Perhaps something is to be learned

Perhaps something is to be learned by turning the question around. We have generally asked how problems can be provided with sufficient structure so that problem solvers like GPS can go to work on them. We may ask instead how problem solvers of familiar kinds can go to work even on problems that arc, in important respects, ill structured. Since the problem domains that have been most explored with mechanical techniques fail in several ways to satisfy the requirements for WSPs, perhaps we have exaggerated the essentiality of definite structure for the applicability and efficacy of these techniques. Perhaps the tricks that have worked in relatively well structured domains can be extended to other domains that lie far over toward the ISP end of the spectrum.To explore this possibility, we will again examine several examples. Each example will illustrate some specific facet (or several facets)of ill-structured hess. Analysis of these facets will provide us with a positive characterization of ISP% rescuing them from the status of a residual category. With this positive characterization in hami, we will be in a better position to set forth the capabilities a problem solving system must have in order to be able to attack problems that are initially ill structured i:~ one or more ways.