Thinking Computers and Virtual Persons
Thinking Computers and Virtual Persons

Author: Eric Dietrich

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2014-05-10

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1483217655

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Thinking Computers and Virtual Persons: Essays on the Intentionality of Machines explains how computations are meaningful and how computers can be cognitive agents like humans. This book focuses on the concept that cognition is computation. Organized into four parts encompassing 13 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the analogy between intentionality and phlogiston, the 17th-century principle of burning. This text then examines the objection to computationalism that it cannot prevent arbitrary attributions of content to the various data structures and representations involved in a computational process. Other chapters consider that the notion of original intentionality is incoherent. This book argues as well that the only way to build an intelligent machine is to build a neural network. The final chapter claims that an entire theoretical framework in cognitive psychology is incompatible with the view that human brains are computers of some sort. This book is a valuable resource for cognitive scientists.

The Age of Intelligent Machines
The Age of Intelligent Machines

Author: Ray Kurzweil

Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 565

ISBN-13: 9780262610797

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Comparing the human brain with so-called artificial intelligence, the author probes past, present, and future attempts to create machine intelligence

Simulating Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds
Simulating Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds

Author: Juan A. Barceló

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-20

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 3319314815

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book presents a unique selection of fully reviewed, extended papers originally presented at the Social Simulation Conference 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. Only papers on the simulation of historical processes have been selected, the aim being to present theories and methods of computer simulation that can be relevant to understanding the past. Applications range from the Paleolithic and the origins of social life up to the Roman Empire and Early Modern societies. Case studies from Europe, America, Africa and Asia have been selected for publication. The extensive introduction offers a thorough review of the computer simulation of social dynamics in past societies as a means of understanding human history. This book will be of great interest to researchers in the social sciences, archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and social history.

How the Mind Works
How the Mind Works

Author: Steven Pinker

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0393334775

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life.

Sketches of Thought
Sketches of Thought

Author: Vinod Goel

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780262071635

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Much of the cognitive lies beyond articulate, discursive thought, beyond the reach of current computational notions. In Sketches of Thought, Vinod Goel argues that the cognitive computational conception of the world requires our thought processes to be precise, rigid, discrete, and unambiguous; yet there are dense, ambiguous, and amorphous symbol systems, like sketching, painting, and poetry, found in the arts and much of everyday discourse that have an important, non-trivial place in cognition. Goel maintains that while on occasion our thoughts do conform to the current computational theory of mind, they often are - indeed must be - vague, fluid, ambiguous, and amorphous. He argues that if cognitive science takes the classical computational story seriously, it must deny or ignore these processes, or at least relegate them to the realm of the nonmental. Along the way, Goel makes a number of significant and controversial interim points. He shows that there is a principled distinction between design and nondesign problems, that there are standard stages in the solution of design problems, that these stages correlate with the use of different types of external symbol systems, that these symbol systems are usefully individuated in Nelson Goodman's syntactic and semantic terms, and that different cognitive processes are facilitated by different types of symbol systems.

Cognitive Dynamics
Cognitive Dynamics

Author: Eric Dietrich

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2014-03-05

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 1317778197

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recent work in cognitive science, much of it placed in opposition to a computational view of the mind, has argued that the concept of representation and theories based on that concept are not sufficient to explain the details of cognitive processing. These attacks on representation have focused on the importance of context sensitivity in cognitive processing, on the range of individual differences in performance, and on the relationship between minds and the bodies and environments in which they exist. In each case, models based on traditional assumptions about representation have been assumed to be too rigid to account for the effects of these factors on cognitive processing. In place of a representational view of mind, other formalisms and methodologies, such as nonlinear differential equations (or dynamical systems) and situated robotics, have been proposed as better explanatory tools for understanding cognition. This book is based on the notion that, while new tools and approaches for understanding cognition are valuable, representational approaches do not need to be abandoned in the course of constructing new models and explanations. Rather, models that incorporate representation are quite compatible with the kinds of complex situations being modeled with the new methods. This volume illustrates the power of this explicitly representational approach--labeled "cognitive dynamics"--in original essays by prominent researchers in cognitive science. Each chapter explores some aspect of the dynamics of cognitive processing while still retaining representations as the centerpiece of the explanations of the key phenomena. These chapters serve as an existence proof that representation is not incompatible with the dynamics of cognitive processing. The book is divided into sections on foundational issues about the use of representation in cognitive science, the dynamics of low level cognitive processes (such as visual and auditory perception and simple lexical priming), and the dynamics of higher cognitive processes (including categorization, analogy, and decision making).

