Mind As Machine

The development of cognitive science is one of the most remarkable and fascinating intellectual achievements of the modern era. The quest to understand the mind is as old as recorded human thought; but the progress of modern science has offered new methods and techniques which have revolutionized this enquiry. Oxford University Press now presents a masterful history of cognitive science, told by one of its most eminent practitioners. Cognitive science is the project of understanding the mind by modeling its workings. Psychology is its heart, but it draws together various adjoining fields of research, including artificial intelligence; neuroscientific study of the brain; philosophical investigation of mind, language, logic, and understanding; computational work on logic and reasoning; linguistic research on grammar, semantics, and communication; and anthropological explorations of human similarities and differences. Each discipline, in its own way, asks what the mind is, what it does, how it works, how it developed - how it is even possible. The key distinguishing characteristic of cognitive science, Boden suggests, compared with older ways of thinking about the mind, is the notion of understanding the mind as a kind of machine. She traces the origins of cognitive science back to Descartes's revolutionary ideas, and follows the story through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the pioneers of psychology and computing appear. Then she guides the reader through the complex interlinked paths along which the study of the mind developed in the twentieth century. Cognitive science, in Boden's broad conception, covers a wide range of aspects of mind: not just 'cognition' in the sense of knowledge or reasoning, but emotion, personality, social communication, and even action. In each area of investigation, Boden introduces the key ideas and the people who developed them. No one else could tell this story as Boden can: she has been an active participant in cognitive science since the 1960s, and has known many of the key figures personally. Her narrative is written in a lively, swift-moving style, enriched by the personal touch of someone who knows the story at first hand. Her history looks forward as well as back: it is her conviction that cognitive science today--and tomorrow--cannot be properly understood without a historical perspective. Mind as Machine will be a rich resource for anyone working on the mind, in any academic discipline, who wants to know how our understanding of our mental activities and capacities has developed.

Cut through information overload to make better decisions faster Success relies on making the correct decisions at the appropriate time, which is only possible if the decision maker has the necessary insights in a suitable format. Mind+Machine is the guide to getting the right insights in the right format at the right time to the right person. Designed to show decision makers how to get the most out of every level of data analytics, this book explores the extraordinary potential to be found in a model where human ingenuity and skill are supported with cutting-edge tools, including automations. The marriage of the perceptive power of the human brain with the benefits of automation is essential because mind or machine alone cannot handle the complexities of modern analytics. Only when the two come together with structure and purpose to solve a problem are goals achieved. With various stakeholders in data analytics having their own take on what is important, it can be challenging for a business leader to create such a structure. This book provides a blueprint for decision makers, helping them ask the right questions, understand the answers, and ensure an approach to analytics that properly supports organizational growth. Discover how to: Harness the power of insightful minds and the speed of analytics technology Understand the demands and claims of various analytics stakeholders Focus on the right data and automate the right processes · Navigate decisions with confidence in a fast-paced world The Mind+Machine model streamlines analytics workflows and refines the never-ending flood of incoming data into useful insights. Thus, Mind+Machine equips you to take on the big decisions and win.

Human intuition and perception are basic and essential phenomena of consciousness. As such, they will never be replicated by computers. This is the challenging notion of Hubert Dreyfus, Ph. D., archcritic of the artificial intelligence establishment. It's important to emphasize that he doesn't believe that AI is fundamentally impossible, only that the current research program is fatally flawed. Instead, he argues that to get a device (or devices) with human-like intelligence would require them to have a human-like being in the world, which would require them to have bodies more or less like ours, and social acculturation (i.e. a society) more or less like ours. This helps to explain the practical problems in implementing artificial intelligence algorithms.

Walmsley offers a succinct introduction to major philosophical issues in artificial intelligence for advanced students of philosophy of mind, cognitive science and psychology. Whilst covering essential topics, it also provides the student with the chance to engage with cutting edge debates.

A fascinating exploration of the theories and arguments surrounding the notions of thought and representation. Now in its 2nd edition, Cranes's classic text has introduced thousands to some of the most important ideas in philosophy of mind.

Mind as Mosaic: The Robot in the Machine is a beguiling introduction to how the mind is created by the brain. With clarity, humor and poetry, Mind as Mosaic mixes history, biology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and psychology in fresh, cutting-edge and insightful reading.People who drill holes in their heads, cannibals, electrical stimulation of brains, people who are blind but don't know it, and other absorbing and intriguing wonders are presented and explained in an uncompromisingly honest style that is compelling and accessible.Packed with startling and riveting examples and clear explanations of how the mind is robotically formed by brain processes, Mind as Mosaic is science wrapped in humanity, facts laced with wit, philosophy in a white laboratory coat. The subject is not only fun, it is profound.

This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. The present volume offers a broad and imaginative approach to the study of the mind, which emphasizes several themes, namely: the importance of functional organization apart from the specific material by means of which it may be implemented; the use of modeling to simulate these functional processes and subject them to certain kinds of tests; the use of mentalistic language to describe and predict the behavior of artifacts; and the subsumption of processes of adaptation, learning, and intelligence by means of explanatory principles. The author has produced a rich and complex, lucid and readable discussion that clarifies and illuminates many of the most difficult problems arising within this difficult domain.