Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence
- 10h 25m
- Pamela McCorduck
- CRC Press
- 2004
Pamela McCorduck first went among the artificial intelligentsia when the field was fresh and new, and asked the scientists engaged in it what they were doing and why. She saw artificial intelligence as the scientific apotheosis of one of the most enduring, glorious, often amusing, and sometimes alarming, traditions of human culture: the endless fascination with artifacts that think. Machines Who Think was translated into many languages, became an international cult classic, and stayed in print for nearly twenty years.
Now, Machines Who Think is back, along with an extended addition that brings the field up to date in the last quarter century, including its scientific and its public faces. McCorduck shows how, from a slightly dubious fringe science, artificial intelligence has moved slowly (though not always steadily) to a central place in our everyday lives, and how it will be even more crucial as the World Wide Web moves into its next generation.
About the Author
Pamela McCorduck is the author or coauthor of eight published books, two of them novels. Among her books are Machines Who Think, a history of artificial intelligence; The Universal Machine, a study of the worldwide impact of the computer; and Aaron’s Code, an inquiry into the future of art and artificial intelligence. Her work has been translated into all the major European and Asian languages. A recent book, coauthored with Nancy Ramsey, is The Futures of Women (Addison-Wesley, 1996; Time-Warner paperback, 1997), containing four scenarios for women worldwide in the year 2015.
Ms. McCorduck has been an active member of PEN American Center, the author organization in New York City, serving on its executive board and as vice president for several years. In addition, she founded and chaired PEN’s Readers and Writers Program, which sends authors and their books to newly literate adults all over the country. She has been a board member and treasurer of the New Mexico Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and currently serves on its advisory committee. Ms. McCorduck also works as a consultant, constructing future scenarios for firms in the transportation, financial, and high-tech sectors.
Educated at UC Berkeley and Columbia University, Ms. McCorduck divides her time between New York City and Santa Fe, and loves the visual and performing arts in both cities.
In this Book
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Brass for Brain
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From Energy to Information
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The Machinery of Wisdom
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Meat Machines
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The Dartmouth Conference
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The Information-Processing Model
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Fun and Games
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Us and Them
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L’Affaire Dreyfus
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Robotics and General Intelligence
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Language, Scenes, Symbols, and Understanding
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Applied Artificial Intelligence
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Can a Made-Up Mind Be Moral?
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Forging the Gods
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Afterword—The Following Quarter-Century of Artificial Intelligence
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Time Line—The Evolution of Intelligence
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Bibliography