Who You Are
Who You Are

Author: Michael J. Spivey

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-03-30

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0262358417

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Why you are more than just a brain, more than just a brain-and-body, and more than all your assumptions about who you are. Who are you? Are you just a brain? A brain and a body? All the things you have done and the friends you have made? Many of us assume that who we really are is something deep inside us, an inner sanctuary that contains our true selves. In Who You Are, Michael Spivey argues that the opposite is true: that you are more than a brain, more than a brain-and-body, and more than all your assumptions about who you are. Rather than peeling layers away to reveal the inner you, Spivey traces who you are outward. You may already feel in your heart that something outside your body is actually part of you—a child, a place, a favorite book. Spivey confirms this intuition with scientific findings. With each chapter, Spivey incrementally expands a common definition of the self. After (gently) helping you to discard your assumptions about who you are, he draws on research in cognitive science and neuroscience to explain the back-and-forth among all the regions of the brain and the interaction between the brain and body. He then makes the case for understanding objects and locations in your environment as additional parts of who we are. Going even further, he shows that, just as interaction links brain, body, and environment, ever-expanding systems of interaction link humans to other humans, to nonhuman animals, and to nonliving matter. This may seem an interaction or two too far. But you don't have to take his word for it—just consider the evidence he presents.

Leadership For An Age Of Higher Consciousness Part 1 (English) )
Leadership For An Age Of Higher Consciousness Part 1 (English) )

Author: B. T. Swami

Publisher: Golden Age Media

Published: 2020-01-01

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 9389050898

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Leadership in any capacity has taken on such awesome proportions that even the best leaders must find innovative and creative ways to deal with today’s complex situations. Leadership for an Age of Higher Consciousness is a groundbreaking self-help manual written for those who seek to develop a more penetrating perspective and greater effectiveness in the leadership process. This book is relevant for heads of government, organizations, and families, and for anyone seeking greater insight into self-leadership.

Computerized Monitoring and Online Privacy
Computerized Monitoring and Online Privacy

Author: Thomas A. Peters

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780786407064

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Increasingly, computers are a part of even the most ordinary and simple aspects of human existence. Computers have changed forever how we work, learn, shop and seek information. They have also, since the 1960s, been programmed to monitor and analyze in various ways the interaction between humans and themselves. The rapid development of the World Wide Web in the 1990s has given new life, direction and urgency to this enterprise. This work describes the myriad ways, benign or malign, in which computers are used to monitor people's use of computers. Four distinct contexts for monitoring are examined: formal learning environments (e.g., educational software); information seeking environments (e.g., online library catalogs); the workplace; and the Internet (e.g., online shopping). Computerized monitoring often is called an invasion of privacy, and the conceptual and ethical dimensions of confidentiality and privacy in virtual environments are explored at length. In addition to providing information about the various computerized monitoring tools and techniques, this work focuses on the broader social, conceptual, ethical and legal implications.

Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots in Contemporary Culture and Society
Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots in Contemporary Culture and Society

Author: Thompson, Steven John

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2017-09-13

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1522529748

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Mankind’s dependence on artificial intelligence and robotics is increasing rapidly as technology becomes more advanced. Finding a way to seamlessly intertwine these two worlds will help boost productivity in society and aid in a variety of ways in modern civilization. Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots in Contemporary Culture and Society is an essential scholarly resource that delves into the current issues, methodologies, and trends relating to advanced robotic technology in the modern world. Featuring relevant topics that include STEM technologies, brain-controlled androids, biped robots, and media perception, this publication is ideal for engineers, academicians, students, and researchers that would like to stay current with the latest developments in the world of evolving robotics.