Very cool stuff.  I like the idea that both the programming environment and chips
aren't necessarily reliant on a given OS.  Gives me some ideas =)

Jerome Garcia wrote:

>      Hi Warner,
>
>      You might also want to check out
>      http://www.starbridgesystems.com/home/index.htm for related info about
>      their reconfigurable computer systems.
>
>      In their SBS TECHNOLOGY BREAKTHROUGHS page in their TECHNOLOGY section they
>      mutter about advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and techniques
>      such as recursion, cellular autonoma, heuristics and genetic algorithms and
>      the system evolving itself. It all sounds very impressive but to me
>      somewhat incomprehensible. Need more data.
>
>      I don't know whether it is all hype but I intend to learn more.
>
>      Jerome
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
> Subject: AI, intelligent agents and nonesuch
> Author:  Warner Onstine <warner at eblox.com> at INTERNET
> Date:    7/2/99 5:37 PM
>
> Hi all,
> I heard about this from a friend of mine, whom is also on the mailing
> list (Lawson English), and he mentioned that there was some discussion
> going on about creating AI or intelligent OS using Squeak.  This
> intrigued quite a bit, as this is a long-term project that I have been
> thinking about undertaking over the next (who knows how many years).
> Here were my thoughts on the subject:
>
> 1. There is a project called Tierra which created an a-life organism
> that actually modifies its own source - the creator started with an
> 80-byte program which then modified itself down to 21 bytes.  The
> closest a human (one who was quite adept at assembler I might add) could
> get was 30-bytes.  That is a tremendous improvement.
> 2. By using intelligent agents as the base OS we then begin to see the
> benefits of it actually learning and improving itself for any given
> user.  Of course some things would need to be constant so that others
> could use it in an impersonal mode, but you get the idea.
> 3. If we integrate the idea of a self-improving OS we could over time
> actually see an OS that actually evolves and learns not only from the
> User but also from the Net and other Users that it is connected to.
>
> I desperately would like to get in contact with anyone who has touched
> on these ideas or others that might be related.  My initial thought was
> to get a cheap PowerPC and drop Linux-PPC on it and go from there seeing
> what could be done.
>
> Rant complete.
>
> -warner onstine
>