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Article 2049 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: lro@YP.melb.bull.com (Liam Routt)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Short List: Things Computers Can't Do
Message-ID: <1991Dec11.231206.2003@melb.bull.oz.au>
Date: 11 Dec 91 23:12:06 GMT
References: <1991Dec10.225019.6919@cs.sfu.ca>
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shell@cs.sfu.ca (Barry Shell) writes:
>Here is my short list of what computers or thinking machines cannot do:
...
>Solvable but requires human to guess:
>Bin Packing
>Scheduling
>(Above may be classed as solvable but in an impractically long time)
>Therefore they are not practically solvable.
...
>Barry Shell 604-876-5790 4692 Quebec St., Vancouver, B.C. Canada V5A 3M1

	There are now a set of AI languages available that are based on 
contraints.  At least some of these languages are able to do scheduling and
related problem-solving better and faster than humans can; so much so that
previously impossible scheduling tasks (massive train time-tables, and school
style schedules, for example) are now able to be done in real time, allowing
the solutions to be updated as the situation changes.
	So, those problems _are_ now solvable...  Maybe the others on your
list are not that far away...
--
						Liam Routt
	"Murder by Pirates is Good!"		Senior Software Engineer
		-The Princess Bride		Bull Information Systems
						Melbourne, AUSTRALIA


