: Project Earth
: -------------------
:
: This is a brief description of and invitation to find out about and join a
: new artificial intelligence project just started on SourceForge.
:
: The objective of Project Earth is to build a database of factual information
: relevant to any aspect of life by collating voluntary contributions made by
: project participants.
:
: As the database grows it will accumulate enough definitions that it can
: become the core of natural life artificial intelligence systems. The design
: and implemetation of these AI systems is a major objective of the project.
:
: The project is currently only just starting and volunteers are required who
: are willing to help define a formal method of receiving factual information,
: relationships between elements of information, and rules which apply to the
: processing and interpretation of that information.
:
: Programmers are needed who can write CGI's which can take information from
: Forms and add them appropriately to the main database. Other programs which
: will be required later are ones which can integrate the various types of
: information and infer accurate information from data which already exists.
:
: Examples
: ---------------
:
: object cup can contain
: object cup is used to contain fluid
: object car can move
: object car can convey people
: object car can convey things
: object car is type vehicle
: action walk changes actors location
: action walk improves actors health
: action push changes objects position
:
: Relationships of this sort, expressed in a restricted form of natural
: language, will be accumulated to define object properties and groups to
: which objects belong. They will also be used to define the results of
: actions.
:
: The current objective of participants in the project will be to define a
: viable formal method of specifying object properties by first defining valid
: relationships such as 'is', 'is_similar_to', 'can_be', 'can_be_used_to' and
: defining what each such relationship means.
: As each relationship is defined and that definition agreed upon, it will be
: added to a form which anyone can use to add to the database of facts. Thus
: programmers capable of writing Perl or other CGI routines are needed to
: start work on that aspect of the project almost immediately.
:
: The forms which volunteers will use to submit information should be of such
: a nature that only valid relationships can be defined and need to be
: supported by script or CGI which ensures that multiple definition of the
: same rule or property is reflected in the database, so that erroneously
: entered information will be depreciated as a result of its infrequency.
:
: As initiator of the project, I will try to identify main tasks that require
: to be completed and document those that have been. However, I will also be
: trying to organise this in such a way that participants will be free to
: undertake the various tasks more or less as they like, independently or in
: collaboration with others who want to work on the same part of the project.
:
: Server space and processing power are currently required to hold the
: database information and service it. Because multiple sites is a fairly good
: idea, programs will also be needed which pass update information around the
: various sites, append that to a consistent mirror of the main database and
: ensure that that is also effectively distributed.
:
:
: If you are interested in finding out more about the project and are
: familiar with SourceForge visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/earth/ and
: feel free to explore. The project is currently in its early stages, but
: there are a couple of useful documents registered in the project
: documentation folder under the category Non-Technical.
:
: If you have never been to SourceForge before visit
: http://sourceforge.net/docman/index.php?group_id=33634 to go straight to
: Project Earth's document reposirory and read more about it.
:
: If you would like to contribute to the project as a Data Contributor
: mailto:aerig@users.sourceforge.net?subject=earth_jcont
:
: If you would like to contribute to the project as a Software Engineer
: mailto:aerig@users.sourceforge.net?subject=earth_jsoen
:
: If you would like to contribute to the project as a DBMS Developer
: mailto:aerig@users.sourceforge.net?subject=earth_jdbms
:
: If you would like to contribute to the project as a Web Developer
: mailto:aerig@users.sourceforge.net?subject=earth_jwebd
:
: If you would like to contribute to the project as a Project Developer
: mailto:aerig@users.sourceforge.net?subject=earth_jproj
:
: N.B. This is a spare time project for me. The documents at
: http://sourceforge.net/projects/earth/ will probably take a day or two to
: read in any case, but those of you who mail me are unlikely to receive a
: response until next Friday night.
:
: aerig
:
:
--
Carter's Compass: I know I'm on the right track when
by deleting something I'm adding functionality.
