What Computers Still Can't Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason Revised ed. Edition

by Hubert L. Dreyfus (Author)

15 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0262540674

ISBN-10: 0262540673

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When it was first published in 1972, Hubert Dreyfus's manifesto on the inherent inability of disembodied machines to mimic higher mental functions caused an uproar in the artificial intelligence community. The world has changed since then. Today it is clear that "good old-fashioned AI," based on the idea of using symbolic representations to produce general intelligence, is in decline (although several believers still pursue its pot of gold), and the focus of the Al community has shifted to more complex models of the mind. It has also become more common for AI researchers to seek out and study philosophy. For this edition of his now classic book, Dreyfus has added a lengthy new introduction outlining these changes and assessing the paradigms of connectionism and neural networks that have transformed the field.

At a time when researchers were proposing grand plans for general problem solvers and automatic translation machines, Dreyfus predicted that they would fail because their conception of mental functioning was naive, and he suggested that they would do well to acquaint themselves with modern philosophical approaches to human beings. What Computers Can't Do was widely attacked but quietly studied. Dreyfus's arguments are still provocative and focus our attention once again on what it is that makes human beings unique.

What Computers Still Can't Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hubert L. Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley.

Series: MIT Press
Paperback: 429 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; Revised ed. edition (October 30, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262540673
ISBN-13: 978-0262540674
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 15 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #147 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence
- #426 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > AI & Machine Learning > Intelligence & Semantics

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Chris Moore

(Post) Modern Philosophy versus the Computer

July 21, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The dream of artificial intelligence is still alive and well despite its repeated failures. Why?

Dreyfus traces the program from its early successes in the middle of the last century to the abandonment of all the major players at the end. In doing so he provides an excellent explanation into the philosophical misconceptions that led (and still lead) many to overestimate the prospects of this program. He draws on Heidegger and Wittgenstein to correct a flawed picture of what it is to "know" that is still prevalent in Western thought.

This book and Dreyfus' life work are very notable accomplishments and demonstrate the powerful of insightful humanistic enquiry in our increasingly scientific and technical age.

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Albarelli

Prosopagnosia

July 27, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Dreyfus brings philosophy to the rescue of humanity, namely, and ironically, Martin Heidegger. Though Heidegger was mostly indebted to his teacher and mentor Edmund Husserl, Dreyfus treats him as some sort of savior of mankind. No need, for William James’ Principles of Psychology, which predates Being and Time by almost forty years, could have done just as well in proving why computers can’t think. James’ work on consciousness and attention greatly influenced Husserl and the birth of phenomenology. Had Dreyfus deferred his argument to James instead of the Nazi Heidegger, he might have gotten more respect from the AI researchers. James’ criticism of the “automaton theory” of the mind is much more convincing than Heidegger’s dull notions about hammers.

In drawing attention to his muse Heidegger, Dreyfus is very critical of the philosophical tradition, which relied primarily on reason. Yet reason, which Dreyfus does not define, is the central focus of his argument for being human. His method is primarily his ability to doubt that computers can think, i.e., I can’t think, therefore, I can’t be human. Is this the tradition in disguise or what?

Of course, his argument goes much deeper than just thinking, which computers do best in the form of calculating, etc. It has to do with their inability to function in the world like humans, which is more of a problem for robots than computers per se.

Humans are prone to make mistakes, especially when confronted with new environments or handling complex systems like spacecraft. Engineers must design systems in ways to question the appropriateness of human behavior. Is it safe to do such a thing at this time? Of critical importance in the whole study of AI is not whether computers can do what humans do, but whether computers can support, correct, and enhance what humans do.

Fifty years from now when science moves information processing from the digital to the molecular level, new forms of knowledge will emerge, which will be a call to philosophers to reinvent the tradition and reawaken interest in Plato, Descartes, and Kant. Then some philosophy professor will write a book titled Why Computers Can Think And Man Still Can’t and end the debate.

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History proved Dreyfus right

February 28, 2006

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Mr. Shallit, in a previous review, sounds exactly like a throwback to the previous era when glorified computer technicians started to take themselves seriously and bestowed upon themselves the bogus title of "computer scientists". When Dreyfus critique of strong AI came out they were enraged that someone was trying to punch the air (and as it turned out it was full of hot air) out of their over inflated clown balloon. After decades of sheer nonsense, and of confusing metaphor with the real thing (their preposterous proposition of the "complexity critical mass" for intelligence is akin to thinking that a sufficiently complex computer simulation of an atomic explosion will actually explode: I guess we should all be really worried...) strong AI proponents just gave up. Now they are much quiet and many have given Dreyfus some concessions after being proven completely wrong (old habits die slowly). No serious GCT (Glorified Computer Technician) of today would profess faith in strong AI.

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Brian D. Labatte

A critique on the Age of the Machine - 2 Fronts

March 10, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

On the 1st front, the book argues that machines can't replace people. On the second front, I highly recommend to anyone interested in Big Data. Take the points given by Dreyfus as a methodology to interpret and understand how a machine thinks.

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Five Stars

Great book.

Published 10 months ago by TPH

Dreyfus doesn’t believe that AI programs can have couscous like human’s, and we haven’t solved these problems to ...

The book I read is called What Computers Still Can’t do, and the author of this books is called Hubert Dreyfus who has been a critic of artificial intelligence since the 1960s.Read more

Published 1 year ago by Jiaqi Qiao

An important critique

I first read Dreyfus' critique of AI back in the 1970s, when I was an undergrad studying computer science.Read more

Published on June 15, 2012 by Michael J. Edelman

Artificial Intelligences Exist Today

Scientists have formulated at least 100 definitions of what intelligence is. (for a partial listing see [...Read more

Published on February 9, 2009 by Robert Jones

Convincing Critique

Berkeley Professor Hubert Dreyfus assesses the predictions and subsequent failures of artificial intelligence from its inception in the 1960's with innovators like Turing to the...Read more

Published on January 13, 2009 by Steiner

excellent example of accountability over expectation

I would love to see a working "HAL", and still hope we progress in the development in AI. However, the discovery of a General Problem Solver has always been elusive, and never...Read more

Published on September 21, 2007 by mamgeorge

What AI researchers can't do on computers - yet

Dreyfus' book is about the history of failure of Artificial Intelligence researchers such as Marvin Minsky to embody intelligence at the human level.Read more

Published on September 23, 2002 by Steve Wilson

A response to Jeffrey Shallit.

Mr. Shallit compares the critique of cognitive science by Professor Dreyfus to 'creation science'. He remarks that Dreyfus is not a computer scientist. This is true.Read more

Published on November 24, 2000

Creation science applied to artificial intelligence

Creation science is to evolution what this book is to artificial intelligence.
Creation "scientists" often have no credentials in the field they attack; similarly, Dreyfus is...Read more

Published on November 19, 2000 by Jeffrey O. Shallit

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