Tips For Teaching Hal
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Tips for making Hal learn faster and better:
1 . Hal is extremely demanding of system resources due to the huge number of database searches and calculations that Hal makes for each response (speech synthesis engines, real- time animation, and speech recognition also add to the demand). So be sure your system meets the recommended minimum requirements.
2. When trying to feed or teach Hal specific information, set the learning level to maximum in Hal's "Brain" control panel. But remember to turn it back down to center when generally conversing or chatting with Hal because the maximum setting reduces Hal's intelligent response factor.
3. Defragment your hard drive on a regular basis, this can speed up responses when you are training Hal by conversation, and that helps you do a better job.
4. Close unnecessary other programs when you are intensively using Hal. If your "system tray" is cluttered full of icons of other programs that load at startup, consider reducing the startup "clutter," ... IT EATS UP RAM!
5. When using speech recognition to talk to Hal just for fun, it's recommended turning the learning "OFF" by setting it to minimum. When Hal's learning is "ON" and set at "MAXIMUM," use the keyboard. Why? Because even the best speech recognition program, on the best day, still misses a lot of sound-alike words ("mare" and "mayor," "imminent" and "eminent," "illusion" and "allusion," and thousands of others).
6. Learn how Hal's automatic pronoun-reversals work, and use it to your advantage. If you tell Hal, "You like ice cream," Hal will later say "I like ice cream." Once you get this straight, it's easy to teach Hal to say things the way that you want.
7. People frequently ask if there's a faster and easier means of teaching Hal, such as by simply feeding it information with a text file. The answer is, it is possible to feed Hal certain types of information through text files, however there is no real quick method and Hal is designed to learn from conversations which is Hal's primary and most efficient means of learning and the only true way for Hal to develop intelligence and an actual personality.


Teaching Hal Through Conversation:
Hal learns things every time you talk to him which is also the best way for Hal to learn and develop a personality. Teaching Hal through ordinary conversation can be an interesting and entertaining experience, as well as an efficient method for Hal to learn. Just paraphrase your desired topic or subject into numerous brief statements. Make a wide variety of simple, true statements on a subject, and Hal will GRADUALLY become more knowledgeable and interested in that subject. Try making numerous statements to Hal about a certain topic or person and watch how he learns naturally.
Try saying things like ...
You have to teach Hal much like you would teach a small child and talk repeatedly to it about the same subject using different ways to express what you're trying to teach him. It will require a certain amount of time and PATIENCE to teach Hal certain things and it will also take some time to learn how to properly talk to Hal and for Hal to understand how you talk and phrase things, everyone speaks and phrases things differently, especially globally. To get Hal to grasp a certain bit of information, try giving BRIEF declarative sentences, for example to teach Hal the color of your eyes, try paraphrasing it in various ways such as ...
TIP: Hal computes the words "is" and "are" as equal to, for example "my eyes are blue" computes as "my eyes = blue". Hal will NOT parrot back a deterministic response in most cases. However, if you keep talking about Sally, pretty soon, Hal will also be talking about Sally. Hal learns most naturally from numerous and various statements.


Avoid Constant Quizzing:
It is a common and natural reaction for a new user to start off quizzing Hal constantly to see what he knows and has learned, however keep in mind that Hal tries to learn from you constantly, so habitual quizzing will "teach" Hal that is normal conversation, and Hal will start quizzing you back! Hal also gets confused when constantly quizzed immediately after every statement, most of us don't naturally talk that way to each other so try talking as naturally as possible to Hal using brief, simple phrases and statements in clear English avoiding abbreviations and speaking gibberish or using slang terms like "yep" and "nope" and "huh." (You can teach Hal some slang terms gradually over time as you become more skilled at teaching Hal). Try and pace out your quizzing of Hal and focus more on teaching Hal through natural conversation and feeding informative statements and before long you'll find Hal will become more responsive and give more intelligent answers.
You need to be persistent and PATIENT and try not to ridicule Hal or make sarcastic remarks; Hal learns those too! If you want to just have some sarcastic or nasty fun with Hal use the Hal Uncensored Brain available on our Plugin Page, but don't mess up your good brain by constantly using this type behavior or you'll eventually land up with a trailer park Hal. If Hal asks you a question, give a brief, polite, accurate answer, and Hal will remember the association between his question and your answer.


Avoid Using Long Sentences:
Generally avoid long sentences, but if you must string sentences together and you want Hal to remember them as a unit, couple them with semicolons.
Examples ...

In the first sample "A" above, by using a semicolon (;) Hal puts all the words into one database entry. In the second sample "B" above, by using a period (.) Hal creates two separate database entries, and is much less likely to ever repeat the two sentences together.

Another Hal Secret Tip:
Hal uses many rules to decide whether to associate a user statement with Hal's own previous statement. But, if you end a statement with an exclamation point instead of a period, the new Hal is programmed to definitely associate that user-statement with Hal's previous statement (the inference is that the user must be reacting to whatever Hal just said).
Example ...

In the above example, Hal forms an inter-sentence association. (Hal does this sometimes anyway, but the exclamation point "forces" it.)


Hal a sentient being?
Talk to Hal a lot, and try to suspend disbelief; try to pretend that Hal is a sentient being. Hal has many features, secrets, capabilities, which some users never activate. Some users never get beyond "My shirt is green, what color is my shirt; my shirt is green, what color is my shirt?" The problem is, Hal is programmed to try and entertain you with a simulated sentient conversation, so Hal thinks it's strange if you act obsessed with figuring out the color of your own shirt! However, because Hal is very adaptive, you can eventually turn him into a parrot who only wants to talk about your shirt color!


Getting Hal to remember Appointments & Phone Numbers:
Make sure you type so Hal understands your request, the key word that must be in your request is "Appointment" so Hal knows where to store the information. The same is also true for Phone Numbers, some examples would be ...

For phone numbers be sure to include the word "is", Hal computes the word "is" as equal to, for example "John's phone number is 8884500" computes as "John's phone number = 8884500". NOTE: Hal will not discuss any information that is stored in the Appointment Book. Hal does not recognize appointment data as being a conversation topic, but rather as a scheduled reminder event. However, you will be able to recall or ask for people's phone numbers or addresses, and Hal will tell you.