https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2023/02/05/artificial-intelligence-just-lost-a-leader/ Skip to content Godel's Lost Letter and P=NP a personal view of the theory of computation * Home * About P=NP and SAT * About Us * Conventional Wisdom and P=NP * The Godel Letter * Cook's Paper * Thank You Page Artificial Intelligence Just Lost a Leader February 5, 2023 tags: artificial intelligence, learning, memorial, Roger Schank by rjlipton Plus a position-search announcement from NSF Roger Schank just passed away. Roger was a top leader of AI. I overlapped with him for my time at Yale. In 1974, he became a professor of computer science and psychology at Yale University. In 1981, Schank became Chairman of Computer Science at Yale and director of the Yale Artificial Intelligence Project. I was gone by then off to Berkeley. [rs][rs] John Brockman wrote: He is a computer scientist and cognitive psychologist who has worked in the AI field for twenty-five years. Like Marvin Minsky, he takes the strong AI view, but rather than trying to build an intelligent machine he wants to deconstruct the human mind. He wants to know, in particular, how natural language-- one's mother tongue -- is processed, how memory works, and how learning occurs. Schank thinks of the human mind as a learning device, and he thinks that it is being taught in the wrong way. He is something of a gadfly; he deplores the curriculum-based, drill-oriented methods in today's schools, and his most recent contributions have been in the area of education, looking at ways to use computers to enhance the learning process. Roger's View Roger was a scary guy--especially for junior theory faculty like me. I did get along with Roger and he did support me when I was up for tenure. But he was scary no matter what. Part of the issue was that Roger did not think much of any research that was not AI based. Theory was not a top issue in his view. Beat Roger Out At Yale once Schank walked into Alan Perlis's office and told Alan that he had thought about some post-doc position we had funding for. Schank began to explain to Perlis that he, Roger, had a couple of ideas of who he planned to hire to fill this position--of course the position was his. Perlis waved him off and said, Lipton already has found a candidate and the position is gone. I was not there, so all this is second-hand from Perlis, but I can imagine that Roger was not pleased--in his mind all resources of the department should have gone to build up the AI group. Roger was initially upset, but after this event he acted differently toward me. He treated me with more respect--in general theory was not his type of research. I always thought that he respected someone who "beat" him at the resource game, since he was such a strong player. I probably should not do it again, but doing it once was cool. Years later, after Roger had moved to Northwestern University, he tried hard to hire me. Perhaps I should have gone. Oh well. Open Problems We want to announce this from Dilma Da Silva: [dd][dd] The Division Director, Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) of NSF: NSF/CCF is looking for an IPA (rotator) Program Director (PD) for the Algorithm Foundation cluster. The job posting for the IPA PD position is available at here. My colleague Tracy Kimbrel and I will be happy to address any questions that potential applicants may have. [sourced Brockman quote, added subtitle for NSF announcement] Share this: * Reddit * Facebook * Like this: Like Loading... from - History, News, People - Why Study Logic? One Comment leave one - 1. [7bc3496][7bc3496] Alan Kay permalink February 5, 2023 1:51 pm Roger and I were "friends" -- kind of "New York friends" -- since we met at the Stanford AI project in late 69 or early 70 -- so about 53 years or so. He was really great at thinking things out from scratch -- like an ancient Greek -- and some of his insights really helped make progress. Loading... 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