Machinery of the Mind

Machinery of Mind is a full-scale, indispensable examination of the history, content, politics, and philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. In detail, consecutively but with a keen awareness of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Johnson traces the history of the burgeoning science from its earliest practitioners to corporation-funded engineers and experts: Roger Schank, Terry Winograd, Doug Lenat and others who are struggling to create machines that can actually think independently, going beyond man-made programs and "e;games."e; Johnson presents the counterarguments of some theorists that intelligence is less than soul and that the "e;new science"e; moves arrogantly into dangerous territory. Necessarily inconclusive, this fascinating study is clear, comprehensive, richly detailed, and endlessly provocative.