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Can a computer think? Copeland has posed a similar question in his "Can a
Machine Think." While I am not attempting to make the computer think, I do
wish to approach that ultimate goal. Thus, the purpose of this project is to
create a program that can parse English sentences and work with the parsed
structures to allow for information to be stored and retrieved through
natural language statements and queries, and to solve problems with
ambiguous grammar structures that are found constantly in English documents.
This will allow people who are otherwise computer illiterate to be able to
take advantage of computers as a means of quickly locating needed
information. The language processing software of today is yet insufficient
for such a task, as even modern programs make huge and obvious errors in
their translations. For example, SystranSoft's German->English function
includes the phrase "Load nevertheless simply your Pre Paid card in the
InterNet up" in the translation of the Aladin search engine home page. Also,
Word '97 cites an error in the sentence following this, because it fails to
identify the subject of the sentence, and instead sees "program correctly
broke." Thus, I wanted to create something that, within a scope allowing its
completion into a functioning program, correctly broke sentences down and do
a better job of understanding what's being said.
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