Why AM and Eurisko Appear to Work (1983) [pdf]
Context: AM (Automated Mathematician) is a program that starts with a knowledge base of set theory and heuristics and builds its way up to natural numbers, Goldbach&#x27;s conjecture (depending on how you interpret the print-outs), etc. Eurisko takes AM one step further by having heuristics to guide the development of new heuristics.<p>I read this because I&#x27;m working on a history&#x2F;review of AM and Eurisko. It&#x27;s one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of AI: a good old fashioned symbolist AI program that has all these impressive success stories, and defines the SOTA. Source code was never published and it was never reproduced. Eliezer Yudkowsky said[0] of Eurisko that it &quot;may still be the most sophisticated self-improving AI ever built&quot;. Like something out of a Borges story!<p>Further reading for those interested:<p><pre><code>  AM: An artificial intelligence approach to discovery in mathematics as heuristic search.
    Douglas B. Lenat. 1976.
    https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stacks.stanford.edu&#x2F;file&#x2F;druid:sb448rj9905&#x2F;sb448rj9905.pdf

  The Nature of Heuristics I
    Douglas B. Lenat. 1982.
    http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.funcall.org&#x2F;docs&#x2F;am-eurisko&#x2F;Heuristics_I.pdf

  The Nature of Heuristics II
    Douglas B. Lenat. 1983.
    http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.funcall.org&#x2F;docs&#x2F;am-eurisko&#x2F;Heuristics_II.pdf

  The Nature of Heuristics III
    Douglas B. Lenat. 1983.
    http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.funcall.org&#x2F;docs&#x2F;am-eurisko&#x2F;Eurisko_Heuristics_III.pdf

  On the thresholds of knowledge.
    Douglas B. Lenat, Edward A. Feigenbaum. 1991.
    http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.funcall.org&#x2F;docs&#x2F;am-eurisko&#x2F;On_the_thresholds_of_knowledge.pdf

  AM: A Case Study in AI Methodology
    G.D. Ritchie, F.K. Hanna. 1984.
    https:&#x2F;&#x2F;citeseerx.ist.psu.edu&#x2F;viewdoc&#x2F;download?doi=10.1.1.89.4342&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf
</code></pre>
AM has been reimplemented[1] in Prolog.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lesswrong.com&#x2F;posts&#x2F;rJLviHqJMTy8WQkow&#x2F;recursion-magic" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lesswrong.com&#x2F;posts&#x2F;rJLviHqJMTy8WQkow&#x2F;recursion-...</a><p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;akkartik&#x2F;am-utexas&#x2F;tree&#x2F;master" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;akkartik&#x2F;am-utexas&#x2F;tree&#x2F;master</a>