From ancient logic to the birth of AI

Johan Van Benthem (University of Amsterdam, Stanford University)

Abstract: We briefly sketch the history of logic as the origin of computing machines and later on the program of AI. Then we look at two specific case studies: the birth of logics for program correctness, and the rise of non-monotonic logics for commonsense inference. We conclude with a brief historical roadmap of contacts between Logic and AI, which have changed considerably over time.