Items related to How to Build a Mind (Maps of the Mind)
Synopsis
Igor Aleksander heads a major British team that has applied engineering principles to the understanding of the human brain and has built several pioneering machines, culminating in MAGNUS, which he calls a machine with imagination. When he asks it (in words) to produce an image of a banana that is blue with red spots, the image appears on the screen in seconds.
Interweaving anecdotes from his own life and research with imagined dialogues between historical figures - including Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein, Francis Crick, and Steven Pinker - Aleksander leads readers toward an understanding of consciousness. He shows not only how the latest work with artificial neural systems suggests that an artificial form of consciousness is possible but also that its design would clarify many of the puzzles surrounding the murky concepts of consciousness itself. How to Build a Mind also examines the presentation of "self" in robots, the learning of language, and the nature of emotion, will, instinct, and feelings.
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About the Author
Igor Aleksander is professor of neural systems engineering and head of Intelligent and Interactive Systems at the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine in London.
Reviews
One of the earliest proponents of neural engineering to build artificially intelligent systems, Aleksander (Imperial Coll. of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London) has more than 30 years of artifical intelligence research under his belt. Though he covers a substantial amount of engineering as it applies to building machines with imagination, this work is actually more of a philosophical argument for why he has arrived at his current position. His discussion of why he thinks that a "conscious machine" is feasible is spelled out in a number of imaginary debates and dialogs between himself and various philosophers ranging from Aristotle to Wittgenstein. He also brings in Francis Crick and several arguments from prominent biological researchers. This far-ranging book should interest readers at varying levels, from engineers and computer scientists to science fiction and psychology buffs. Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
With all the advancements in artificial intelligence and neural networks, is it possible that a machine can be built that has an imagination? Aleksander, a professor of neural engineering systems in London, provides an accessible look at how science is grappling with the challenge of getting computers to function like the human brain. He uses engineering, psychology, and neurobiology to address the question of a computer's capacity to imagine. Aleksander interweaves his personal experiences applying engineering principles to brain activity and imagined dialogues between great philosophers, including Descartes, Locke, and Hume. On the philosophical side, Aleksander explores the illusive dimensions of human consciousness. On the technology side, he examines how advancements in artificial neural systems have begun to approximate that consciousness. This would be heavy reading without Aleksander's obvious appreciation of the tensions between science and philosophy and, ultimately, the irrelevance of that tension to a field where no solid answers can be given. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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