response to J. Prothero book review and comments of 12 Oct 90

[uunet!Think.COM!gls (Guy Steele)]

   Date: 6 Nov 90 00:02:21 EST (Tue)
   From: cbmvax!snark.thyrsus.com!lojbab@uunet.UU.NET
   ...
   I've heard that there is someone programming a computer with 'common sense'
   (a Discover from a couple issues ago, I think) understanding of English.
   It is a slow process to write all the rules, as jimc seems to be trying to
   do.  A heuristic program would >learn< by experience.

It is Douglas Lenat, and indeed there was an article in Discover
about it.  He is a principal scientist at MCC in Texas.  For
a much better description of his work, see the article by him
and four co-authors in the Communications of the ACM, August 1990.

--Guy