Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ucbvax!aiag.DEC.COM!billmers From: billmers@aiag.DEC.COM.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: Re: AIList Digest V5 #171 Message-ID: <8707072223.AA26599@decwrl.dec.com> Date: Tue, 7-Jul-87 11:29:00 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.8707072223.AA26599 Posted: Tue Jul 7 11:29:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jul-87 13:46:00 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 32 Approved: ailist@stripe.sri.com Don Norman writes that "AI will contribute to the A, but will not contribute to the I unless and until it becomes a science...". Alas, since physics is a science and mathematics is not one, I guess the latter cannot help contribute to the former unless and until mathematicians develop an appreciation for the experimental methods of science. Ironic that throughout history mathematics has been called the queen of sciences (except, of course, by Prof. Norman). Indeed, physics is a case in point. There are experimental physicists, but there are also theoretical ones who formulate, posulate and hypothesize about things they cannot measure or observe. Are these men not scientists? And there are those who observe and measure that which has no theoretical foundation (astrologists hypothesize about people's fortunes; would any amount of experimentation turn astrology into a science?). I believe the mix between theoretical underpinnings and scientific method makes for science. The line is not hard and fast. By my definition, AI has the right attributes to make it a science. There are theoretically underpinnings in several domains (cognitive science, theory of computation, information theory, neurobiology...) and yes, even an experimental nature. Researchers postulate theories (of representation, of implementation) but virtually every Ph.D. thesis also builds a working program to test the theory. If AI researchers seem to be weak in the disciplines of the scientific method I submit it is because the phenomena they are trying to understand are far more complex and elusive of definition that that of most science. This is not a reason to deny AI the title of science, but rather a reason to increase our efforts to understand the field. With this understanding will come an increasingly visible scientific discipline.