Computerized 'Expert Systems'

All popular software (word processors, databases, spreadsheets, etc.) contains, retrieves, sorts and handles enormous amounts of information.

An Expert System, however, is a type of program that is designed to reproduce the reasoning of an Expert in a given field.

There are two basic parts in an Expert System - a database of information, combined with the specific principles needed for decision making.

A Homeopathic Expert System

With the Vithoulkas Expert System, the database is Synthesis, the unique computerized repertory used in RADAR software. In fact, additions have been made to all the chapters of Synthesis by many expert authors, including George Vithoulkas.

In order to develop the rules for making decisions, a team of computer scientists and homeopaths needed to translate the principles given by Mr. Vithoulkas into mathematical formulas. They had to establish his exact pattern of decision-making, zeroing in on thousands of rules and sub-rules, so the program would obtain relevant remedy suggestions in every case.

Even the Expert is Amazed

In February 1987, George started to define his ideas with a team that included several homeopathic physicians working in concert with Expert System computer analysts.

For two years they wrote down all the principles and impressions that went through George's mind during a homeopathic consultation - and then coded them into rules and sub-rules. Then George and the team refined these rules to the highest levels of precision.

The resulting software often seems to have a 'mind of its own'. Even George does not understand exactly why a given result is produced in each specific case - except for knowing that the principles used by the Expert System are defined correctly and that they interact harmoniously to produce coherent suggestions.

Checkmate to the Simillimum

To better understand how the Expert System works, we can compare it to a chess program.

For every board set up and possible move, an Expert System chess program runs through all its calculations - which have been derived from the basic rules of chess plus the expert's 'rules' - and then it proposes the best solution.

Every player knows the basic principles of the chess. But when a computer plays a game, it never gets tired and it never forgets to consider every possibility and principle before it makes a move.

In the VES, all the principles that George uses are always taken into consideration. Every time a new symptom is added, the computer begins a completely new analysis - calculating over and over again without fatigue, and always with 100% precision.

Even Better Than Human Experts

Despite all that computer technology had achieved, many authorities thought that Expert System chess programs would never reach a high enough level to match the top levels of human play.

Those doubts were put to rest forever in 1997, when IBM's chess program "Deep Blue" won a 6-game match against the reigning world champion, Garry Kasparov.

And now George Vithoulkas' brilliance can help every homeopath to checkmate illness with the precision of a Grand Master.