this are similar to financial systems that keep the numbers in a database, and use different language versions of their program to access it, only in Dr. Eliza, nearly every record has a field to indicate language so that no software changes are needed to support different languages, though trivial enhancements ARE needed to support new languages with previously unsupported features, e.g. the differing use of periods and commas in numbers depending on which side of the pond that you reside on. With this, the WHOLE world would be automatically included, rather than just the English language part of it (with trivial separate participation by other languages) as is presently the case. No longer would the Internet be divided up according to languages. Puppy Update: The puppy is doing MUCH better, and is now starting to explore. Three new theories as to its problems have emerged: 1. Pus found on its fur pointed the way to an abscess in its armpit that had evaded previous inspection. The abscess seems to be too small to be life-threatening, but who knows? 2. It has an umbilical hernia that might be strangling some intestines. 3. Like some people, it would apparently rather die than eat puppy food, though it doesn't seem to be picky about eating minced leftovers. However, earlier theories, though probably incorrect, DID guide the way to treatment that, though not perfect (it would have been nice to lance the abscess), was sufficiently successful to save its life. This serves to highlight the value of incorrect theories, that they often provide the right answers in a timely manner, even when for the wrong reasons. Steve Richfield ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=103754539-40ed26 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
