McDermott

Drew McDermott.  Artificial Intelligence meets Natural Stupidity.

McDermott's paper certainly caused ripples when it was first published. It represents a state of mind and a snapshot of time that is of great value to revisit.

Reading question:

• 1. The inflationary spiral that McDermott describes for AI in 1981—do you think this phenomenon exists in robotics today? Describe its instantiation in our field if you believe it exists.  If you believe we do not suffer from this problem, describe why you think we have managed to avoid it.