Society Of MindMarvin Minsky -- one of the fathers of computer science and cofounder of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT -- gives a revolutionary answer to the age-old question: "How does the mind work?" Minsky brilliantly portrays the mind as a "society" of tiny components that are themselves mindless. Mirroring his theory, Minsky boldly casts The Society of Mind as an intellectual puzzle whose pieces are assembled along the way. Each chapter -- on a self-contained page -- corresponds to a piece in the puzzle. As the pages turn, a unified theory of the mind emerges, like a mosaic. Ingenious, amusing, and easy to read, The Society of Mind is an adventure in imagination. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - mrgan - LibraryThingA book like no other. 270 one-page essays carefully outlining Minsky's theory of the mind. These range in topic and complexity from casual anecdotes and folk reasoning to dense, neologism-laden ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - j-b-colson - LibraryThingFor anyone interested in the nature of his or her mind and how it functions this is a basic book. Although decades have passed and much work has been done in the higher reaches of the theory and ... Read full review
Contents
PROLOGUE | 17 |
WHOLES AND PARTS | 24 |
CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE | 32 |
THE SELF | 38 |
INDIVIDUALITY | 47 |
PROBLEMS AND GOALS | 70 |
A THEORY OF MEMORY | 81 |
PAPERTS PRINCIPLE | 98 |
DEVELOPMENT | 173 |
REASONING | 185 |
WORDS AND IDEAS | 195 |
CONTEXT AND AMBIGUITY | 206 |
EXPRESSION | 225 |
COMPARISONS | 237 |
FRAMES | 243 |
FRAMEARRAYS | 253 |
THE SHAPE OF SPACE | 108 |
LEARNING MEANING | 118 |
SEEING AND BELIEVING | 132 |
REFORMULATION | 140 |
CONSCIOUSNESS AND MEMORY | 150 |
EMOTION | 162 |
LANGUAGEFRAMES | 260 |
CENSORS AND JOKES | 273 |
THE MIND AND THE WORLD | 282 |
THE REALMS OF THOUGHT | 291 |
MENTAL MODELS | 300 |
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Common terms and phrases
accumulate active actually adults agencies agents Allen Newell animals apple aroused Artificial Intelligence attached B-brain become Block-Arch blocks brain build Builder cause cells censors child common complex complicated concept connections depends descriptions effect example experience explain exploit feel frame frame-arrays functions genes goals happens hard higher-level human ideas imagine inside interact involved isonomes Jack K-line keep kinds kite language language-agency lead level-band machine machinery Marvin Minsky Mary mean memories mental micronemes mind move nemes never object Oliver Selfridge once ourselves Papert's principle Perceptron person physical polynemes principle problem processes Professor Challenger pronome psychology realms reason recognize represent Roger Schank scheme script seems sense sentence Seymour Papert shape short-term memories signals similar simply skills societies of mind solve sort structures theories things thought tower Trans-frame types understand uniframe usually Warren McCulloch words