IDEAL

Iterative Dialectic Engine for Automated Learning

What is IDEAL?

IDEAL is a high-level description of how humans learn. This description is applicable to the design of learning algorithms for automated computing machines. As such, IDEAL is the vital 'missing link' in the great intellectual challenge of our age: the quest for artificial intelligence.

This is IDEAL:

The acronym 'IDEAL' stands for 'Iterative Dialectic Engine for Automated Learning', and for IDEAL's five components:

	Iteration component.
	Decision component.
	Evidence component.
	Algorithm component.
	Log component.

The functions of these components may be inferred from their shapes, following standard flowchart notation. The connectors in the IDEAL diagram show the transfer of information:

	Data connector.
	Control connector.

Data connectors transfer data in the direction of the arrow. Control connectors transfer commands in the direction of the arrow and also admit the transfer of return codes (i.e. flags indicating the commencement or completion of a process) in the opposite direction.

The Pragmatist: "Very interesting... but What does IDEAL do?"

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