XPost: alt.folklore.computers   
   From: bowman@montana.com   
      
   On Thu, 1 Jan 2026 10:30:54 -0000 (UTC), Waldek Hebisch wrote:   
      
   > But are 'expert systems' really AI?  Theoretically so called expert   
   > system shells could do smart things, but examples I saw were essentially   
   > a bunch of "if ... then ..." which could be written in almost any   
   > programming language.  One example of samewhat succesful 'expert system'   
   > is supposed to guide a user trough installing Unix.  Description   
   > suggests that is is not smarter than modern Debian installer.  And   
   > nobody thinks that Debian installer is AI.   
      
   I never thought so. Like you I've looked at Lisp and Prolog and came away   
   with the thought 'you *could* use that approach but why would you? It adds   
   nothing to C but obfuscation.'   
      
   I don't think they call it an expert system but Arch Linux has a very   
   detailed description of installing the system. There is also a sketchily   
   maintained script that automates much of the process although the 'I use   
   Arch btw' crowd considers that cheating.  Then there is EndeavourOS and a   
   couple of others that act like Debian, Ubuntu, or other installers and   
   install Arch, throwing in several useful tools.   
      
   Then there was 'fuzzy logic' that had its day although you don't hear much   
   about it lately. Perhaps it was overtaken by neural networks. During   
   training of a NN in successive iterations you calculate the loss function   
   until you reach a point where it's 'good enough'.  That technology is   
   interesting that while you can define and explain each mathematical   
   operation what's going on in the total sum is cloudy.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)