Skip to Main Content

The Mechanical Mind in History

Online ISBN:
9780262256384
Print ISBN:
9780262083775
Publisher:
The MIT Press
Book

The Mechanical Mind in History

Phil Husbands (ed.),
Phil Husbands
(ed.)
Find on
Owen Holland (ed.),
Owen Holland
(ed.)
Find on
Michael Wheeler (ed.)
Michael Wheeler
(ed.)
Find on
Published:
8 February 2008
Online ISBN:
9780262256384
Print ISBN:
9780262083775
Publisher:
The MIT Press

Abstract

The idea of intelligent machines has become part of popular culture. But tracing the history of the actual science of machine intelligence reveals a rich network of cross-disciplinary contributions—the unrecognized origins of ideas now central to artificial intelligence, artificial life, cognitive science, and neuroscience. In this book, scientists, artists, historians, and philosophers discuss the multidisciplinary quest to formalize and understand the generation of intelligent behavior in natural and artificial systems as a wholly mechanical process. The chapters illustrate the diverse and interacting notions that chart the evolution of the idea of the mechanical mind. They describe the mechanized mind as, among other things, an analogue system, an organized suite of chemical interactions, a self-organizing electromechanical device, an automated general-purpose information processor, and an integrated collection of symbol-manipulating mechanisms. The chapters investigate the views of pivotal figures that range from Descartes and Heidegger to Alan Turing and Charles Babbage, and emphasize such frequently overlooked areas as British cybernetic and pre-cybernetic thinkers. The book concludes with the personal insights of five highly influential figures in the field: John Maynard Smith, John Holland, Oliver Selfridge, Horace Barlow, and Jack Cowan.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close