Date:  Monday, 21 May 1984 13:23 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  Miscellaneous Digest V3 #12
Reply-To:  {mbx >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc}
To:  {list >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc}

Miscellaneous Digest                              Volume 3 : Issue 12

Today's topics:
                    Expert Systems (from AI-List)
                    Interesting Facts

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Date:  Monday, 21 May 1984 13:10 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  Expert Systems (from AI-List)

Date: Sun 20 May 84 23:18:23-PDT
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Expert Systems

From a newspaper column by Jon Carroll:

... Imagine, then, a situation in which an ordinary citizen faced
with a problem requiring specialized knowledge turns to his desk-top
Home Electronic Expert (HEE) for some information.  Might it not
go something like this?

Citizen: There is an alarming rattle in the front of my automobile.
It sounds likd a cross between a whellbarrow full of ball bearings
crashing through a skylight and a Hopi Indian chant.  What is the
problem?

HEE: Your automobile is malfunctioning.

Citizen: I understand that.  In what manner is my automobile malfunctioning?

HEE: The front portion of your automobile exhibits a loud rattle.

Citizen: Indeed.  Given this information, what might be the proximate cause
of this rattle?

HEE: There are many possibilities.  The important thing is not to be hasty.

Citizen: I promise not to be hasty.  Name a possibility.

HEE: You could be driving your automobile without tires attached to
the rims.

Citizen: We can eliminate that.

HEE: Perhaps several small pieces of playground equipment have been left
inside your carburetor.

Citzen: Nope. Got any other guesses?

...

Citizen: Guide me; tell me what you think is wrong.

HEE: Wrong is a relative concept.  Is it wrong, for instance, to eat
the flesh of fur-bearing mammals?  If I were you, I'd take that
automobile to a reputable mechanic listed in the Yellow Pages.

Citizen: And if I don't want to do that?

HEE: Then nuke the sucker.

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Date:  Monday, 21 May 1984 13:17 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  Interesting Facts

Interesting facts:

Size of the national debt as a % of GNP: 37.2

 % of Congressman who believe virtuous living => salvation: 39
 times Raygun has attended church since inauguration: 9
 Days he spent at California Ranch: 132 (Not counting this weekend)
 Cans of soda Pepsi must sell to pay for M. Jackson Commercial:
          875,000,000.
 Number of sexual fantasies average person/per day: 7-8
 Number of laughs average person/per day: 16
 % Japanese with IQ over 130: 10
 % Americans with IQ over 130: 2 
 documents clasified "Top Secret": 1,434,668
 Odds that tax return will be audited: 1 in 66
 armed robberies in history of Iceland: 1 (That occurred about 1 month ago).

-- From May, 1984 "Harper's"

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End of Miscellaneous Digest
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