Hi Ed :) When I think of AI, the first thing that comes to my mind is Logic science. It has operators like and, or, not, implication, that correspond to natural language words. Those operators are what is used in natural languages on general level, so It isn't strange that very Logic tries to mimic natural language when it comes to thought process, as we usually tend to think in natural language bounds using mentioned logical operators.
First order logic introduces predicates, that are Boolean result functions that take some parameters to produce a truth value. However, there is more than Boolean result functions in the world that surrounds us. Just take a look at Math, and the whole world of non-Boolean functions opens. That is where Lambda Calculus <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus> hops into logic - to provide a predicate inner framework for dealing with all kinds of functions, no matter of their output type. And these functions can be placed as parameters to predicates to reason about them. Lambda Calculus, being invented since 1930s, is being inspiration for functional languages you are asking about. I imagine Atomspace as a fine mixture of a Logic rooted at top level, utilizing functional language paradigm at predicate inner level. But if Lambda Calculus is Turing complete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_completeness> then any kind of logic can be described within it, like propositional, predicate, higher order, modal, fuzzy, probabilistic logic networks, you name it. So, your question about Atomspace objects coded as functions makes a perfect sense to me. But Ben said that "Atomese ... is a functional/logical language". I'm not sure why Atomspace doesn't rely exclusively on functions, just to implement its Logic operations in terms of inner defined functions. I guess its authors had reasons to do it that way. Ivan V. 2018-04-01 5:02 GMT+02:00 Ben Goertzel <[email protected]>: > Atomese -- which is how OpenCog represents knowledge -- is a > functional/logical language, but it's a language that exists only in > the Atomspace for AI software to use... > > Atomese can be coded by humans, when needed, using C++ or Scheme > (thorough infrastructure), python (OK infrastructure), or Haskell > (partial infrastructure), in the current codebase > > ben > > On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 12:22 AM, Ed Pell <[email protected]> wrote: > > Is it true atom space objects are coded in functional languages? If so, > why? > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "opencog" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to [email protected]. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/opencog. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/opencog/d5cf7d53-42ca- > 4244-9a1a-fdd06046526e%40googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > -- > Ben Goertzel, PhD > http://goertzel.org > > "In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or > becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and > experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In > the mind, there are no limits.... In the province of connected minds, > what the network believes to be true, either is true or becomes true > within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. > These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the network's > mind there are no limits." -- John Lilly > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "opencog" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/opencog. > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/ > msgid/opencog/CACYTDBfM708ZJsuYmGjDDHBvHwAO1RfcxMMKqg1c1gJkdOEXPg%40mail. > gmail.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "opencog" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/opencog. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/opencog/CAB5%3Dj6W8gu6e9Pa8A_PNNPrgOaGkU5_i_%3DmwXL1u91%2BHBdmtXw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
