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Paper

Enabling Agents to Work Together, by R. Guha and Douglas Lenat

WRT: 1.25 hours

If you find yourself consumed with curiosity, you can read about Lenat's company, Cycorp on the web.

Assignment supplement for students in 6.833:

Send a one sentence description of your progress on your project to phw and to klein at the usual place. Samples follow:

• I have made palpable progress
• I have a practicable plan featuring a tangible timetable for making progress
• I have begun to panic and seek an immediate audience

Assignment

On a total of one side of one sheet of paper, using 10 pt type or larger, with standard interline spacing and margins, respond to all the following.

Part I

Examine the sample questions, which were reported in the Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal, which alleged that the questions were actually asked of witnesses by attorneys during trials. In certain cases, the responses given by insightful witnesses are also provided. Then, pick three or four, and exhibit the quanta of knowledge, in English (not Lenat's formal representation), that would equip CYC to be smarter than a lawyer.

Part II

Winston, during another period of temporary insanity, has taken a leave from MIT to spend two years working at a venture capital firm, McDuck Associates. You have taken a job working for him, and honoring what you have learned from 6xxx, you are always careful to think about what motivates the McDuck partners with respect to what sorts of investments they support.

• Winston orders you by EMail to read something Lenat has written with a view toward developing a relationship. You stumble across Lenat's agent paper, from which you learn all you know about his technology, its potential applications, and Lenat himself. Compose an EMail message to Winston, strongly recommending an investment, with your evaluation of Lenat's prospects and recommendations for follow up, if any. Pay particular attention to Lenat's criteria for early CYC applications and what a venture capitalist would think of them.
• Repeat, but this time strongly recommending against investment.
• Comment on which of your messages you should actually send to Winston.