Schedule for CSC 290, Spring 2004 (Tentative)

The following is my best guess as to the schedule for class this spring.

Class Sessions Topic Reading Assignments





Thurs. Jan. 15 Introduction, overview,
focal areas
Kurzweil, ch.1-2,
Moravec, ch.3





Tues. Jan. 20 History of AI, goals,
methods, Turing Test,
projections
Saygin & al., Turing
Test: 50 years later
Kurzweil, ch.4-5
Essay 1, due Feb.3, 5pm:
Is a machine that passes
the TT intelligent?





Thurs. Jan. 22 Turing's rejoinders
to nay-sayers;
TT reexamined
Brockman, The Next 50 Years:
J. Holland, R. Brooks,
& R. Schank





Tues. Jan. 27 Turing's rejoinders,
cont'd.
Kurzweil, ch.8-9,
L. Smolin (in Brockman)





Thurs. Jan. 29 Class squibs:
Kurzweil, Ch. 4,5,8
Doyle, Strategic directions ...,
Minsky, Will robots inherit ...,
Humphrys, The future of AI





Tues. Feb. 3 Class squibs:
Kurzweil, Ch.9,
Saygin et al.,
Holland (in Brockman)
Williams, Arguing AI Essay 1 due





Thurs. Feb. 5 Saygin et al., cont'd:
Is the TT too easy?
J. Lanier (in Brockman),
Doyle & Dean, Strategic...,
Moravec ch. 4,
Kurzweil ch.10-11
Essay 2, due Feb.19, 5pm:
What can we learn from
history & the AI "prophets"
about research strategy,
to optimize AI progress?





Tues. Feb. 10 Saygin et al., cont'd:
Is the TT too hard?
Is it a distraction?
Moravec ch. 5;
Kurzweil, ch. 6-7;
McDermott, ch. 1





Thurs. Feb. 12 Essay discussion;
Humphrys;
Finalize project teams





Tues. Feb. 17 Minsky's views
Arguing AI: panel





Thurs. Feb. 19 Kurzweil, Moravec
on 2005-2040;
Doyle & Dean's plan
Read rest of McDer-
mott by March 4
Essay 2 due





Tues. Feb. 24 Progr. reports 1:
Some major refs,
task division
Prog. report: 1p + refs;
Essay 3, due Mar.17, 5pm:
Consciousness:
A review of McDermott





Thurs. Feb. 26 Intro to consciousness,
the "hard problem"





Tues. Mar. 2 Self-awareness:
the "easy" problem





Thurs. Mar. 4 Progr. reports 2:
Task updates,
progress to date,
plan for demo





Mar. 8-12 Spring Break (no class)





Tues. Mar. 16 Self-awareness
(cont'd)
Begin reading Rees Essay 3 due tomorrow,
Mar. 17, 5pm





Thurs. Mar. 18 Self-awareness
(concluded)
Finish Rees before
end of March
Essay 4, due Apr.7, 5pm:
Review of Rees,
& relevance to AI





Tues. Mar. 23 Challenges on the
way to Turing's dream





Thurs. Mar. 25 Progr. reports 3:
progress to date,
plan for demo





Tues. Mar. 30 Challenges on the
way to Turing's dream
(cont'd)





Thurs. Apr. 1 Mining general
knowledge from text





Tues. Apr. 6 Progr. reports 4:
progress to date,
plan for demo
Essay 4 due tomorrow,
Apr. 7, 5pm





Thurs. Apr. 8 Uncertain inference:
Beyond Bayes nets





Tues. Apr. 13 Uncertain inference:
Beyond Bayes nets
final project reports due





Thurs. Apr. 15 2 project present-
ations





Tues. Apr. 20 2 project present-
ations





Thurs. Apr. 22 2 project present-
ations





Tues. Apr. 27 project quiz?
project votes,
SCOQs, ...






Last Change: 04 March 2004 / schubert@cs.rochester.edu