Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence Reprint Edition

by Hans Moravec (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 11 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0674576186
ISBN-10: 0674576187
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$18.32 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$29.99 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
More Buying Choices
41 New from $14.92 37 Used from $0.01
78 used & new from $0.01
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Prime Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

$29.99 FREE Shipping. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence
  • +
  • Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind
  • +
  • The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Total price: $69.10
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
  1. Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind
    Hans Moravec
    3.6 out of 5 stars 33
    Paperback
    $24.95 Prime
  2. The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
    Ray Kurzweil
    4.0 out of 5 stars 230
    Paperback
    $14.16 Prime
  3. Amped (Vintage Contemporaries)
    Daniel H. Wilson
    3.6 out of 5 stars 205
    Paperback
    $15.39 Prime
  4. Remembering: A Novel (Port William)
    Wendell Berry
    4.5 out of 5 stars 24
    Paperback
    $9.25 Prime
  5. Human Enhancement
    Julian Savulescu
    4.0 out of 5 stars 5
    Paperback
    $34.64 Prime
  6. Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era
    James Barrat
    4.1 out of 5 stars 270
    Paperback
    $12.62 Prime

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Read more

About the Author

Read more
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
New York Times best sellers
Browse the New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Books and more. See more

Product Details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (January 2, 1990)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0674576187
  • ISBN-13: 978-0674576186
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsBuy it for the prologue alone!
By Bobb Collins on November 28, 1999
Format: Paperback
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.
Comment 34 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsThought-provoking, but un-even
By J. A. Griffin on December 22, 2007
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
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.
Comment 13 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsIntelligent robots inherit the earth (and the stars)
By Baraniecki Mark Stuart on January 10, 2010
Format: Paperback
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).Read more ›
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsFast, fun book by a knowledgable author
By A Customer on January 29, 1997
Format: Paperback
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)
Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsI couldn't believe how easy it was to read this book
By digtheisland on July 8, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I couldn't believe how easy it was to read this book; it reads like a novel. Marveec, writing in 1988 had an enviable vision, one that Isaac Asimov would have envied. I compare his easy prose to my alltime si-fi author, Octavia Butler, whose books I've read repeatedly for the same reason. Knowing that this book is our present reality makes it even more marvelous for me.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsVisionary
By Peter McCluskey on March 21, 2005
Format: Hardcover
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.
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence
Set up a giveaway

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: game ai