From: srm@milton.u.washington.edu (Rae Mackay) Subject: Re: Viewing 3D images in a Head Mounted Display Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1992 19:44:18 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARVIN MINSKY PRESENTATION IN SEATTLE DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1991 PLACE: COLLEGE CLUB 5th and Madison, Seattle Limited free parking under building (entrance on 5th Ave) TIME: 5:30-6:30 Registration and Social with Refreshments 6:30-8:00 Program SPEAKER: Dr. Marvin Minsky Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor, Departments of E.E. and Computer Science TOPIC: Computers and Common Sense: The Next Step Toward a Good Computer-Human Interface. For a decade, the computer industry has been disappointed at the general public's rejection of low-cost PC's. Dr. Marvin Minsky believes the trouble is, not even the most 'friendly' interface can compensate for the ignorance that present day computers have about ordinary human affairs. And although we now possess all sorts of "knowledge-based" software utilities, none of them seem able to provide users with the sorts of services ordinary people demand of their assistants. The problem is that we have not yet been able to provide any of those systems with even the most childish knowledge about our most pervasive human activities -- those in which we engage the service of other individuals. No computer today can understand even what is happening in the simplest stories that we expect young children to understand. Dr. Minsky believes we should set our sights on providing a special ROM as part of every future computer operating system. That ROM would contain commonsense knowledge. It would provide the basis for understanding what every normal person wants. In order to accomplish this, we shall have to develop adequate ways to acquire commonsense knowledge, to represent it inside our computers, and to apply appropriate sorts of reasoning to these new commonsense knowledge bases. Professor Minsky will makes some suggestions about how this might be done. Marvin Minsky's work includes theoretical and practical advances not only in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology and connectionist networks, but also in the mathematical foundations of computer science and in the practical technology of robots. He has made major contributions to the scientific foundations of the domains of symbolic description, knowledge representation, computational semantics and linguistics, machine perception, symbolic learning, connectionist learning, mechanical robotics, and industrial automation. Dr. Minsky's ideas about frames and other knowledge representation have been the basis of many subsequent theories, and his most recent book, The Society of Mind, proposes many revolutionary concepts about commonsense reasoning, learning, memory, language, and conceptual development -- and about the administrative structures that underlie the functions of the brain. Marvin Minsky has also been a leader in the practical technology of intelligence-based mechanical robotics; he designed and constructed some of the first mechanical hands and machine-vision interfaces. He was closely involved in the development of the computer language LISP and he designed and built the first LOGO "turtle." Dr. Minsky also invented the Scanning Confocal Microscope, an optical instrument with unprecedented resolution and image clarity. He is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at M.I.T and is Founder and Director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is also Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. Dr. Minsky has received many honors including membership in the U.S. National Academy of Science and is U.S. National Academy of Engineering Laureate. He was the recipient of the 1990 Japan Prize for science and Technology and the 1991 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Research Excellence Award. He is a former president of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence. Join us for what promises to be a stimulating evening with Marvin Minsky, one of the most influential thinkers in the field of computer technology and called by Isaac Asimov one of the five most intelligent persons in the country. Seating will be limited. Make your reservations today. PRICE: STUDENTS -- $10 MEMBERS -- $15 GENERAL PUBLIC -- $20 AT THE DOOR $15 PRE-PAID TO PREPAY AND ENSURE YOURSELF OF A SEAT, SEND CHECK TO NAIF C/O Information Management Consultants 1136 35th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122-5211 NAIF PHONE: 820-4224 p.s. please pass this around the network, post it on BB's (electronic and in the lunch room) and all high traffic areas. thanks.