KEY PUBLICATIONS IN THE sp programme of research

Most publications in the SP programme of research are detailed, with download links, on http://www.cognitionresearch.org/sp.htm. Key publications are listed here with brief notes, and with up to three ★★★ marking the more important ones:

1. ★★★ Unifying Computing and Cognition: the SP Theory and Its Applications. This book, published in 2006, provides the most comprehensive account of the SP System and its potential AI-related applications, where 'SP System' means the SP Theory of Intelligence and its realisation in the SP Computer Model. The book is a foundation for later publications.

   A key idea in the SP Theory is the powerful concept of SP-multiple-alignment, borrowed and adapted from the concept of 'multiple sequence alignment' in bioinformatics. The SP-multiple-alignment construct has proved to be very versatile. For that reason, I believe the SP System, including SP-multiple-alignment, provides a promising foundation for the development of human-like general AI or 'artificial general intelligence'.

2. ★★ "The SP Theory of Intelligence: an overview" (PDF, Information, 4 (3), 283-341, 2013, bit.ly/1NOMJ6l). In effect, this is a shortened version of the book. It provides a reasonably comprehensive view of the SP System but without many less important details.
3. ★★★ "Problems in AI research and how the SP System may help to solve them" (PDF, tinyurl.com/y29yn48p). This paper describes the clear potential of the SP System to solve 20 problems in AI research, most of them described by leading researchers in AI, in interviews with science writer Martin Ford, reported by him in his book Architects of Intelligence.
4. ★★ "Information compression as a unifying principle in human learning, perception, and cognition" (Complexity, vol. 2019, Article ID 1879746, 38 pages, 2019, DOI: doi.org/10.1155/2019/1879746 (PDF: bit.ly/2GdIqnY). This provides empirical foundations for the SP Theory as a theory of human learning, perception, and cognition.
5. ★★ "Information compression, multiple alignment, and the representation and processing of knowledge in the brain" (PDF, Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1584, 2016, bit.ly/2esmYyt). This paper describes SP-Neural, a version of the SP Theory expressed in terms of neurons and their inter-connections and inter-communications.
6. ★ "The SP Theory of Intelligence: distinctive features and advantages" (PDF, IEEE Access, 4, 216-246, 2016, bit.ly/2qgq5QF). The title of this paper is self-explanatory.
7. ★★★ "Mathematics as information compression via the matching and unification of patterns, "Complexity, vol. 2019, Article ID 6427493, 25 pages, 2019, DOI: doi.org/10.1155/2019/6427493 (PDF, bit.ly/2LqUHIr). This describes how principles of information compression developed in the SP Theory may be seen to provide a foundation for mathematics.
8. ★ "How a New Mathematics may with advantage be applied in science" (PDF, tinyurl.com/y9bf99lm, draft). This article describes with examples from the SP Computer Model how some aspects of quantum mechanics may be interpreted in terms of the SP Theory of Intelligence. Feedback from physicists will be particularly welcome.
   

Potential benefits and applications of the SP System:

1. ★ "The SP Theory of Intelligence: benefits and applications" (PDF, Information, 5 (1), 1-27, 2014, bit.ly/1FRYwew). This describes several of the potential benefits and applications of the SP System.
2. ★★ "Big data and the SP Theory of Intelligence" (PDF, IEEE Access, 2, 301-315, 2014, bit.ly/2qfSR3G).
3. ★★★ "Autonomous robots and the SP Theory of Intelligence" (PDF, IEEE Access, 2, 1629-1651, 2014, bit.ly/18DxU5K).
4. ★★ "Application of the SP Theory of Intelligence to the understanding of natural vision and the development of computer vision" (PDF, SpringerPlus, 3, 552, 2014, bit.ly/2oIpZB6).
5. "Towards an intelligent database system founded on the SP theory of computing and cognition" (PDF, Data & Knowledge Engineering, 60, 596-624, 2007, bit.ly/1CUldR6).
6. ★ "Medical diagnosis as pattern recognition in a framework of information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search" (PDF, Decision Support Systems, 42, 608-625, 2006, bit.ly/1F366o7).