D. Lenat, The Ubiquity of Discovery. Artificial Intelligence, 9, 1977.

Author of the summary: J. William Murdock, 1997, murdock@cc.gatech.edu

Cite this paper for:

• Heuristic search is a powerful technique and heuristics which embody "interestingness" can enable relatively open-ended reasoning.

Keywords: Heuristic, Search

Systems: AM, EURISKO plus some discussion of some other systems

Summary: Introduces the subject of AI.  Notes that the technique of
heuristic rule guided search is a crucial component of existing AI
research.  Argues that many domain heuristics are specializations of
generally applicable heuristics.  Proposes "interestingness" heuristics
as a key element in constraining search.  Discusses a few specific
lines of research relating to this view: Describes Logic Theorist and
GPS (both from Newel, Shaw, and Simon) as embodying general heuristic
rules and DENDRAL (from Feigenbaum and Lederburg) as supplementing
such rules with domain specific heuristics.  Presents AM as a program
for scientific discovery using open ended search guided by
interestingness heuristics.  Describes both the representation and the
processing in AM.  Asserts that the key weakness of AM is the
inability to define new heuristics.  Uses this assertion to motivate
the EURISKO project (in development at the time) which uses the same
language for representing heuristics as it does for representing
declarative facts.  Mentions a few other search based systems.
Provides a summary.  Discusses the long range goals of AI.

Summary author's notes:

• This summary came from a file which had the following disclaimer: "The following summaries are the completely unedited and often hastily composed interpretations of a single individual without any sort of systematic or considered review. As such it is very likely that at least some of the following text is incomplete, inadequate, misleading, or simply wrong. One might view this as a very preliminary draft of a survey paper that will probably never be completed. The author disclaims all responsibility for the accuracy or use of this document; this is not an official publication of the Georgia Institute of Technology or the College of Computing thereof, and the opinions expressed here may not even fully match the fully considered opinions of the author much less the general opinions of the aformentioned organizations."