SOCIETY OF MIND

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Summary: The closest theory about the mind
Review: I think this book is the closest and encomassing theory about the workings of the mind, as compared to other theories like neural network, expert systems in the field of AI. The book is full of ideas with an underlying general theory about the mind. This book makes me feel that the brain is like a huge organisation with differnt areas being specialised and communicating to each other, and resolving differences, while meeting its objectives.

I wish there was a sequel book explaining an implmentation model of Society of Mind.

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Summary: We are all greatly indebted
Review: I was interested in AI for many years, and read hundreds of papers or books on the subject. After I found this book, I thought I wasted much time.

The book is about methodology of finding things out, and building things up.

Many researchers wrote books about AI or other sciences, and describe the philosophy in a different context. However, they are just the same thing presented in new fashions. And unfortunately, seldom give him the credit. An extreme example is the now best selling ANKOS by Wolfram, which is just an application of Minsky's theory with some variations, on some different problems!!

Scientific theories in the deepest sense are all based on the same philosophy -- building up complicated things from simple things. And the mathematician Minsky was the first to put all that simple-complicated theory all together in a concise small book, in a philosophic way, and for science people.

The philosophy can be applied to many fields, not only AI. It's also a philosophy of problem solving and modeling. Or, even how to study philosophy!

The book is quoted more often in philosophy papers than AI.

I recommend this book for all people who love knowledge.

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Summary: Minsky is a bold thinker
Review: I work in virtual human technology and Minsky has long been an inspiration. I can't just sit down and read this stuff through, I have to think about it in chunks. Society of Mind suggests some operational views of the mind that can be helpful in designing thinking machines. I don't always agree with him and sometimes he's not the easiest guy to read, but overall this book is a must read for any one interested in how the mind may work and how to emulate it with Natural Language/artificial Intelligence engines.

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Summary: A Challenge from Minsky to Think Different
Review: In the Society of Mind, Marvin Minsky advocates that the human mind is composed of a number of various networked agencies (or societies). He discusses a number of different areas (psychology, linguistics, reasoning, child development, computer science, humor, etc.) in the context of this mind-agency theme.

Minsky also assigns names to a number of other entities in our brains that he discusses. He calls these b-brains, k-lines, polynemes, pronomes, isonomes, trans-frames, uniframes, etc. They are all unified via this agency-thread. In any case, much of the work in the book is not originally Minsky's. However, the book serves as a collage of essays (all written by Minsky) which express Minsky's unique perspective on the mind and the work of others in these areas, namely Seymour Papert and Jean Piaget.

I recommend the Society of Mind to anyone interested in psychology or the human-computer interaction (HCI) and artificial intelligence (AI) sub-disciplines of Computer Science, or in looking at life in an esoteric way. In addition, a potential reader needs to be able to tolerate a book which is long and talks about a number of different areas, but by the end has really not made any concrete conclusions. In this book, Minsky states (describes) some obvious things (phenomenon) in complicated / drawn out manners. However, he does provide interesting perspectives on certain things. Minsky challenges us to think about common things in unique ways.

Marvin Minsky was the 1969 ACM A.M. Turing Award winner.

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Summary: Highly original...will make you "think out of the box".
Review: In this book the author attempts to explain the workings of the human mind as a collection of a large number of autonomous mindless connected agents. The approach is metaphorical/philosophical, and no empirical evidence is given for the ideas expounded. The "society of mind", composed as it is of a collection of simple objects, is purely reductionist in its strategy and philosophy. It is though a highly original and thought provoking introduction to the major questions involving mental states, concept formation in the brain, learning theory, and artificial intelligence. The author gives many interesting examples that entice the reader to "think out of the box".

The book itself is written as though each chapter were itself one of these agents. Typically a chapter poses a question or a particular phenomenon, and the author then addresses how the mind would implement of resolve this question or deal with this phenomenon. Some interesting chapters in the book include:

1. Self-Knowledge is Dangerous: The author argues that mental constraints are needed to prevent the individual from artificially creating emotional states that would prevent deliberate action on our part. An intelligent machine will then need to have such constraints in order to prevent it from repeating endlessly the same activity.

