The Importance of Being Educable
The Importance of Being Educable

Author: Leslie Valiant

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-04-16

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0691230560

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the age of AI, why our future depends on better understanding what makes us human We are at a crossroads in history. If we hope to share our planet successfully with one another and the AI systems we are creating, we must reflect on who we are, how we got here, and where we are heading. The Importance of Being Educable puts forward a provocative new exploration of the extraordinary facility of humans to absorb and apply knowledge. The remarkable “educability” of the human brain can be understood as an information processing ability. It sets our species apart, enables the civilization we have, and gives us the power and potential to set our planet on a steady course. Yet it comes hand in hand with an insidious weakness. While we can readily absorb entire systems of thought about worlds of experience beyond our own, we struggle to judge correctly what information we should trust. In this visionary book, Leslie Valiant argues that understanding the nature of our own educability is crucial to safeguarding our future. After breaking down how we process information to learn and apply knowledge, and drawing comparisons with other animals and AI systems, he explains why education should be humankind’s central preoccupation. Will the unique capability that has been so foundational to our achievements and civilization continue to drive our progress, or will we fall victim to our vulnerabilities? If we want to play to our species’ great strength and protect our collective future, we must better understand and prioritize the vital importance of being educable. This book provides a road map.

Psychoanalytic Years
Psychoanalytic Years

Author: C. G. Jung

Publisher:

Published: 2016-04-03

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9780691645278

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Between the years 1906 and 1912, Jung practiced as a psychoanalyst, and his association with Freud was very close. Though their personal relationship became strained after the publication of Jung's book, Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (1911-12), Jung continued to serve as president of the International Psychoanalytic Association until 1914. The present volume covers the period of Jung's close and enthusiastic collaboration with Freud and includes one of Jung's famous studies in word association which demonstrates Freud's influence even before they were working together. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Artificial You
Artificial You

Author: Susan Schneider

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-04-13

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0691216746

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Humans may not be Earth's most intelligent beings for much longer: the world champions of chess, Go, and Jeopardy! are now all AIs. Given the rapid pace of progress in AI, many predict that it could advance to human-level intelligence within the next several decades. From there, it could quickly outpace human intelligence. What do these developments mean for the future of the mind? In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions, but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness. Schneider argues that an insufficient grasp of the nature of these entities could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. To flourish, we must grasp the philosophical issues lying beneath the algorithms. At the heart of her exploration is a sober-minded discussion of what AI can truly achieve: Can robots really be conscious? Can we merge with AI, as tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil suggest? Is the mind just a program? Examining these thorny issues, Schneider proposes ways we can test for machine consciousness, questions whether consciousness is an unavoidable byproduct of sophisticated intelligence, and considers the overall dangers of creating machine minds."--Provided by publisher.

Probably Approximately Correct
Probably Approximately Correct

Author: Leslie Valiant

Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)

Published: 2013-06-04

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0465032710

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presenting a theory of the theoryless, a computer scientist provides a model of how effective behavior can be learned even in a world as complex as our own, shedding new light on human nature.

Circuits of the Mind
Circuits of the Mind

Author: Leslie G. Valiant

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780195126686

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While embracing the now classical theories of McCulloch and Pitts, the neuroidal model also accommodates state information in the neurons, more flexible timing mechanisms, a variety of assumptions about interconnectivity, and the possibility that different brain areas perform specialized functions. Programmable so that a wide range of algorithmic theories can be described and evaluated, the model provides a concrete computational language and a unified framework in which diverse cognitive phenomena - such as memory, learning, and reasoning - can be systematically and concurrently analyzed. Requiring no specialized knowledge, Circuits of the Mind masterfully offers an exciting new approach to brain science for students and researchers in computer science, neurobiology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

What Makes Us Smart
What Makes Us Smart

Author: Samuel Gershman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0691225990

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How a computational framework can account for the successes and failures of human cognition At the heart of human intelligence rests a fundamental puzzle: How are we incredibly smart and stupid at the same time? No existing machine can match the power and flexibility of human perception, language, and reasoning. Yet, we routinely commit errors that reveal the failures of our thought processes. What Makes Us Smart makes sense of this paradox by arguing that our cognitive errors are not haphazard. Rather, they are the inevitable consequences of a brain optimized for efficient inference and decision making within the constraints of time, energy, and memory—in other words, data and resource limitations. Framing human intelligence in terms of these constraints, Samuel Gershman shows how a deeper computational logic underpins the “stupid” errors of human cognition. Embarking on a journey across psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and economics, Gershman presents unifying principles that govern human intelligence. First, inductive bias: any system that makes inferences based on limited data must constrain its hypotheses in some way before observing data. Second, approximation bias: any system that makes inferences and decisions with limited resources must make approximations. Applying these principles to a range of computational errors made by humans, Gershman demonstrates that intelligent systems designed to meet these constraints yield characteristically human errors. Examining how humans make intelligent and maladaptive decisions, What Makes Us Smart delves into the successes and failures of cognition.

Psychic Energy
Psychic Energy

Author: Mary Esther Harding

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1973-09-21

Total Pages: 546

ISBN-13: 9780691017907

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A study of the primitive and unconscious aspects of man's nature and the processes by which their energies may contribute to the integration of personality. New edition, comprehensively revised and enlarged, with many new illustrations.

Innate
Innate

Author: Kevin J. Mitchell

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0691204152

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"What makes you the way you are--and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains. Deftly guiding us through important new research, including his own groundbreaking work, he explains how variations in the way our brains develop before birth strongly influence our psychology and behavior throughout our lives, shaping our personality, intelligence, sexuality, and even the way we perceive the world. We all share a genetic program for making a human brain, and the program for making a brain like yours is specifically encoded in your DNA. But, as Mitchell explains, the way that program plays out is affected by random processes of development that manifest uniquely in each person, even identical twins. The key insight of Innate is that the combination of these developmental and genetic variations creates innate differences in how our brains are wired--differences that impact all aspects of our psychology--and this insight promises to transform the way we see the interplay of nature and nurture. Innate also explores the genetic and neural underpinnings of disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, and how our understanding of these conditions is being revolutionized. In addition, the book examines the social and ethical implications of these ideas and of new technologies that may soon offer the means to predict or manipulate human traits. Compelling and original, Innate will change the way you think about why and how we are who we are."--Provided by the publisher.

Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Volume 7
Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Volume 7

Author: C. G. Jung

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-03-01

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1400850894

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume has become known as perhaps the best introduction to Jung's work. In these famous essays. "The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious" and "On the Psychology of the Unconscious," he presented the essential core of his system. Historically, they mark the end of Jung's intimate association with Freud and sum up his attempt to integrate the psychological schools of Freud and Adler into a comprehensive framework. This is the first paperback publication of this key work in its revised and augmented second edition of 1966. The earliest versions of the Two Essays, "New Paths in Psychology" (1912) and "The Structure of the Unconscious" (1916), discovered among Jung's posthumous papers, are published in an appendix, to show the development of Jung's thought in later versions. As an aid to study, the index has been comprehensively expanded.