Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

Thinking Machines 73Long-Term Memory Short-Term Memory GoalDuddie is-maleEdgar sibling-of AbelEdgar is-maleFanny sibling-of AbelFanny is-femaleGordie sibling-of BellaGordie is-maleThere must also be a device—some other demon, or extra machineryinside this demon—that minds its Ps and Qs. That is, it replaces the Plabel with a list of the actual labels for names: Me, Abel, Gordie, and soon. I'm hiding these details to keep things simple.The new Goal inscriptions prod other dormant demons into action.One of them (conceptually speaking) looks up the system's parents, by(mechanically speaking) copying all the inscriptions containing thenames of the parents into Short-Term Memory (unless the inscriptionsare already there, of course; this proviso prevents the demon from mindlesslymaking copy after copy like the Sorcerer's Apprentice):IF: Goal = Find P's ParentsLong-Term Memory = X parent-of PShort-Term Memory * X parent-of PTHEN: COPY TO Short-Term MemoryX parent-of PERASE GOALOur bulletin board now looks like this:Long-Term Memory Short-Term Memory GoalAbel parent-of Me Abel parent-of Me Gordie uncle-of Me?Abel is-male Bella parent-of Me Find Parents' SiblingsBella parent-of MeDistinguish Uncles/AuntsBella is-femaleClaudia sibling-of MeClaudia is-femaleDuddie sibling-of Me