Release early and release often. I can’t wait to try your app. I’ve been wanting to play zendo for a long time, but wasn’t willing to pay for all the sets of pieces that it seems are required now that zendo is out of print.
In terms of generating rules, you might want to look at CopyCat and its algorithms for analogy solving. There is an excellent discussion of the strategies it uses in the author’s recent Complexity: A Guided Tour. You’ll certainly get lots of good ideas for rule generation by looking at the discussion in that book.
As an aside, given all the GEB love around here, it’s worth noting that CopyCat was originally developed by Douglas Hofstadter and a student of his, the latter being the author of the book linked.
Eliezer has mentioned CopyCat many times, so I figured that Mitchell and the relation to the FARGonauts was redundant information. On the topic of Mitchell and books, I also recommend An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms.
You’re right, I stand corrected. I could have sworn I remembered him mentioning CopyCat in OB before, but I can’t find any now, only in other essays like “General Intelligence and Seed AI” and “The Plan to Singularity”.
“Since the 1995 FARG book, work on Copycat-like models has continued: as of 2008 the latest models are Phaeaco (a Bongard problem solver), SeqSee (number sequence extrapolation), George (geometric exploration), and Musicat (a melodic expectation model).”
3D Zendo is basically a variant on Bongard problems, and if a program can extrapolate numbers, then it could also test them against the human oracle to see if it’s right.
Release early and release often. I can’t wait to try your app. I’ve been wanting to play zendo for a long time, but wasn’t willing to pay for all the sets of pieces that it seems are required now that zendo is out of print.
In terms of generating rules, you might want to look at CopyCat and its algorithms for analogy solving. There is an excellent discussion of the strategies it uses in the author’s recent Complexity: A Guided Tour. You’ll certainly get lots of good ideas for rule generation by looking at the discussion in that book.
As an aside, given all the GEB love around here, it’s worth noting that CopyCat was originally developed by Douglas Hofstadter and a student of his, the latter being the author of the book linked.
Eliezer has mentioned CopyCat many times, so I figured that Mitchell and the relation to the FARGonauts was redundant information. On the topic of Mitchell and books, I also recommend An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms.
I don’t recall seeing CopyCat mentioned on OB. Has he mentioned it elsewhere, perhaps?
Not everyone here is familiar with Eliezer’s stuff outside OB/LW and an awareness that SIAI is his “day job”.
You’re right, I stand corrected. I could have sworn I remembered him mentioning CopyCat in OB before, but I can’t find any now, only in other essays like “General Intelligence and Seed AI” and “The Plan to Singularity”.
CopyCat does look interesting. I note that:
3D Zendo is basically a variant on Bongard problems, and if a program can extrapolate numbers, then it could also test them against the human oracle to see if it’s right.