Arguing A.I.: The Battle for Twenty-first-Century ScienceFew scientific topics since the theory of biological evolution have inspired as much controversy as artificial intelligence has. Even now, fifty years after the term first made its appearance in academic journals, many philosophers and more than a few prominent scientists and software programmers dismiss the pursuit of thinking machines as the modern-day equivalent of medieval alchemists’ hunt for the philosopher’s stone-a pursuit based more on faith than on skeptical inquiry. In Arguing A.I., journalist Sam Williams charts both the history of artificial intelligence from its scientific and philosophical roots and the history of the A.I. debate. He examines how and why the tenor of the debate has changed over the last half-decade in particular, as scientists are struggling to take into account the latest breakthroughs in computer science, information technology, and human biology. For every voice predicting machines like 2001’s HAL within the next twenty to thirty years, others have emerged with more pessimistic forecasts. From artificial intelligence’s pioneers John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, to futurist authors Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, to software architects Bill Joy and Jaron Lanier, Arguing A.I. introduces readers to the people participating in the current debate, both proponents and critics of A.I. who are changing the way computers “think” and the way we think about computers. Ultimately, Arguing A.I. is as much a history of thought as it is a history of science. Williams notes that many of the questions plaguing modern scientists and software programmers are the same questions that have concerned scientists and philosophers since time immemorial: What are the fundamental limitations of science and scientific inquiry? What is the nature of intelligence? And, most important, what does it really mean to be human? |
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Page 16
... living processes can be boiled down to mathematically defined behavior . His paper for the symposium , entitled " The General and Logical Theory of Automata , ” took the Turing machine concept and applied it to the realm of biology ...
... living processes can be boiled down to mathematically defined behavior . His paper for the symposium , entitled " The General and Logical Theory of Automata , ” took the Turing machine concept and applied it to the realm of biology ...
Page 46
... living phenomena can be boiled down to mechani- cal or cybernetic processes ; that " subjective experience " -or indi- vidual consciousness - is only a mirage ; that the same Darwinistic forces driving biological evolution are driving ...
... living phenomena can be boiled down to mechani- cal or cybernetic processes ; that " subjective experience " -or indi- vidual consciousness - is only a mirage ; that the same Darwinistic forces driving biological evolution are driving ...
Page 56
... living with almost routine scientific breakthroughs , we have yet to come to terms with the fact that the most compelling 21st - century technologies - robotics , genetic engineering , and nanotechnology— pose a different threat than ...
... living with almost routine scientific breakthroughs , we have yet to come to terms with the fact that the most compelling 21st - century technologies - robotics , genetic engineering , and nanotechnology— pose a different threat than ...
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A.I. critics A.I. debate A.I. research community Age of Intelligent Age of Spiritual algorithms Allen Newell artificial intelligence artificial-intelligence authors become Bill Joy build century Chapter chess program community's computer chess computer program consciousness Daniel Dennett Darwin decade Deep Blue Dennett device Dreyfus dubbed ELIZA engineers essay evolution exponential fiction Future Doesn't Need Galatea 2.2 Gödel growing number HAL's Legacy heuristic Hilbert Hofstadter Hubert Dreyfus human intelligence ideas Intelligent Machines Internet Jaron Lanier John McCarthy Joy says Joy's Kurzweil says Logic Theorist machine intelligence Manifesto Marvin Minsky mathematician mathematics mechanical Mind Moore's Law Moravec movie Neumann notion offer paper perspective philosophers Polya predictions problems professor puter question Ramona Ray Kurzweil Robot says Lanier scientific scientists Searle self-replicating Simon software program Spiritual Machines Stork says term theorem theory tion today's trend Turing Turing's University users Weizenbaum Wired magazine York