Definitions for "General Problem Solver"
Keywords:  simon, newell, herbert, allen, solved
(see also textbook glossary) A theory of problem solving, implemented as a computer simulation, by Newell and Simon.
a program that can produce solutions to all sorts of different problems about which it has no specific, designed-in knowledge
A procedure and program developed by Allen Newell, J.C. Shaw and Herbert Simon that attains an objective by using rules to generate many alternatives at any current state and pursuing the alternatives that appear to be the closest to the objective. It has failed on some classes of problems due to the lack of sufficient rules and an adequate measure of closeness.