MainLoop of iForth mind.frt supercomputer AI
Forthminder
AI in Win32Forth have the luxury of a top-down,
Main Loop mind-design because they are based on
an original Theory of Mind providing the
definitive cognitive architecture which
bottom-up designs lack.
Purpose of MainLoop
The Main Loop serves as both the start of the Mind
program and as the controlling module which oversees
the operation of the major subordinate mind-modules,
such as
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/SeCurity
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/SensoryInput
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/EmotiOn
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/ThInk
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/FreeWill
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/MotorOutput
The Main Loop sequences and coordinates the operation
of the constituent modules of the artificial Mind.
By calling a lower mind-module in such a way as to
make its output ready as the input for the next module,
the Main Loop simulates the operation of a massively
parallel ( maspar) neuronal mind in which inputs and
outputs flow like rivers of data across broad channels
of the cortical mindgrid.
The Quickening of the non-stop MainLoop and its
associated mental mechanisms is a milestone on
the way to the generation of thought and other
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/MileStones
of AI development. Since we are currently working
on the milestone of self-referential thought, we
anticipate the genesis of Linux supercomputers (see
http://cyborg.blogspot.com/2009/11/linux.html q.v.)
that can accumulate so much self-knowledge as to
achieve self-awareness and consciousness.
Algorithm of MainLoop
MainLoop uses the same potentially infinite BEGIN ...
AGAIN loop in the Win32Forth AI and in 32/64-bit iForth,
as documented on page 41 of the iForth Reference Manual.
The expression "infinite loop" means more with an AI Mind
program than with an ordinary program, because the AI Mind
is a form of potentially immortal artificial life, subject
to death or termination only by misadventure.
If an AI Mind were written in a more dynamic language
than Forth, that is, with an ability to change the
underlying source code on the fly and at no risk to
the living AI Mind, then its MainLoop could be more
truly immortal, if not exactly infinite.
When a version of an AI Mind is first being coded,
it is important to provide one or two "Escape"
mechanisms for stopping the otherwise infinite MainLoop.
One way, as used in mind.frt being ported into iForth
from Win32Forth, is to stub in a SensoryInput module
that uses the Escape key to halt the program. Another
way is to increment time "t" and not let the Main Loop
continue above an arbitrarily low value of time "t".
Troubleshooting MainLoop
Although the MainLoop of a mentifex-class AI Mind
is rather simple, it may at some point be necessary
to troubleshoot it. The AI coder has a choice of
embedding diagnostic tools within the MainLoop,
or of briefly inserting and then removing
special code to diagnose a problem.
Resources
Google Code MindForth wiki-page on the Main Loop
http://code.google.com/p/mindforth/wiki/MainLoop
Wikipedia article about a Main Loop in computer programming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_loop
Archival page of the artificial life (alife) module
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/alife.html
Archival page of the artificial life (alife) module
http://mind.sourceforge.net/alife.html
To-Do Tasks and Opportunities
The Main Loop is the most stable of the AI mind-modules
over time, because of its simplicity and because new
powers of thought and reasoning are added added not
at the top, but in the subordinate modules, of a
top-down AI Mind design. Some tasks remain.
AI enthusiasts have an opportunity to take the
Forth AI MainLoop, re-express it in another programming
language, and hang it out on the Web as a starting-point
for devotees of each different language to tweak and twin
into another full-blown AI Mind evolving away from MindForth,
like the http://AIMind-i.com clone that added major new
powers such as as the ability to send and receive e-mail
and to surf the Web.
Abolish the MainLoop! When our 32/64-bit AI for supercomputers
becomes massively parallel, there will not be a MainLoop but
rather a main SynErgy of mind-modules working together in
massively parallel processing (MPP).