Society of Mind (Paperback)

~ (Author) "This book tries to explain how minds work..." (more)
Key Phrases: Artificial Intelligence, New York, Professor Challenger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For some artificial intelligence researchers, Minsky's book is too far removed from hard science to be useful. For others, the high-level approach of The Society of Mind makes it a gold mine of ideas waiting to be implemented. The author, one of the undisputed fathers of the discipline of AI, sets out to provide an abstract model of how the human mind really works. His thesis is that our minds consist of a huge aggregation of tiny mini-minds or agents that have evolved to perform highly specific tasks. Most of these agents lack the attributes we think of as intelligence and are severely limited in their ability to intercommunicate. Yet rational thought, feeling, and purposeful action result from the interaction of these basic components. Minsky's theory does not suggest a specific implementation for building intelligent machines. Still, this book may prove to be one of the most influential for the future of AI.

From Publishers Weekly

Minsky, cofounder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, is a charter member of the community of AI pioneers committed to understanding the workings of the human mind and mimicking its processes by computer. Here he takes his place as this generation's Buckminster Fullera revered seminal thinker whose depth and originality sometimes place him out of reach for many. But Minsky's difference is his style: he writes aphoristically, with wit and precision, and makes the most of his perception that the mind learns by images, which perform as agents that connect, interact and even "censor" in a staggeringly subtle "society" of microprocedures. This holistic view of the mind's learning stages is the culmination of Minsky's study, and its insights into the developing world of computers-as-machines are matched by paradoxically intuitive glimpses of the growth of a sense of "self" through introspection, short- and long-term memory, mind-frames utilizing pictures and language. Minsky's creative terminology for freshly perceived mental processes is a major contribution to the future of mind-science. Illustrated. Major ad/promo; Macmillan Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Pages Bent edition (March 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671657135
• ISBN-13: 978-0671657130
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,782 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly original...will make you "think out of the box"., July 4, 2001

By	Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this book the author attempts to explain the workings of the human mind as a collection of a large number of autonomous mindless connected agents. The approach is metaphorical/philosophical, and no empirical evidence is given for the ideas expounded. The "society of mind", composed as it is of a collection of simple objects, is purely reductionist in its strategy and philosophy. It is though a highly original and thought provoking introduction to the major questions involving mental states, concept formation in the brain, learning theory, and artificial intelligence. The author gives many interesting examples that entice the reader to "think out of the box".

The book itself is written as though each chapter were itself one of these agents. Typically a chapter poses a question or a particular phenomenon, and the author then addresses how the mind would implement of resolve this question or deal with this phenomenon. Some interesting chapters in the book include:

1. Self-Knowledge is Dangerous: The author argues that mental constraints are needed to prevent the individual from artificially creating emotional states that would prevent deliberate action on our part. An intelligent machine will then need to have such constraints in order to prevent it from repeating endlessly the same activity.

2. Learning from Failure: Minsky argues that confining oneself to positive learning experiences will not be as robust or effective as one that will involve some kind of discomfort or pain. Such discomfort will enable more radical changes in conceptual structure.

3. Power of Negative Thinking: The author argues that an optimistic problem-solving strategy is contingent on the ability to recognize several paths to the solution, with the best path then selected. When such knowledge is not available, a "pessimistic" strategy is more optimal. The solution in this case is one that at first glance seems the worst possible avenue of approach.

4. Emotion: The question is posed as to whether machines can be intelligent without any emotions. The author seems to be arguing, and plausibly I think, that emotions serve as a defense against competing interests when a goal is set. Emotional responses occur when the most important goal(s) are disrupted by other influences. Intelligent machines then will need to have the many complex checks and balances.

5. Must Machines be Logical: It is argued correctly that intelligent machines must employ reasoning tools other then ones that are strictly logical. Logic is strictly a side constraint, a test that prevents invalid conclusions. It cannot by itself lead to genuine knowledge.

6. Mathematics Made Hard: Minsky argues that the strategy behind the construction of mathematical systems, via strict definitions and categorization, results in systems that have very small "meaning" content. More robust systems must be developed and integrated into the educational process and into any design for intelligent machines.

7. Weighing Evidence: There is an interesting example of a collection of four index cards on two of which are connected line patterns, and on the other two disconnected line patterns. When the cards are cut into many pieces, and put into separate piles, then a machine with a feature weighing capability would be unable to distinguish between the piles.

8. The Mind and the World: The author's thinking on the mind-body problem is a very sensible one, namely that "minds are simply what brains do". It matters not, according to the author, what the substance of mind (brain) is, only what it (the agents) do.

A few omissions in the book include the discussion on intelligence: the author never really gives his outlook or "definition" of intelligence, but merely comments on a few other opinions on this concept. If one is to make "intelligent" machines, it is important that intelligence be characterized explicitly so that one will know when and if the goal of artificial intelligence has been reached. The author correctly argues however that expert systems can and have been successfully constructed, and that the most formidable obstacle to constructing an "intelligent" machine is in implementing the ability of humans to exercise "common sense".

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the all-time important books, June 16, 1998

By	Random Access "The World's Foremost Authority" (Fairview Park, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This book does more to explain the fundamental structure of the human mind than all the volumes of developmental psychology that I've read. In a step-by-step process, Minsky constructs a believable thesis for a way in which the human mind in all its complexity can be built up, layer by layer, from the interactions of "agents", functional subroutines. Some agents are hard-wired by evolution and some are learned. The learned ones stay in consciousness only while they are being built and then become the substrate for higher-level constructs. "The Society of Mind" had shaped the way I look at consciousness.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, February 28, 2005

By	Cindy Solomon "Stu's picks" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this book Minsky tries, as have many scientists before him, to explain what seems unexplainable. Even though in present day, many people believe in science over magic, the majority still believes that the brain is somehow magical and cannot be replicated. Minsky asks what stops us from building a brain out of steel instead of carbon? He breaks down the mind in a way that anyone can understand how it works.

I'm almost 14 and in the 8th grade. I picked up this book for a research project on Cognitive Psychology because it was the only thing I could find that wasn't written for graduate students. Not only could I understand it, but it kept my attention (unlike most non-fiction books) and I enjoyed reading it. I liked how Minsky could take the most complex thing in the world, the brain, and describe it in easy to understand terms. There were many pictures and diagrams used to represent the text. For example, to show the basics of how the mind works using many separate agents, Minsky used the example of a child building a tower out of blocks and how the agent in the child's mind, called "builder" and all of "builder's" agents beneath it created the tower out of blocks.

I recommend this book for anyone curious about what goes on in the mind to cause people's actions as well as anyone interested in artificial intelligence.