THE EMOTION MACHINE Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind By Marvin Minsky Simon & Schuster. 387 pp. $26 Writers about the human mind generally fall into three camps: philosophers, psychologists and others who weave elaborate theories about the mind without any reference to the brain; neuroscientists who attempt to link mind matters with brain states; and, finally, members of the computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) communities who suggest that it's possible to replicate human thinking in a machine. Marvin Minsky, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an early pioneer in developing artificial intelligence, is an eminent denizen of the third camp. ... -
Mind Over Matter
THE EMOTION MACHINE Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind By Marvin Minsky Simon & Schuster. 387 pp. $26 Writers about the human mind generally fall into three camps: philosophers, psychologists and others who weave elaborate theories about the mind without any reference to the brain; neuroscientists who attempt to link mind matters with brain states; and, finally, members of the computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) communities who suggest that it's possible to replicate human thinking in a machine. Marvin Minsky, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an early pioneer in developing artificial intelligence, is an eminent denizen of the third camp. ...-
Reviewed by Richard Restak