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CSLI Calendar, February 25, 3:19


       C S L I   C A L E N D A R   O F   P U B L I C   E V E N T S
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25 February 1988                   Stanford                    Vol. 3, No. 19
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     A weekly publication of The Center for the Study of Language and
     Information, Ventura Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
                              ____________
	   CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR THIS THURSDAY, 25 February 1988

   12 noon		TINLunch
     Ventura Hall       Reading: "Babe Ruth Homered his Way into the
     Conference Room  	Hearts of America" 
			by Ray Jackendoff, Brandeis University
			Discussion led by Annie Zaenen
			(zaenen.pa@xerox.com)
			Abstract below

   2:15 p.m.		CSLI Seminar
     Room G-19          Implementing a BDI agent
     Redwood Hall  	Robert C. Moore
			(bmoore@ai.sri.com)
			Abstract below
			
   3:30 p.m.		Tea
     Ventura Hall		
                             --------------
	     CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT THURSDAY, 3 March 1988

   2:15 p.m.		CSLI Seminar
     Room G-19          Intelligent Communicating Agents III: Communication
     Redwood Hall  	Phil Cohen
			(pcohen@warbucks.ai.sri.com)
			Abstract below
			
                             --------------
			      ANNOUNCEMENT

   Next week there will be no TINLunch or tea because CSLI will be moving
   into its new building.  The seminar will be held.

			     --------------
			  THIS WEEK'S TINLUNCH
     Reading: "Babe Ruth Homered his Way into the Hearts of America"
		 by Ray Jackendoff, Brandeis University
		     Discussion led by Annie Zaenen
			  (zaenen.pa@xerox.com)
			       February 25

   This paper is concerned with the mapping between syntactic structure
   and semantic/conceptual structure. When the one doesn't reflect the
   other in a direct way, one can either complicate the syntactic
   structure (e.g., by assuming a deep structure that would reflect the
   conceptual structure more directly) or one can complicate the
   correspondence rules. Jackendoff starts from his own specific
   assumptions about the conceptual structure (elaborated in his book
   "Semantics and Cognition" (MIT Press 1983) and his paper "The Status
   of Thematic Roles in Linguistic Theory" (LI,1987)) and discusses one
   case in which the syntax/semantics mapping is not direct; the one
   exemplified in sentences like `Babe Ruth homered his way into the
   hearts of America.'  He concludes that a syntactic solution to the
   problem is not appealing but that one has either to claim that one has
   a kind of idiom or that the correspondence rules have to be
   complicated.  The issue addressed arises of course in all theories
   trying to spell out the syntax-semantics mapping; the assumptions made
   here are different in their specifics from those that most of us would
   make but are stated in a notation that is rather close to an attribute
   value representation and they argue for a `surfacey' syntax, at least
   in this case, so I hope they are sufficiently close to inspire people
   to think about their own approaches to this and similar problems.

			     ---------------
			   THIS WEEK'S SEMINAR
			Implementing a BDI Agent
			     Robert C. Moore
			   (bmoore@ai.sri.com)
			       February 25

   The BDI (Belief-Desire-Intention) model of rational agency is a
   familiar one around CSLI, having been the focus of the RATAG project
   for about three years.  As part of the ICA (Intelligent, Communicating
   Agents) project, we are attempting to do a complete implementation of
   an agent based on the BDI model.  As always, implementation forces us
   to confront issues that we had previously overlooked.  This talk will
   focus on a number of those issues including:
       
       a formal semantics for desire that can be used to motivate action;

       extending the notion of dependency-directed belief revision
       ("truth maintenance") to include the dependency of intentions on
       desires and beliefs and the dependency of beliefs on intentions;

       combining inference and planning by treating intentions as
       "assumable" propositions that one encounters in trying to infer
       that one's beliefs will be satisfied.
			     --------------
				    
			   NEXT WEEK'S SEMINAR
	  Intelligent Communicating Agents III:  Communication
			       Phil Cohen
		      (pcohen@warbucks.ai.sri.com)
				 March 3

   In this talk I will describe some of the kinds of communicative acts
   needed by autonomous agents.  Specifically, I will sketch a formalism
   in which to describe informative, directive, and commissive acts that
   will be required to get cooperative behavior.  The definitions of the
   actions will be varied as we allow various possibilities for agents'
   being insincere, uncooperative, etc.  Finally, if there is time, I
   will explore what it takes for agents to act jointly, and how
   communication fits in.