The Frame Problem
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Identified by John McCarthy and Patrick Hayes in the context of logical artificial intelligence. To reason about an action, a system must represent its effects while leaving everything else unchanged, but a logical description does not by itself distinguish what is unaffected. Enumerating all the facts that remain the same is combinatorially explosive, so the problem is how to represent relevance rather than how to compute faster.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Declare the effects: state exactly which facts an action changes rather than assuming everything updates - Assume inertia: treat unaffected facts as unchanged by default and revise only what the action touches - Scope the context: limit reasoning to the facts relevant to the current task instead of the whole world
Anchor fast decisions
A logical description of an action states its effects but says nothing about the rest of the world, so a reasoner must either enumerate every unchanged fact or risk drawing wrong conclusions. Enumerating is intractable because the number of unaffected facts is unbounded. Rules that assume inertia solve the problem by defaulting to no change, at the cost of needing a principled way to specify exceptions.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_problemverified
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