4 ms·

The frame problem is unrelated to frame systems. A frame in the Minsky sense is more like a persistent object.

• AndrewOMartin 8y ago
  The Dennett paper I've linked refers directly to the Minsky paper of the article, it quotes it at some length. The content is certainly critical of the notion of a persistent object which helps bucket knowledge. From Minsky's paper "Here is the essence of the theory: When one encounters a new situation (or makes a substantial change in one's view of the present problem) one selects from memory a structure called a Frame. This is a remembered framework to be adapted to fit reality by changing details as necessary.", Dennett basically says you've replaced the problem of "Which things am I likely to encounter in this situation" with "Which frame best represents the situation I've just arrived at".
  • DonaldFisk 8y ago
    The original 1969 paper by McCarthy and Hayes defining frame is here: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/mcchay69.pdf http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/mcchay69.pdf In this sense, a frame describes the state of a system in time, like (metaphorically) a film frame. Dennett also uses frames in this sense. (But see https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frame-problem/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frame-problem/ which incidentally doesn't cite Minsky.) Minsky's 1974 paper doesn't cite McCarthy and Hayes, and he seems to be using frame in a different and more general sense, as a structure for holding data. Whether he had the frame problem in the back of his mind I don't know, but he doesn't address it directly in his paper and I can't find any evidence it was his intention. In any case, frames in the Minsky sense have been used successfully in other systems, such as AM and Eurisko, as well as EMYCIN, and also in the Semantic Web.