GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVER
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1391 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
M. RINGLE synthetizes and evaluates as follows the General Problem Solver Program developped by NEWELL and SIMON: “entity{GPS} was designed to extract key features from problems, analyze the logic of the problem, generate procedures for dealing with the problem, and then attempt to solve it. The focus was on the generality of entity{GPS}, i.e., its ability to handle a wide range of situations, and on its capacity to develop its own heuristics. Unfortunately, a careful examination of the major routines of entity{GPS} reveals that the key-feature analysis depends of the logic found in the ”table-of-connections“ which is pre-programmed, and the technique-generator depends on a selection, by entity{GPS} from its ”main-methods“ table. In short, the critical features which would emancipate entity{GPS} from the stigma attached to traditional mechanisms are obscured but not removed. Given a vague problem to solve (or one which fails to fit into the logical schemata entity{GPS} uses for key-feature extraction) entity{GPS} is at a loss. Moreover, increasing the size of the table-of-connections or the main-methods group would not help to answer the initial objection, that the program fails to actually ”cognize“ its environment, although it would serve to increase entity{GPS}'s ability to appear cognitive.
- “The real problem lies in the fact that the task environment for entity{GPS} and other AI programs is only an ”internal representation“ of the world in a limited way. entity{GPS} does not produce its own symbols and values, but merely manipulates the symbols and values according to its pre-programmed instructions” (1976, p.8).
In short, the entity{GPS} is merely a “Partial Problem Solver” (which of course, is not to be despised).
Generally, this is a result of the necessarily algorithmic character of the sequential computers programs.
See also
General Systems Problem Solver.