Customer Reviews

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence

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I picked up this book, expecting to learn a little bit about where we're headed with our computers, and the consequences therein. I learned all that--but I got even more than I bargained for. I have to say, the prologue in and of itself blew me away. I had never quite thought of humans as the first step in a bigger evolution. I read this book six months ago, and I haven't been able to get the implications of it out of my head since. If you're looking for the big answers--like "Why are we here?" and "What's the point?"--you may be like me and find more in here than in more traditional spiritual texts.

In this nearly twenty year old book, the author contends that advancing technology and the force of economic competition will lead inevitably (and in a span of mere decades) to a world in which machine intelligence vastly exceeds human intelligence. In chapters 3 through 6 the author gives a fascinating look at some of the possible features of that transhuman, post-biological world. Those chapters are as interesting and thought-provoking as any that have appeared in more contemporary treatments. Where the book does show it age, however, is in the first three chapters. There the author reviews the history of computer technology, and then succumbs to the shop-worn refrain of many classical AI researchers - "If only we had a computer that is 100 (or 1000 or 10000) times as powerful as today's machine, then we could program a human-equivalent intelligence". He even predicts on page 23 that "a general-purpose robot usable in the home" will be available within ten years. Well, today we have the computer power he was hoping for and still no general-purpose robot. Bottom line: if you want a fascinating look at what a world with superintelligent machines might be like, then buy this book and start reading at chapter 4. If you are interested in how we might actually achieve such a world then consider buying a copy of "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins.

This book is very pleasant and easy to read. Yes, the subject is in itself fascinating, but Moravec does manage to make that clear. Whether one is interested in artificial intelligence, bioengineering, or just looking for some thoughts on fun-filled research, this book is a sound place to start. In fact, this book is a great bait for caching curious high school and undergraduate students! I know. I've attracted at least a couple to my research just by letting them borrow my own copy! (Francisco Sepulveda, Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering Dept. FEEC-UNICAMP, Brazil)

This book does a great job of exploring the future of robots, artificial intelligence, the human mind, and human identity. A few parts of it seem dated, but most of what the book describes seems likely to happen this century and to surprise the large fraction of the population which still hasn't given any thought to the possibilities this book describes.

Hans Moravec is director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory of Carnegie Mellon University and has spent his time from his days as a graduate student investigating artificial intelligence. Specifically he was attracted by the debate about the possibility of replacing the human nervous system with a more durable artificial equivalent. His essays turned into articles and his articles eventually turned into this book.

Of course the idea is not accepted by many people but Moravec doesn't go into the moral question. In his view the new world will be one in which "the human race has been swept away by the tide of cultural change, usurped by its own artificial progeny". In other words given the rate of improvement in artificial intelligence, robots in the not too distant future will be able outperform human beings and so they won't need them anymore.

At first the idea seems bizarre but so would the technology of the late 20th century looking from the vantage point of the 19th. Moravec collects all the evidence throughout the book. He presents very clearly data on the increases in computing power running from electro-mechanical machines, vacuum tubes, transistors to integrated circuits and shows how a top down approach (system design) and bottom up approach (learning evolving systems) are gradually chipping away at "humans only" areas.

Interestingly computers in medicine can already offer reliable diagnosis and they can play chess at grand-master level. They are everywhere in process control and are taking the first steps in learning by being given likes and dislikes and the capacity for boredom (the gradual fade of learnt and recorded tasks in favour of new ones).

Moravec builds up a convincing picture and along the way the reader gets to look at the 1972 ARPAnet breakdown caused by a spontaneous error (mutation) in a piece of data that went on to infect the whole network. Or alternatively the direction that the evolution of duplicating speciating data objects might take. He expects digital wildlife to reproduce sexually as this is the optimum way to provide the variety needed to fill the niches in their new world.

He plays a robotic version of Axelrod's prisoners dilemma and concludes that the "tit for tat" result applies (i.e. robots would find it in their interests to cooperate between themselves-but not necessarily with us).

Essentially the book follows Dawkins idea of human evolution having switched from genes to memes (stored knowledge evolution or evolution in the library) and takes it to its logical conclusion when knowledge abandons its human hosts.

This is a very surprising book worth looking out for.

A good, yet dated, forecast of where we are going in developing machine intelligence
by one of the foremost researchers. It is an amusing look back, but it is also
interesting to see how well he predicted the curve versus where we are on it.

Moravec writes a good book but I think his ideas are a tad to far out there. He doesn't take into account the possiblility of people not wanting to have their minds transfered to machines. He appears to assume that it is inevitable. I personally agree with his goals but I suspect that the majority of the population would be strongly opposed.

This is a hard Hitting Strong AI book. It's the the land mark book the drew the line in the sand. If you wont to know what the strong AI position is this is the only book you have to read.

You wont feel special after reading this book... So much for being on the top of the evolutionary ladder