LET US OUT!

after work i went and met Jacques, Amber, Jack, and Becky at New Hunan...then we went to Jack and Becky's place and watched Amélie but i had to go back to work like towards the end...argh! i must watch it again soon...or at least the end...i wasn't there for even an hour but i made almost as much money as i made the not-quite-three-hours of the first shift...neith amount was very much though...also, Jack borrowed me this Fad Gadget cd(s)...so far i must say it fucking rules...another thing: i got some letter from school about graduating and stuff...it's saying i still need 2 classes...of course one is because of the class for my elective sequence that got cancelled...i emailed my advisor though and he said getting it changed shouldn't be a problem...the other is a class i've taken...the history/philosophy class pre-1500...i took the philosophy one my freshman year at knoxville so i'm guessing there's just some oversight in the way it transferred...but that's all i have to say for now...(except that i'm getting REALLY excited about seeing Wire in a week...WOO!) oh yea, and ONE MORE pointless little tidbit...i had to buy some oil for my car on the way home from work just now, and while pouring it into my engine in the Exxon parking lot, "Alison" played on the overhead...*that*'s all...

1.9/1.10

"Surely computers cannot be intelligent--they can only do what their programmers tell them." Is the latter statement true, and does it imply the former?
The latter statement is true but does not imply the former, because it is possible that a programmer could tell a computer how to learn, infer knowledge, or think rationally.

"Surely animals cannot be intelligent--they can only do what their genes tell them." Is the latter statement true, and does it imply the former?
The latter statement is true but its relation to the former is analogous to the previous question. Genetics set up a foundation to an animal's behavior and, while it determines how an animal learns from or reacts to a given experience, different experiences will shape an animal's behavior differently. In this way, animals are built on experience possibly as much as genetics.

2.3

Choose a domain that you are familiar with, and write a PAGE description of an agent for the environment. Characterize the environment as being accessible, deterministic, episodic, static, and continuous or not. What agent architecture is best for this domain?
Agent type: cd buyer; Percepts: cds on racks; Actions: select cds, purchase cds; Goals: purchase most desired cds with minimal cost; Environment: cd store
The environment is not accessible, because the buyer [can] only sense the cds directly in front of it. The environment is deterministic, because each state of the buyer's decision-making process is based on the cds previously looked at and the decisions and actions the buyer has already made. It is nonepisodic, because whether a buyer decides to purchase a cd or not is dependent on all the cds it has looked at before and will look at in the future. The environment is dynamic, because the store is open only for so many hours and it is possible that the buyer could decide to go back and get a cd it previously looked at but someone else may have purchased it since. However, it could be considered static in theory, because it is unlikely the buyer will need the store's entire business hours to make a decision, even if it browses the entire selection (this is another matter if the buyer walks in, say, 5 minutes to close). Also, the event of someone purchasing a cd out from under the buyer is highly unlikely, but as it is possible, it is best to consider it dynamic. Another possibility that is even more likely is that the employees will add stock to the shelves while the buyer is still browsing. The environment is discreet, because each action is limited to each cd the store holds. While there may be a large number, it is definately finite and in the end each cd may be looked upon as a "yes" or "no" decision. A utility-based architecture is best for this domain, because it is far from just a matter of getting cds, but getting the ones that will make the buyer most happy (in a literal sense). Balancing cost is also a crucial issue, because the hardest part of the decision is not which cds to get but which cds not to get.