The Age of Intelligent Machines [Hardcover]

Ray Kurzweil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 1990

What is artificial intelligence? At its essence, it is another way of answering a central question that has been debated by scientists, philosophers, and theologians for thousands of years: How does the human brain - three pounds of ordinary matter - give rise to thought? With this question in mind, inventor and visionary computer scientist Raymond Kurzweil probes the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from its earliest philosophical and mathematical roots through today's moving frontier, to tantalizing glimpses of 21st-century machines with superior intelligence and truly prodigious speed and memory. Lavishly illustrated and easily accessible to the nonspecialist, "The Age of Intelligent Machines provides the background needed for a full understanding of the enormous scientific potential represented by intelligent machines and of their equally profound philosophic, economic, and social implications. It examines the history of efforts to understand human intelligence and to emulate it by building devices that seem to act with human capabilities. Running alongside Kurzweil's historical and scientific narrative, are 23 articles examining contemporary issues in artificial intelligence by such luminaries as Daniel Dennett, Sherry Turkle, Douglas Hofstadter, Marvin Minsky, Seymour Papert, Edward Feigenbaum, Allen Newell, and George Gilder. Raymond Kurzweil is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Kurzweil Music Systems, and the Kurzweil Reading Machines division of Xerox. He was the principal developer of the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and other significant advances in artificial intelligencetechnology.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a work the Association of American Publishers named the Most Outstanding Computer Science Book of 1990, Kurzweil and 23 other contributors explore the history and potential of artificial intelligence. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Raymond Kurzweil is the principal developer of the world's first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind; the first electronic keyboard that accurately recreates the sounds of the grand piano and other orchestral instruments; and the first large-vocabulary voice-activated word processor. His latest book is The Age of Spiritual Machines (Viking/Penguin). --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 580 pages
• Publisher: MIT Press; First edition. edition (October 3, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262111217
• ISBN-13: 978-0262111218
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 7.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,420,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ray Kurzweil is a prize-winning author and scientist. He was named Inventor of the Year by MIT in 1988 and was awarded the Dickson Prize, Carnegie Mellon's top science prize, in 1994. He is the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and honors from two American presidents. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Begin your study of artificial intelligence here, December 19, 2005

By 

alien-technology (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Age of Intelligent Machines (Hardcover)

If this book doesn't have you sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of the next paragraph, then you probably have no interest whatsoever in logic, mathematics, physics, computer technology, and artificial intelligence.

For me, it was breathtaking. There were times when I had to take a rest after each paragraph just to fully assimilate the ramifications of what Kurzweil was describing.

Higher intellects may be able to absorb this subject matter with less amazement. However, I enjoyed the ride.

Ray Kurzweil takes the time to explain in explicit detail where we have been and where we might be going in the area of artificial intelligence.

He is not only an inventor and a researcher, but he is also a teacher. A teacher is not satisfied until the student understands the material.

Some may say that this book is dated, but any introductory college AI course will cover the topics described in this book from the 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's.

This book changed my life. I have continued my personal study of artificial intelligence after being inspired by this book.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible book, July 25, 2003

By 

Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Age of Intelligent Machines (Hardcover)

I read this book only recently, having read the author's two most recent books "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and his book "Kurzweil vs The Critics of Strong AI". Both are excellent books, and reflect the author's extreme optimism about the future of artificial intelligence. He is definitely one of the best apologists for AI, and documents well its living history. Reading this book after the recent ones gives an interesting comparison between what was real in AI then and what is real now. Indeed, the AI landscape has changed dramatically, and there were a few companies specializing in AI in business at the time of publication of this book, that are not around any longer. But for every company that has failed, there have been many more to take their place. Their character as companies has changed, due in part to the rise of the Internet. In fact, it is network engineering that has resulted in many of the applications of AI in the last 5 years, and those applications of course are not mentioned in this book, due to its date of publication.

The author begins the book with a discussion of what he calls "The Second Industrial Revolution", which, he claims, is now in progress, and is based on the rise of thinking machines. These machines will extend and leverage human mental abilities, he says, challenging the human uniqueness in this regard. He expresses caution over the idea of making our military defenses controlled by intelligent machines, at the same time expressing his confidence that machine intelligence will indeed be sophisticated enough for this to happen. This revolution is here he says, will be more radical than the first one, but cannot be stopped, and he encourages therefore the constructive use of its technology. Thus is the author's motivation to write this book: to give the reader an overview of what was possible in AI at the time, and encourage the benevolent use of it.

The author not only discusses the technology of AI, but also attempts to give the reader insight into just what AI is. This entails a discussion of philosophy, since philosophical debate dominated AI in its early years. Such debates are still common, but due to the frequent vituperation involved in them (which the author recognizes and mentions in the book), not much is to be gained from these. Time is better spent on actually trying to build thinking machines, and not engaging in conversations that lead nowhere. Since this book appeared, many philosophers have left their "arm chairs" and have joined in the practical research in artificial intelligence. This trend will no doubt continue in this century, thus giving rise to the "industrial philosopher".

A fairly detailed history of the field of artificial intelligence is given in the book, with several articles written by some of the more recognized individuals in the field. All of these are interesting reading, and shed light on the different attitudes and prejudices regarding AI. For readers who are new to AI, this will be welcomed, as well as the many discussions on the mathematical foundations of AI and its intersection with cognitive science.

The author refrains from including any mathematical notation or equations in the book, and this has its advantages and disadvantages. It allows a more general readership but sacrifices some of the clarity of thought that mathematics allows. The author does give a good discussion of pattern recognition though, especially edge detection. His discussion on this topic is interesting in that it brings up his demarcation between "logical" and "parallel" thinking. Logical thinking is referred to as "sequential" and "conscious", with a resulting limitation in computational ability. It is to be distinguished from parallel thinking which can process multiple levels of abstraction, and can occur without conscious direction. Pattern recognition is in his view an example of the latter, and he justifies this view in the book in some detail. More evidence for his view from laboratory experiments is needed however. Pattern recognition algorithms and technologies have exhibited considerable advance since this book was published.

There have been many advances in AI since the time of publication, due in large measure to the rise of the Internet. Most of these advances have been breathtaking, such as in computer chess, games with imperfect information, Bayesian networks, financial engineering, network intelligence, literary creativity, automatic theorem proving, to name just a few. The author discusses his projections for the future of AI in the book, and it is interesting to compare them with what really came about within the decade later. There is no doubt that more exciting developments are on the way, and the optimism expressed by the author in all of his writings is also characteristic of all who are responsible for these developments. The machines, getting more intelligent with every decade that passes in the 21st century, will bear the signature of these individuals: a tell-tale sign and proof of the genius of the human species.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book to understand AI, July 3, 2003

By 

Donald Hsu (NYC, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Age of Intelligent Machines (Paperback)

I have used this book for a course in Artificial Intelligence at the college level many times. The book was published in 1992, which is outdated in many areas. However, the historical development in AI is highly readable. Many predictions in the book turn out to be true. The new book by the same author is not good at all.

Ray has developed many applications in AI with his own company and enjoyed much success. He is a great role model for young entrepreneurs.