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Subject: Re: Intelligence of men and machines

Author: Mark Young

Date: 22:46:38 01/28/98

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On January 28, 1998 at 22:41:52, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>
>On January 28, 1998 at 17:13:52, Mark Young wrote:
>
>> I think chess makes a poor yard stick for measuring computer
>>intelligence.
>> Chess is all tactics, If for example it were possible today to make a
>>32 man
>> tablebase would it not play perfect chess? Even a simple full width
>>chess
>> program run on a fast enough computer would play perfect chess if it
>>could see
>> mate from move one. Intelligence is much more then speed of
>>calculation.
>
>The idea that chess is all tactics is less likely to be heard from
>someone who has written a strong program.
>
>Sure, there are a lot of tactics in chess, but you gotta fix what is
>broken, and when people start beating you because they know when a
>bishop is bad and a knight is good, and this isn't something that can be
>solved with an extra ply or a cute extension.  And once you've made a
>little improvement in that area, they'll find something else.
>
>Tactical strength is great, but you have to get further than this or
>you'll get seriously stuck.
>
>bruce

You're right to a point with today's computers, but chess itself is all
tactics. Would not a 32 man tablebase, or a simple full width chess
program that could see to mate from move one, play perfect chess? It
would not care if a bishop is bad or a knight is good, only that a
position is won, drawn or lost. The term positional play is a human
concept to explain what we can not see tactically.

While its true that the type of program you mentioned in your example is
written from a "positional" point of view, that is only due to the
limitations of both today's computers and the human mind, not due to the
true nature of chess. You may have written a strong chess program, but
you're still wrong on this point.

mark



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