Skip to content
0:00 / 0:00

#cyc#douglaslenat#symbolicai

Douglas Lenat: Cyc and the Quest to Solve Common Sense Reasoning in AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #221

Lex Fridman

5M subscribers • 39 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 3 people: 3 on Hacker News.
  • Presented by Douglas Lenat, founder of Cyc

Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.

138K views5 years ago3 recommendations

AI and machine learningHistory and cultureClassic machine learningComputation and complexityHistory of computing

Douglas Lenat discusses Cyc, a decades-long project to encode common-sense knowledge and reasoning, and how symbolic AI can complement neural networks.

Douglas Lenat is the founder of Cyc, a 37 year project aiming to solve common-sense knowledge and reasoning in AI. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Squarespace: lexfridman.com/squarespace and use code LEX to get 10% off - BiOptimizers: magbreakthrough.com/lex to get 10% off - Stamps.com: stamps.com and use code LEX to get free postage & scale - LMNT: drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack - ExpressVPN: expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free EPISODE LINKS: Douglas's Twitter: twitter.com/cycorpai Cyc's Website: cyc.com PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4oKpn05ltzP8UXKe5R1DcL RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: - Introduction - What is Cyc? - How to form a knowledge base of the universe - How to train an AI knowledge base - Global consistency versus local consistency - Automated reasoning - Direct uses of AI and machine learning - The semantic web - Tools to help Cyc interpret data - The most beautiful idea about Cyc - Love and consciousness in AI - The greatness of Marvin Minsky - Is Cyc just a beautiful dream? - What is OpenCyc and how was it born? - The open source community and OpenCyc - The inference problem - Cyc's programming language - Ontological engineering - Do machines think? - Death and consciousness - What would you say to AI? - Advice to young people - Mortality SOCIAL: - Twitter: twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: facebook.com/lexfridman - Instagram: instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: medium.com/@lexfridman - Reddit: reddit.com/r/lexfridman - Support on Patreon: patreon.com/lexfridman

Why it's here

3 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended for its deep dive into symbolic AI, Cyc, and the quest for common-sense reasoning.

roeleson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Love seems like a high priority”

I thought that Douglas Lenat's remarks (at Lex Fridman's podcast) about this were really insightful1. 1 link to this video

mindcrimeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Doug Lenat has died”

If anybody wants to hear more about Doug's work and ideas, here is a (fairly long) interview with Doug by Lex Fridman, from last year. link to this video

HarHarVeryFunnyon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Remembering Doug Lenat (1950–2023) and His Quest to Capture the World with Logic”

There's an interesting (& long!) recent Lex Fridman interview with Doug Lenat here: link to this video Lenat thought CYC and neural nets could be complementary, with neural nets providing right brain/fast thinking capability, and CYC left brain/slow (analytic/reflective) thinking capability. It's odd to see Lenat discuss CYC the way he does - as if 40 years on everything was still going well despite it having dropped off the public radar twenty years ago.

CodeGlitchon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Deep Learning's Diminishing Returns”

I do wonder if we'll see the rise of symbolic AI to give deep learning a sense of common sense? I've been thinking a lot about this interview on Cyc: link to this video

HarHarVeryFunnyon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Remembering Doug Lenat (1950–2023) and His Quest to Capture the World with Logic”

I'll admit it was news to me that Cycorp is still around! There's an interesting thread here that provides some insight from former/current employees into what they are actually doing nowadays. link There's also a lengthy Lex Fridman interview with Doug Lenat, from just a year ago, here: link to this video It seems as if the "common sense expert system" foundation of CYC (the mostly unstated common knowledge behind all human communication) was basically completed, but what has failed to materialize is any higher level comprehensive knowledge base and reasoning system (i.e some form of AGI) based on top of this. It's not clear from the outside whether anyone working at Cycorp still really believes the…