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

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Hubert L. Dreyfus (Author)
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4.2 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0262540674
ISBN-10: 0262540673
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Product Details

  • 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: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsA response to Jeffrey Shallit.
By A Customer on November 24, 2000
Format: Paperback
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. But many 'cognitive scientists' aren't either, cognitive science being an interdisciplinary pursuit engaging philosophers, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists, anthropologists and sociologists. It is unfortunate that Dreyfus allowed himself to polemicize by using the word 'alchemy' to characterize his opponents, but he has, by far, been the victim of unargued diatribes against his work. The fact is: most of the salient issues in cognitive science are logical and conceptual, NOT technological. Here, Dreyfus broke new ground (although I would have preferred his treatment to have been more Wittgensteinian than Heideggerian). Phil Agre's brilliant book on computation and human experience (Agre IS a computer scientist) shows that SOME AI-workers have found aspects of Dreyfus's work very telling. But, of course, the issues are, again, not empirical but logical in this field. See, for example, Graham Button et al., "Computers, Minds and Conduct" (Polity/Blackwell, 1995) which picks up where Dreyfus left off. Shallit remarks that Dreyfus has been 'refuted': where? by whom?
The fact is that cognitivism is hotly contested by serious thinkers in many disciplines, but Shallit's name-calling (and the comparison of cognitivism's serious critics to creation scientists) smacks of an abdication from serious engagement and argument.
Dreyfus's revised edition is a fine piece of work, worthy of serious intellectual discussion and confrontation. His many aarguments against Fodor, Chomsky, Simon and others have great merit. It is unfortunate that some folks simply close their eyes and argue from authority. But appeals to (even 'scientific') authority wear thin when left to stand alone!!
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn absolute 'must read' for people interested in the role of computing in society
By A Customer on April 7, 1997
Format: Paperback
This is an absolute classic that everyone interested in or working in AI should have read. It is one of the very view books on a computer related subject that is over 25 years old and still useful today. That alone might tell you something. I find it interesting that many AI-workers seem to be actually afraid of this book. They should not. It may give the reader a far better sense on limits, use and future of AI work.
I would also recommend this book to people outside the AI world and who are interested in what role the digital computer may play in our lives. But the book is not about bits, so if you don't like technical mumbo-jumbo, this is still a book for you.
The book is very well written. Some readers may find it a difficult book, as it also contains some philosophical issues. But some readers may find themselves in a bookstore asking for the work of Wittgenstein or Heidegger and actually understanding what they read (and like what they read) after having read this book.
I have only one complaint. The introduction to the 1992 MIT Press edition is in fact an afterword. It assumes that you already are familiar with the history of the subject. So, if you read this book, you should start with the Introduction to the 1979 edition instead and keep the Introduction to the MIT Press edition definitely for last
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4.0 out of 5 starsWhat AI researchers can't do on computers - yet
By Steve Wilson on September 23, 2002
Format: Paperback
Dreyfus' book is about the history of failure of Artificial Intelligence researchers such as Marvin Minsky to embody intelligence at the human level. It is easy to read, but is rather exasperating. It is like riding in a truck driven by Minsky, and other AI researchers, where they are trying to make a long trek across a country without roads. They keep getting caught in swamps, blowing tires, and hitting trees, all the time shouting "We're almost there!" Meanwhile Dreyfus is a dog in the bed of the truck continually barking at dangers, and the folly of the drivers. Amidst Dreyfus' continuous cacophony of sarcastic cynicism there are some important points on what assumptions are doomed to failure, which he made quite clear by tedious repetition.
Basically there are two types of mistakes made by Minsky and many others:
1. believing they were getting close to understanding human thought,
2. repeatedly announcing same to the world.
The philosophy of Dreyfus in the first 300 pages is largely concerned with fallacious assumptions made by AI researchers. Finally in the last 50 pages (350 page book) he settles down and gives us some interesting concepts that should be understood if we are to seek AI at the human level. He develops the concept of "nonformal behavior" - which we humans usually learn by generalizing examples and following intuition without use of formal rules. Examples: chess at the gestalt master level, and disambiguation of broken sentences.
Dreyfus acknowledges the possible importance of neural network architectures, but dismisses them as outside the scope of his critique.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsThe message is still potent, but the text is well shuffled
By A Customer on August 24, 1998
Format: Paperback
It goes without saying that this book remains a landmark in the history of AI research: a sobering antidote to all the research hype.
But what a patchwork it has become. Every ten years, the book has a new section and a new introduction bolted on to it. But not just bolted on to the end, or on to the beginning.
No reader is given an easy path through the text: neither the reader who is new to the material (and who wants to read through the text in chronological order), nor the reader who has read the previous incarnation of the book (and who wants to pick up just the new parts).
The message of the book, too, is unfortunately weakened by its subjective stance, and its invocation of the personalities from the debate.
However, the book still remains a refreshingly different contribution to the world of AI research, an important warning, and a greatly worthwhile read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsProsopagnosia

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,... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Albarelli
5.0 out of 5 stars(Post) Modern Philosophy versus the Computer

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... Read more

Published on July 21, 2014 by Chris Moore
5.0 out of 5 starsA critique on the Age of the Machine - 2 Fronts

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. Read more

Published on March 10, 2014 by Brian D. Labatte
5.0 out of 5 starsAn 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
2.0 out of 5 starsArtificial 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
4.0 out of 5 starsConvincing 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
5.0 out of 5 starsexcellent 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
5.0 out of 5 starsHistory proved Dreyfus right

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... Read more

Published on February 28, 2006 by Me
2.0 out of 5 starsCreation 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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