Enter the intelligent computer

A Japanese electronics firm claims to have made a big advance' in the world race to develop a fifth-generation computer.

Fifth-generation computers will be able to think, and the com­pany has developed the first artificial intelligence in a computer with practical applications.

The company says its computer is capable of designing.its own super-large-scale integrated circuits. Such circuits could be de­signed in the past with the help of a minicomputer, but no computer had been able to do the work on its own.²

The new artificial intelligence, for which a new computer lan­guage has been developed, can also be employed in many areas of computer-aided design.

Computers with intelligence

To counter Japan which flooded the market with articles of high technology,³ the Commission of European Communities . (CEC) — executive body⁴ of the European Economic Community— made a decision of great importance. It decided upon developing a super-computer of its own. A team of designers were instructed to work out a program for a computer with human intelligence. The computer was supposed to be able to learn sciences, see and recognize objects and generate its own statements. The new design was intended to counterbalance Japanese attempts at creat­ing computers possessing the functions-of the human brain. The Japanese project is calculated for a 10-year period.

About 23 million dollars were to be allocated on the making of a new West-European computer. The chief application for the new high technology would be found in robotics.

A COMPUTER AS THE SURGEON'S ASSISTANT

Bloodless operations on the brain can be performed with the 'aid of an ideal diagnostic facility—computer tomograph. This was demonstrated at the Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Computer tomography has been employed in our country since the early 1970s. It 'allows locating the foci⁵ of brain, heart

' claims to have made a big advance— заявляет, что достигла больших успехов ² по computer had been able to do the work on its own — ни один компьютер

ранее не был в состоянии выполнить эту работу самостоятельно ^я articles of high technology—электронная техника

⁴ executive body — исполнительный орган

⁵ locating the foci—устанавливать местонахождение центров

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and lung diseases with a high degree of accuracy. At the institute's laboratory headed by F. Todua, M. D., the tomograph is also used in determining the optimum access point' for surgical instruments to the affected organ.

"Aesculapius"2 diagnoses the case

A computer complex "Aesculapius" which is able to decode electric cardiograms and draw appropriate conclusions has started functioning at one of Leningrad's hospitals.

The medical nurse puts electrodes on the patient. She feeds into the computer data of the patient's sex, age, arterial pressure and medicines he takes. Then the system is actuated and this statement goes upon the display screen: "Error. Repeat Input."

It appears that the nurse has failed to connect one electrode on purpose,⁴ to show how "Aescuiapius" fixes the least human errors.

An electric cardiogram is made. The patient hasn't yet had enough time to put on his clothes when the monitor's screen shows a statement which is immediately typed out by the printer. The system includes a portable device for taking electric car­diograms directly at one's place of work.⁵

According to the program "Health" all persons who are over forty ought to go in for a medical check-up⁶ of the heart. Con­sequently, "Aesculapius" is a good help during mass disease-prevention check-ups⁷ that are now introduced at all enterprises. 500 electric cardiograms—a month's working load of a doctor⁸— are decoded by the computer within 12 hours- As regards⁹ the accuracy of diagnosis, in 90 cases out of 100 the computer satisfactorily investigates the actual condition of the heart. If the computer states that the patient's heart is in a bad way¹⁰ the doctors recheck this diagnosis by all means."

' access point — точка введения

¹² "Aesculapius" —“Эскулап”

^:i feeds into the computer data of — вводит в ЭВМ данные по

⁴ on purpose—намеренно, нарочно

⁵ at one's ptace of work — на работе

⁶ to go in for a medical check-up— проходить медицинский осмотр

⁷ mass disease-prevention check-ups — массовые профилактические медосмотры ⁶ a month's working load of a doctor—месячная нагрузка врача

⁹ as regards — что касается

¹⁰ the patient's heart is in a bad way—сердце больного в плохом состоянии " by alt means—обязательно

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The system was developed by the workers of the specialized design bureau "Biophyzpribor¹¹ Jointly with the cardiologists of the Kirov Military Medical Academy.