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Subject: Re: The old chess program "OwlChess"

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 14:49:55 01/11/01

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On January 11, 2001 at 17:43:25, Ulrich Tuerke wrote:
>>
>>Bad science.  We benefit because we hide what we learn?  I don't believe one
>>sub-atomic particle of that.
>
>IMO, it isn't science, what we are doing.

It all depends.  I view it as refining search algorithms.  These tend to be
applied to games, but may have practical uses that we have not envisioned.

>I wouldn't denote Chris' little tricks to save some nodes as scientific methods
>? I doubt that he himself would.

Tricks boil down to simple logic, at some point.  Otherwise, the tricks don't
work.

>It's just a game, we are playing.

Here, you have me nailed.  Writing a better chess algorithm probably won't stop
any children from starving.  But I could be wrong about that.  Who knows what
use smart people can put to an algorithm?

>What would be a poker game if everybody knew the cards of the others ?

Indian poker, we used to call it.  The only one who does not know what the cards
are is the one who holds them, since he is looking at the back of his cards and
the face of everyone else's.  Sometimes, we played it with a single card held
against our foreheads.

>But on the other hand, the border between "game" and science is not clear. There
>is the ICCA journal with scientific publications about computer chess.
>
>I don't know. At least what I am doing is certainly far away from science.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't think that anyone should be forced to divulge what
they have learned.  You learned it -- you earned it.  If you want to explain it
then that is good.  If you want to keep it secret to clobber your opponents then
I don't have a big problem with that either.  It is wrong to force our opinions
on others because we all should have free choice.

Especially since I am in a learning mode I want to know how others achieve
greatness.  I hope I won't reverse it once I have gathered enough data to become
a teacher.


[snip]



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