Artificial Minds (Bradford Books) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An encyclopedic but nonetheless compellingly readable overview of the history of Artificial Intelligence. It doesn't require a computer background in artificial intelligence, but it doesn't insult your natural intelligence either. There may be better books on the subject, but I found this to be just the right mixture of history, theory, cognitive psychology, evolutionary epistemology, and computer science. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Franklin's tour of contemporary thought on human, animal, and artificial minds introduces creative theories, models, and prototypes of artificial intelligence. After citing the scoffers' arguments regarding the improbability of fashioning artificial minds, Franklin examines some systems that do, in fact, exhibit aspects of intelligence. Next is a debate on the potential usefulness of symbolic AI computer models of cognition versus the connectionism brain model of intelligence. Examples of both models are presented; for instance, SOAR, a symbolic AI program, is claimed to be an architecture for general intelligence. Franklin also explores the multiplicity views of mind, including the pandemonium model, behavior networks, subsumption architecture, and autonomous agents, and he introduces Animat, an artificial life model of simple animals. The final debate is an airing of the views of those workers who dispute the importance of internal representation. Franklin is an entertaining writer and is uncommonly adept at elucidating scientific concepts. Brenda Grazis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 463 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262561093
• ISBN-13: 978-0262561099
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,108,292 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Survey of Mechanisms for Minds, December 1, 1998

By	Ray Harris ([e-mail]) (Rome, New York) - See all my reviews

As a former student of Dr. Franklin, I am probably somewhat biased. I feel, however, that I can still provide an objective overview of this well written book.

The goal of Dr. Franklin's book is to put forth his concept of a general mechanism of mind. As an early proponent of autonomous agents, his writing leans heavily in this direction. His new paradigm of mind, described in the final chapter, can be seen to view the mind as a multitude of disparate mechanisms operating on sensations to create information and re-creating prior information with the primary purpose of selecting the next action, within its limits, for an agent to take.

In building toward his new paradigm, Dr. Franklin makes stops on an admittedly biased tour to briefly explain other concepts for mechanisms of mind. Patti Maes, Marvin Minsky, Rodney Brooks, Douglas Hofstadter, and Robert Ornstein are just a few of the pioneers in this field whose works are touched on. The bibliography serves as a must-read list for anyone interested in expanding their horizons on this new frontier.

Along the way, Dr. Franklin also sheds light on three debates central to Artificial Intelligence. They are 1) Can machines truly have minds, 2) Which approach, symbolism or connectionism, will yield a workable mechanism of mind, and 3) What role should representations play in intelligence? While presenting both sides of each argument, it is fairly clear which camp Dr. Franklin is in.

While written for the lay reader, Dr. Franklin's highly accessible writing should provide much food for thought for those practicing in AI as well. I highly recommend this book.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderfully fascinating and thought provoking book!, April 5, 2000

By	Adam Ward (Derbyshire, England) - See all my reviews

I was originally searching for a book to fuel my thirst for Visual Basic computer-programming, thinking that this book would give clues to how an artificial mind could be implemented by someone like me. And on that basis I should have given this book 3 stars, but I have realised that the sphere of AI is monumentally vast!

When I first began to read, I thought it was quite hard going, but I became accustomed to the author's formal but chatty narrative. I found the chapter about Animal Intelligence riveting and truly eye-opening.

If you have even a passing interest in either psychology or ambitious computer programming, then you cannot live without this book. To everyone else: you cannot live without this book!

In a word: Inspirational

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best survey, February 8, 2000

By	A. Linhares (BRAZIL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the best survey of AI I've seen. However, I think that it really should have more information on very innovative projects such as copycat. Towards this, I can only recommend Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies, Melanie Mitchell's Analogy-making as perception, and Robert French's Subtlety of Sameness.