OM and Tom's projects' future (was Re: [om-list] OM version 0.02)

[Luke Call]

Thomas L. Packer at home wrote:
> Hello OM People
> 
>     I highly recommend "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" by
> Russell and Norvig.  It is supposedly the best introductory AI text around,
> and I believe it.  It adds unity to the field of AI by expressing all the
> disparate ideas people think of as part of AI in terms of agents.

How does it compare to the wikipedia page on AI? I may just order the 
book on your recommendation. (I'm sure it covers a lot more ground...)

 > ....
>     Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but I have started to view my original
> goal, and the goal of OM, as possibly being too idealistic -- and perhaps
> impossible.  But I will continue to think about it.  And we should certainly
> keep in mind the goal of usefulness: what do we want to do, and what will we
> be able to do, with the knowledge once it is all in the box?

I sure enjoy your and Mark's emails.

I think of OM as a way to model all knowledge we *have*; I would love it 
but don'ot know enough to say if it could do inference etc yet. I think 
of it this way: a word processor concept + web browser type concept let 
you organize words. OM lets you organize everything you know, by 
manipulating objects and complex relationships as easily as we now 
manipulate words. The power would come when it is used by many (On-line 
version) instead of one (initial personal organizer version), just as 
the power of the web is largely from the broad use.

Good conversation going here.

Luke