How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence (Bradford Books) [Hardcover]

Josh Bongard (Author), Rolf Pfeifer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0262162393 | ISBN-13: 978-0262162395

How could the body influence our thinking when it seems obvious that the brain controls the body? In How the Body Shapes the Way We Think, Rolf Pfeifer and Josh Bongard demonstrate that thought is not independent of the body but is tightly constrained, and at the same time enabled, by it. They argue that the kinds of thoughts we are capable of have their foundation in our embodiment--in our morphology and the material properties of our bodies.This crucial notion of embodiment underlies fundamental changes in the field of artificial intelligence over the past two decades, and Pfeifer and Bongard use the basic methodology of artificial intelligence--"understanding by building"--to describe their insights. If we understand how to design and build intelligent systems, they reason, we will better understand intelligence in general. In accessible, nontechnical language, and using many examples, they introduce the basic concepts by building on recent developments in robotics, biology, neuroscience, and psychology to outline a possible theory of intelligence. They illustrate applications of such a theory in ubiquitous computing, business and management, and the psychology of human memory. Embodied intelligence, as described by Pfeifer and Bongard, has important implications for our understanding of both natural and artificial intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"After shedding a harsh new light on the Cartesian flaws at the heart of much of mainstream cognitive science, Wheeler carefully and persuasively builds a case for an alternative Heideggerian approach, grounding his arguments in current empirical work in AI. Superbly written with great clarity and energy (not to mention scholarship), this is a very important book for all serious students of cognitive science and its constituent disciplines -- from AI to philosophy of mind."--Phil Husbands, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Sussex

About the Author

Shanti Pillai is a PhD candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at TischSchool of the Arts/NYU.

Josh Bongard is Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (October 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262162393
• ISBN-13: 978-0262162395
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #682,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does Intelligence Require A Body?, June 22, 2008

By 

Robert Jones (Emporia, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence (Bradford Books) (Hardcover)

On page 18 Pfeifer and Bongard claim that "intelligence always requires a body." They may be right but I do not find sufficiently convincing arguments in their book (How the body shapes the way we think).
Perhaps the demand for real time operation and the simultaneous need to control computational complexity result in the need for highly parallel inputs and outputs. These many input and output devices, however they might be configured, would then constitute a "body." (They could be distributed across space in a way the human body can not be. This would constitute a superiority for AIs.)