Mind and Mechanism (Bradford Books) [Hardcover]

Drew V. McDermott (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bradford Books | Publication Date: October 1, 2001

In Mind and Mechanism, Drew McDermott takes a computational approach to the mind-body problem (how it is that a purely physical entity, the brain, can have experiences). He begins by demonstrating the falseness of dualist approaches, which separate the physical and mental realms. He then surveys what has been accomplished in artificial intelligence, clearly differentiating what we know how to build from what we can imagine building. McDermott then details a computational theory of consciousness--claiming that the mind can be modeled entirely in terms of computation--and deals with various possible objections. He also discusses cultural consequences of the theory, including its impact on religion and ethics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The problem of explaining the functional basis of feeling is undoubtedly the hardest (some think insoluble) problem of cognitive science. Whether they succeed or fail, it is undeniable that the contributors to this volume are facing this problem head-on."--Stevan Harnad, Research Chair of Canada, and Center for Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Quebec

"In this book, Drew McDermott, one of today's shrewdest thinkers on the role of computation in cognitive capacity, tackles the problem of meaning and consciousness."--Stevan Harnad, Research Chair of Canada, and Center for Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Quebec

About the Author

Drew V. McDermott is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Computer Science at Yale University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book; 1st edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026213392X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262133920
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #943,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant theory of how the mind works, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mind and Mechanism (Bradford Books) (Hardcover)

Drew McDermott's book draws on everything from Nietzche to the latest work in robotics to give us a startingly creative theory of how the purely mechanical brain gives rise to a conscious mind that has an experience of itself as a spiritual being. Once he states his prime insight, it seems so simple and straightforward that it's hard to remember what a revolutionary idea he is putting forward. His thoughts about God and the possibility of eternal life for the "soul" in a mechanical universe are provocative. His use of examples always works to make his complex ideas clearer. A very important book which takes a lot of fear out of the idea that human thought and feeling is a mechanical process.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING book, March 19, 2004

By 

Jonathan Norwood (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mind and Mechanism (Bradford Books) (Hardcover)

Mind and Mechanism is an excellent look at the mind-body problem from the viewpoint of a computer scientist. McDermott does a very good job not just explaining his hypotheses, but also showing how they compete with well know philosophical points of view as well. In Mind and Mechanism, McDermott makes the bold, yet not so far fetched, assumption that the brain is simply an enormous computational machine. Thus, all the things that people regard as stemming from their internal "mind" are simply by-products of a self-modeling of the world within our computational structure, the brain. McDermott does an amazing job supporting his thesis with thorough and exhaustive examples, without falling into the pit trap of overextending metaphors. McDermott even includes a section in his book titled "Objections and Replies". This section is brilliant in its placement and content in that it addresses many of my early concerns with his reasoning, allowing me to continue with the second half of the book without dwelling on my objections to the first half of the book. Though the book gets off to a fairly slow start and some material might be a bit too technical for people not familiar with formal computer models to immediately grasp, this is a great read for anyone interested in another point of view on the mind-body problem.

17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars next,please., February 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mind and Mechanism (Bradford Books) (Hardcover)

This is simply the least inspiring book on AI that I have seen. The title is a misnomer (there is very little about mechanism), most of the ideas are not new, and his main points are that minds are computational machines and that people will make intelligent machines at some point. To quote his second to last page, "Those who worry about long-term phenomena such as the sun using up all its fuel and the ability of the human race to genetically reengineer itself might want to know exactly what time scale I have in mind for the creation of truly intelligent robots. The answer is that I don't have one. I doubt that anything like intelligent robots will exist in my lifetime, but I'm not that young and my health isn't that good." Poor guy. Perhaps he wanted to spit out his ideas before dieing, but they are poorly organized, not very well developed, and add very little to an understanding of AI that couldn't be gained from Dennet (who I disagree with most of the time, but still think is brilliant and is much more provocative) or a text on AI. OK, some of his ideas on computation are interesting. Be very skeptical of a book that starts talking about God as though... well let me give another quote: "I find the world to be morally incomprehensible without being able to adopt God's view of it, and physically inexplicable unless there is something outside of it that explains why it exists... The only way to reconcile God's silence with his existence is to assume that he poured himself into the world when he created it..." He is writing this in his Consequences part of the book. This stance, which is maintained throughout the book, is one of incredible hubris (as though he can adopt God's view of the world, as though God exists, as though the Western religious stance is the correct stance on spirituality), and for those interested in learning about mind and mechanism, keep looking.