2. Learning from Failure: Minsky argues that confining oneself to positive learning experiences will not be as robust or effective as one that will involve some kind of discomfort or pain. Such discomfort will enable more radical changes in conceptual structure.

3. Power of Negative Thinking: The author argues that an optimistic problem-solving strategy is contingent on the ability to recognize several paths to the solution, with the best path then selected. When such knowledge is not available, a "pessimistic" strategy is more optimal. The solution in this case is one that at first glance seems the worst possible avenue of approach.

4. Emotion: The question is posed as to whether machines can be intelligent without any emotions. The author seems to be arguing, and plausibly I think, that emotions serve as a defense against competing interests when a goal is set. Emotional responses occur when the most important goal(s) are disrupted by other influences. Intelligent machines then will need to have the many complex checks and balances.

5. Must Machines be Logical: It is argued correctly that intelligent machines must employ reasoning tools other then ones that are strictly logical. Logic is strictly a side constraint, a test that prevents invalid conclusions. It cannot by itself lead to genuine knowledge.

6. Mathematics Made Hard: Minsky argues that the strategy behind the construction of mathematical systems, via strict definitions and categorization, results in systems that have very small "meaning" content. More robust systems must be developed and integrated into the educational process and into any design for intelligent machines.

7. Weighing Evidence: There is an interesting example of a collection of four index cards on two of which are connected line patterns, and on the other two disconnected line patterns. When the cards are cut into many pieces, and put into separate piles, then a machine with a feature weighing capability would be unable to distinguish between the piles.

8. The Mind and the World: The author's thinking on the mind-body problem is a very sensible one, namely that "minds are simply what brains do". It matters not, according to the author, what the substance of mind (brain) is, only what it (the agents) do.

A few omissions in the book include the discussion on intelligence: the author never really gives his outlook or "definition" of intelligence, but merely comments on a few other opinions on this concept. If one is to make "intelligent" machines, it is important that intelligence be characterized explicitly so that one will know when and if the goal of artificial intelligence has been reached. The author correctly argues however that expert systems can and have been successfully constructed, and that the most formidable obstacle to constructing an "intelligent" machine is in implementing the ability of humans to exercise "common sense".

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Summary: a modern "The Origin of Species"
Review: like Darwin's epiphany- Minsky's genius has revealed an idea that once understood- it is almost unquestionable- and makes you shout "Of course! how could I have not seen it!"

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Summary: Reasonable instead of AI
Review: Marvin Minsky are great scientist, but he and the crowd are mistaken.
Intelligence can't be artificial. Only system could.
My definition for reasonable system is
"System is reasonable if it could define it's own behavior by own representation of the World accessible to it."

Cognition is an illusion. No entity could be named "Conscious". That term could serve only as tag on the systems satisfying given above definition. My E-mail: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Reasonable instead of AI
Review: Marvin Minsky are great scientist, but he and the crowd are mistaken.
Intelligence can't be artificial. Only system could.
My definition for reasonable system is
"System is reasonable if it could define it's own behavior by own representation of the World accessible to it."

Cognition is an illusion. No entity could be named "Conscious". That term could serve only as tag on the systems satisfying given above definition. My E-mail: [e-mail]

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Summary: How computers think
Review: Minsky can't claim he knows how the mind works. However, he can claim he knows how to make mind-like things; as one of the persons turning dirt into a thinking machine on your desk, that's his job.

What makes that unique is that Minsky can afford to be speculative. Studying the relationship between cognitive science and computer science has been proven fruitful, and while it's still a big jump to say that brains act like computers, that jump is narrowing. In all events, I prefer the lessons from people who are really making artificial minds to a bunch of nuts and cokeheads trying to unravel things from the top down.

An interesting book!

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Summary: Good book to stimulate thought
Review: Minsky's book isn't terribly profound or monumental. Most of his claims are purely his own philosophies, without much scientific backing. However, the book is interesting in a couple ways. It's very rare to see a scientist come out and say, "This is how brains work", but Minsky's book attempts to do just that. It's also interesting how amazingly structured the text is - each chapter occupies exactly one page. The book isn't going to change your way of thinking, but it's a good introduction to some of the questions and issues of cognitive science.