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.
