12-01-2009, 07:16 PM
Hi,
The way I understand it, there are (at least) two kinds of knowledge. There's the knowledge of facts (such as the date of Magna Carta or the formula for calculating the circumference from the diameter) and the knowledge of abilities (such as knapping a spearhead or actually multiplying by pi). Search engines are good for finding the facts, including the facts of *how* to do things, but they do not help much when it comes actually doing things. Doing a restricted set of things is what this program is about.
To give an example. If you're interested in the gravitational field in a binary system according to general relativity, you could search for it. Unless someone has done the calculations and posted the results, the best you would find is articles on general relativity from which you could do the calculation yourself. Unless you are one of the relatively few who can actually do math at that level, you would be stuck at this point. You would have all the facts you needed, but not the ability to use those facts to answer your question. This site is an attempt to take that last step, to use the facts to solve the problem.
I tried a few things, some worked, some gave an incorrect answer, some gave no answer at all. It's a small step toward computers that actually solve problems for you, rather than just running the program you wrote to solve the problem. Very exciting.
--Pete
Quote:I think the issue is that this isn't really what it is meant for. It isn't really a search, but rather a program trying to look at data and draw comparisons or correlations.I think you've got the basic idea here. This stuff is very interesting and exciting. Sort of a scientific expert system.
The way I understand it, there are (at least) two kinds of knowledge. There's the knowledge of facts (such as the date of Magna Carta or the formula for calculating the circumference from the diameter) and the knowledge of abilities (such as knapping a spearhead or actually multiplying by pi). Search engines are good for finding the facts, including the facts of *how* to do things, but they do not help much when it comes actually doing things. Doing a restricted set of things is what this program is about.
To give an example. If you're interested in the gravitational field in a binary system according to general relativity, you could search for it. Unless someone has done the calculations and posted the results, the best you would find is articles on general relativity from which you could do the calculation yourself. Unless you are one of the relatively few who can actually do math at that level, you would be stuck at this point. You would have all the facts you needed, but not the ability to use those facts to answer your question. This site is an attempt to take that last step, to use the facts to solve the problem.
I tried a few things, some worked, some gave an incorrect answer, some gave no answer at all. It's a small step toward computers that actually solve problems for you, rather than just running the program you wrote to solve the problem. Very exciting.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?