Marvin Minsky

An authority on artificial intelligence introduces a theory that explores the workings of the human mind and the mysteries of thought

Society Of Mind

Finite and Infinite Machines

Computation

A leading contributor to artificial intelligence offers insight into the numerous ways in which the mind works to demonstrate how emotions and feelings are just different ways of thinking, in an account that poses controversial ideas about the potential for designing machines that are capable of thinking like humans. By the author of The Society of Mind. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind

The Emotion Machine

Seymour Papert

Perceptrons; an Introduction to Computational Geometry

Six essays by artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky on how education can foster inventiveness, paired with commentary by Minsky's former colleagues and students. Marvin Minsky was a pioneering researcher in artificial intelligence whose work led to both theoretical and practical advances. His work was motivated not only by technological advancement but also by the desire to understand the workings of our own minds. Minsky's insights about the mind provide fresh perspectives on education and how children learn. This book collects for the first time six essays by Minsky on children, learning, and the potential of computers in school to enrich children's development. In these essays Minsky discusses the shortcomings of conventional education (particularly in mathematics) and considers alternative approaches; reflects on the role of mentors; describes higher-level strategies for thinking across domains; and suggests projects for children to pursue. Each essay is paired with commentary by one of Minsky's former colleagues or students, which identifies Minsky's key ideas and connects his writings to current research. Minsky once observed that in traditional teaching, “instead of promoting inventiveness, we focus on preventing mistakes.” These essays offer Minsky's unique insights into how education can foster inventiveness. Commentary by Hal Abelson, Walter Bender, Alan Kay, Margaret Minsky, Brian Silverman, Gary Stager, Mike Travers, Patrick Henry Winston

Marvin Minsky on Education

Inventive Minds

Harry Harrison

The Turing Option

An Introduction to Computational Geometry

Perceptrons

Mentopolis.

A young genius is hunted by killers. His sole hope for survival lies in the brain power of the intelligent being he has created. The Earth's first machine intelligence becomes the key to a harrowing battle.

Heuristic Aspects of the Artificial Intelligence Problem

Léon Bottou

Seymour A. Papert

Reissue of the 1988 Expanded Edition with a new foreword by Léon Bottou In 1969, ten years after the discovery of the perceptron -- which showed that a machine could be taught to perform certain tasks using examples -- Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert published Perceptrons, their analysis of the computational capabilities of perceptrons for specific tasks. As Léon Bottou writes in his foreword to this edition, "Their rigorous work and brilliant technique does not make the perceptron look very good." Perhaps as a result, research turned away from the perceptron. Then the pendulum swung back, and machine learning became the fastest-growing field in computer science. Minsky and Papert's insistence on its theoretical foundations is newly relevant. Perceptrons -- the first systematic study of parallelism in computation -- marked a historic turn in artificial intelligence, returning to the idea that intelligence might emerge from the activity of networks of neuron-like entities. Minsky and Papert provided mathematical analysis that showed the limitations of a class of computing machines that could be considered as models of the brain. Minsky and Papert added a new chapter in 1987 in which they discuss the state of parallel computers, and note a central theoretical challenge: reaching a deeper understanding of how "objects" or "agents" with individuality can emerge in a network. Progress in this area would link connectionism with what the authors have called "society theories of mind."

Marvin Minsky

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