Emma@SU-CSLI.ARPA (Emma Pease) (03/06/86)
[Excerpted from the CSLI Calendar by Laws@SRI-AI.]
Brains, Behavior, and Robotics
by James S. Albus
Discussion led by Pentti Kanerva (Kanerva@riacs.arpa)
12 noon, TINLunch, Ventura Hall Conference Room
THURSDAY, March 13, 1986
In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, ``We may hope that machines will
eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields. But
which are the best ones to start with? . . . Many people think that
a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best.
It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with
the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to
understand. . . . This process could follow the normal teaching of a
child. Things would be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not
know what the right answer is, but I think that both approaches should
be tried.'' (Quoted by Albus on p. 5.)
``Brains, Behavior, and Robotics'' takes this ``Turing's second
approach'' to artificial intelligence, the first being the pursuit of
abstract reasoning. The book combines over a decade of research by
Albus. It is predicated on the idea that to understand human
intelligence we need to understand the evolution of intelligence in
the animal kingdom. The models developed are mathematical
(computational), but one of their criteria is neurophysiological
plausibility. Although the research is aimed at understanding the
mechanical basis of cognition, Albus also discusses philosophical and
social implications of his work.