Newsgroups: comp.ai
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!solaris.cc.vt.edu!spcuna!ritz!merlin
From: merlin@ritz.mordor.com (Niranjan Hira)
Subject: Re: RFD: comp.ai.no_bozos
References: <3grk79$jub@vitalstatistix.cs.uoregon.edu> <push-0202952312190001@mind.mit.edu>
Organization: Mordor International BBS
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 03:12:31 GMT
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Message-ID: <D3IBKv.5s9@ritz.mordor.com>
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Pushpinder Singh (push@mit.edu) wrote:
: In article <3grk79$jub@vitalstatistix.cs.uoregon.edu>,
: ginsberg@t.uoregon.EDU (Matthew L. Ginsberg) wrote:

: > Well, the discussion on comp.ai really seems to have gone through the
: > floor recently.  Are there AI's lurking on the internet?  Hopefully
: > so, they'd have time to wade through all this stuff.  Are computers
: > the next phase of evolution?  Who cares?  Most of us are already
: > obsolete anyway.  And no, I don't want to buy more memory for my PC,
: > thank you.
: > 
: > Who ever thought I'd see the days where the philosophical ramblings
: > were the *most* substantive thing posted to comp.ai?
: > 
: > So I think we should form a new newsgroup, comp.ai.no_bozos.  : )
: > Discussion limited to the actual *science* that occasionally goes on
: > in the field, and -- most important -- no crossposting permitted.
: > 
: >                                                 Matt Ginsberg

: Personally, I don't regard comp.ai as an even remotely serious
: place for discussing ideas about AI.  All I see here are either
: random postings announcing the occasional symposium, workshop, or
: call for papers, requests for references to or implementations
: of the latest fad in AI, and, as you pointed out, irrelevant
: cross postings from comp.ai.phil/alife/consciousness/etc (which
: I did participate in and for which I am ashamed I didn't trim
: comp.ai from the distribution list.)

: Of course, things aren't all bad.  Mark Kantrowitz's (sp?) AI FAQs
: are great.  There is the occasional good idea; for instance,
: John Nagle made a productive suggestion recently for a possible
: research direction -- AIs that compile FAQs for newsgroups.  Sounds
: interesting and useful.

: It seems to me that there aren't that many true bozos on this group,
: but most posters simply aren't interested in actually _discussing_
: the science of AI.  Should we change this?  There are mailing lists
: for the various sub-fields of AI, but none as far as I know for AI
: in general.  Maybe we do need a separate newsgroup -- someone
: suggested comp.ai.science.  Personally I think it would be a great
: idea, except that AI has, as far as I can tell, become so nichified
: that no one wants to understand anyone else anymore.

: It's a damned shame.

: -push


	Gentlemen don't you think that you're being a tad too critical 
and, dare I say it, "pretentious"?
	Although I _completely_ agree that this newsgroup is *no* place 
for advertisments, I disagree with the notion that we must discard 
"ramblings".  After all, isn't it true that most meritorious ideas often 
arise after much "rambling"?  
	Furthermore, let us realize that not everyone posseses the 
knowledge and vocabulary that you seem to want to set forth as criteria for 
posting to this newsgroup.  I am one to readily admit that I know little 
beyond a tenth of what I read about here.  I would like to feel confident 
that not everyone dismisses what I have to say (and believe me, I usually 
have little to say) as "pseudobabble".
	I do believe that there are frivolous postings--certainly we 
should attempt to take what we post more seriously--but readers should 
acknowledge a post for the idea(s) it presents even if a student with 
little experience is the author.

	I apologize if I have misread any articles in this thread 
but--being a "newbie"--I tend to be defensive.

	-- Hira

<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
|  "I don't let myself believe...I know".  -- Carl Gustav Jung                |
|                                                                             |
|  merlin@ritz.mordor.com                                                     |
|  ONE LOST SOUL!!                                                            |
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