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How to build a person : a prolegomenon / John L. Pollock.

By: Pollock, John L [author.].
Contributor(s): IEEE Xplore (Online Service) [distributor.] | MIT Press [publisher.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, c1989Distributor: [Piscataqay, New Jersey] : IEEE Xplore, [2008]Description: 1 PDF (xi, 189 pages) : illustrations.Content type: text Media type: electronic Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9780262281768.Subject(s): Machine learning | Artificial intelligence -- PhilosophyGenre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version: No titleDDC classification: 007.52 Online resources: Abstract with links to resource Also available in print.Summary: Building a person has been an elusive goal in artificial intelligence. This failure, John Pollock argues, is because the problems involved are essentially philosophical; what is needed for the construction of a person is a physical system that mimics human rationality. Pollock describes an exciting theory of rationality and its partial implementation in OSCAR, a computer system whose descendants will literally be persons.In developing the philosophical superstructure for this bold undertaking, Pollock defends the conception of man as an intelligent machine and argues that mental states are physical states and persons are physical objects as described in the fable of Oscar, the self conscious machine.Pollock brings a unique blend of philosophy and artificial intelligence to bear on the vexing problem of how to construct a physical system that thinks, is self conscious, has desires, fears, intentions, and a full range of mental states. He brings together an impressive array of technical work in philosophy to drive theory construction in AI. The result is described in his final chapter on "cognitive carpentry."John Pollock is Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona. A Bradford Book.
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"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [175]-186) and index.

Restricted to subscribers or individual electronic text purchasers.

Building a person has been an elusive goal in artificial intelligence. This failure, John Pollock argues, is because the problems involved are essentially philosophical; what is needed for the construction of a person is a physical system that mimics human rationality. Pollock describes an exciting theory of rationality and its partial implementation in OSCAR, a computer system whose descendants will literally be persons.In developing the philosophical superstructure for this bold undertaking, Pollock defends the conception of man as an intelligent machine and argues that mental states are physical states and persons are physical objects as described in the fable of Oscar, the self conscious machine.Pollock brings a unique blend of philosophy and artificial intelligence to bear on the vexing problem of how to construct a physical system that thinks, is self conscious, has desires, fears, intentions, and a full range of mental states. He brings together an impressive array of technical work in philosophy to drive theory construction in AI. The result is described in his final chapter on "cognitive carpentry."John Pollock is Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona. A Bradford Book.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web

Description based on PDF viewed 12/23/2015.

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