Universal knowledge for our dumb friend: the problem of lack of background knowledge

Most software has encapsulated knowledge based on the laws of mathematics or Boolean logic. As such the algorithms are-or should be-complete, even if some of the parameters are uncertain. In certain types of computing, inference computing, the software may not embrace a complete enough description to permit a complete or even correct answer. The rules in a knowledge based system may be quite adequate to enable an inference to be made; this is typically only true in a narrow domain of knowledge. Unfortunately for most real world problems it is difficult to put bounds round the knowledge that may be required to provide an adequate answer. The author discusses the problem of knowledge encapsulation