http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=354023


in reply to Re: The (futile?) quest for an automatic paraphrase engine
in thread The (futile?) quest for an automatic paraphrase engine

I thought "this guy" owned a term-paper selling web site when I first read the question. :)

To the OP: As others have said, this problem is HARD! You can't really tackle this without AI knowledge, I don't care what "this guy" thinks. In fact, there is probably a Turing award out there if you can solve NLP of English idioms and cliches and such -- especially when coupled with voice recoginition and translation systems. However, I don't think you or "this guy" are going to get it any time soon. Pick up a copy of Russell & Norvig, or equivalent, and begin to learn what "hard problems" in AI mean versus what most other folks consider "hard problems". AI is a whole 'nother animal. And it's still a very loose science (overhyped too -- in that few understand what it actually is), with a lot of room for ground-breaking. Perl (due to functional constructs, etc) isn't a bad language for it at all, however.

  • Comment on Re: Re: The (futile?) quest for an automatic paraphrase engine

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: The (futile?) quest for an automatic paraphrase engine
by dimar (Curate) on May 17, 2004 at 18:18 UTC

    To Moose and Abigail

    Well I can tell you that 'the guy' is definitely far less mysterious or nefarious than some term-paper plagiarist or something equally unethical like that. The thread gives hint as to the who, what and why.

    However, I will say it seems the particular writing style and nature of the question, combined with the insight of the responses has generated far more fascinating feedback than I coulda ever anticipated. There is much to chew on here. For that, I say hats off to all of you.

    Oh, by the way, the paraphrase engine offers the following tidbit ...

    The term "AI" is defined as 'anything that hasn't yet been demonstrated as feasible for a computer programmer'

    ;-)

      The thread gives hint as to the who, what and why.
      If it's just a "flash card" thing, why are you so mysterious? Is it that you want to profit from something you are not ready to reveal? If so, you are being dishonest in getting others to do work for you under the guise of something else. I don't understand why you are concealing your aims. If you really want help, ask for what you want, and tell what you are doing. If you are trying to get help for a professional application, well, you need to be upfront with that.

      Information (especially knowledge on complex AI problems) deserves to be free, especially when others are seeking help. Your silly alluding to "this guy" and "this guy's arbitrary requirements" does not help your cause. Sounds like you want some sample code or direction to generate some "flash card software" as i read it now, and "this guy" doesn't have very competent employees to do it.

      The guy wishes to avoid esoteric concepts beyond the grasp".
      That's like telling me to wash your car without using any water. And, by any chance, is ... "this guy", in fact, you? And you don't understand "esoteric concepts". We can't spoonfeed "this guy". Some of those esoteric concepts are domain knowledge, and are very much a part of the problem space.

      The term "AI" is defined as 'anything that hasn't yet been demonstrated as feasible for a computer programmer'

      Totally bogus. You're (I mean, "this guy is") just unwilling to read the source material and read up on NLP, expert systems, neural nets, genetic algorithms, and the varoius advanced areas of computer science. Quit being a "what can I pick up off the shelf" drone, buy some books, and start learning for a change. It will do you a world of good.

        Moose Moose Moose,

        Did you even read the OP??

        Free speech means that people are free to question and malign other people's motives (even without a reasonable basis for doing so), but some of the things in this post just leaves me shaking my head.

        If it's just a "flash card" thing, why are you so mysterious? ... I don't understand why you are concealing your aims. ... to generate some "flash card software" ... doesn't have very competent employees to do it.

        Take a deep breath, inhale ... exhale ... now ... if by *mysterious* you mean the 'silly "this guy" reference' ... did it ever occur to you that the whole point of saying 'this guy' is there to *emphasize* the fact that this is just the musings and inquiry of some random joe-six-pack with no company, business plan, nor interest in rolling out a product whatsoever??? **News flash** there are *hobbyists* out there who are into these things for *individual non-commercial purposes* yes, shocking, but true.

        Totally bogus. You're (I mean, "this guy is") just unwilling to read the source material and read up on ... varoius advanced areas of computer science ... (blah blah)

        Ahh, I just love it when people make these *totally baseless* accusations. Do you know *anything* whatsoever about what I (or random guy) has read, written, contributed to in scholarly journals or produced in the marketplace?? Do you have the *first clue* of anything factual about this person's background, or what is on his bookshelf? Oy oy oy.

        Do we really need to take things so seriously??

        Also, a CS major should be familiar with the ;-) symbol as a statement of *humor* ... some people can't take a joke. Please, if you really want answers go back and read the OP and the rephrased question, and don't take everything so seriously (just a suggestion).

        Quit being a "what can I pick up off the shelf" drone, buy some books, and start learning for a change

        Now this one is the doozy. ... take a deep breath ... now ponder (seriously ponder) this statement. Let's interpret it in the light *least favorable* to the original poster.

        Lets assume the WORST about the OP ...

        • The OP is a clueless and lazy con artist who plans on getting rich off of (stifled laughter) *flashcard software*
        • The OP plans on taking this *obvious* road to easy riches on the backs of unsuspecting perlmonks who will accidentally give away the secret (in easily understood condensed form).
        • The OP has never heard of Visual Basic, Word Processing software, GUI tools, Rent-a-Coder, Python, Java, or shrink-wrapped software, Usenet, CPAN, or the *oceans* of very cheap and freeware flashcard softwares already available on numerous platforms (available on the desktop, over the web, or as components) and consequently (out of complete ignorance) considers Perl programming advice from perlmonks to be the closest thing there is to "off the shelf" solutions.(!!!)
        • The cornerstone of the OPs evil plan is to extract sophisticated (and heretofore publicly unheard of) AI software written in perl that is not only *totally revolutionary*, but easy enough to cut and paste from perlmonks with little or no understanding of how it actually works.

        Yes, assume all these unflattering things, and then ask yourself, is such a person going to get very far?? Is such a plan truly going to succeed?? If YES, then complaining about it wont stop them ... if NO, then the person is clueless, and therefore, harmless, and complaining about it is a waste of time.

        The Bottom Line

        Sure OP *might* be some sneaky super-evil stealer of top-secret AI technology selling highly lucrative "flashcard thingys"... OR he could be someone who

        simply enjoys reading other people's insight and opinions

        on interesting and open questions from the perspective of perl programmers ... who attempts for an engaging writing style that helps the chance that the question will even be read in the first place!!

        Nahh ... it cant be *that* ... it just doesn't make sense! ;-)