Commonsense Reasoning, Commonsense Knowledge, and The SP Theory of Intelligence

This paper describes how the "SP Theory of Intelligence" with the "SP Computer Model", outlined in an Appendix, may throw light on aspects of commonsense reasoning (CSR) and commonsense knowledge (CSK), as discussed in another paper by Ernest Davis and Gary Marcus (DM). In four main sections, the paper describes: 1) The main problems to be solved; 2) Other research on CSR and CSK; 3) Why the SP system may prove useful with CSR and CSK 4) How examples described by DM may be modelled in the SP system. With regard to successes in the automation of CSR described by DM, the SP system's strengths in simplification and integration may promote seamless integration across these areas, and seamless integration of those area with other aspects of intelligence. In considering challenges in the automation of CSR described by DM, the paper describes in detail, with examples of SP-multiple-alignments. how the SP system may model processes of interpretation and reasoning arising from the horse's head scene in "The Godfather" film. A solution is presented to the 'long tail' problem described by DM. The SP system has some potentially useful things to say about several of DM's objectives for research in CSR and CSK.