Inferences, affects, and intentions in a model of paranoia

The analysis of natural language input into its underlying semantic content is but one of the tasks necessary for a system (human or non-human) to use natural language. Responding to natural language input requires performing a number of tasks: 1) deriving facts about the input and the situation in which it was spoken; 2) attending to the system''s needs, desires, and interests; 3) choosing intentions to fulfill these interests; 4) deriving and executing actions from these intentions. We describe a series of processes in a model of paranoia which performs these tasks. We also describe the modifications made by the paranoid processes to the normal processes. A computer program has been constructed to testst this theory.