The society of mind

336 Pages·1988·6.12 MB·English

by  Marvin Minsky

ZI\
OTHERB OOKSB YM ARVINM INSICY:
COMPUTATION: FINITE AND INFINITE MACHINES
SEMANTIC INFOR.KIATIONP ROCESSING
PERCEPTRONS(W ITH SEYMOURP APERT)
ROBOTICS
TnE SoerETY
oFMrNrD
Marvin Minslry
Illustrctions by lulicncr Lee
A TOUCHSTONBEO OK
Published by Simon & Schuster
NEW YORK . LONDON . IORoNTo . SYDNEY. ToKYo . SINGAPoRE
CopyrighOt 1985,1 986b y MarvinM insky
All rightsr eserved
includingt her ighto f reproduction
in wholeo r in parti n anyf orm.
FirstT ouchstonEed ition,1 988
Publishebdy Simon& SchusterI,n c.
Simon& SchusteBr uilding
RockefelleCr enter
IZJOA venueo f the Americas
NewY ork,N Y 10020
TOUCHSTONEa ndc olophona rer egisteretdra demarks
of Simon& SchusterI,n c.
Designedb y Irving PerkinsA ssociates
Manufacturedin the UnitedS tateso f America
t579108642
79108 Pbk.
Libraryo f CongresCsa taloginign PublicationD ata
Minsky,M arvinL ee,d ate.
The societyo f mind.
Includesin dex.
l. Intellect.2 . Humani nformationp rocessing.
J. Science-PhilosophyI.. Title.
BF43l.M55l 1986 trJ 86-20)22
ISBN0 -671-60740-5
rsBN0 -671-657l-15 Pbk.
The author is grateful for permissiont o repint the follo*ing material:
Excerptsb y Theodore Melnechuk. Reprintedb y permissiono f the author.
Excerpt by Manfred Clynes. Reprinted by permissiono f the author.
From "Burnt Norton" in Four Quartetsb y T. S. Eliot, @ 1947byT . S. Eliot; renew'edl9 7l by Esme Valerie
Eliot. Reprintedb y permissiono f Harcourt Bracef ovanovich,I nc.
From "Chorusesf rom 'The Rock' " in CollectedP oems1 W-1962 by T. S. Eliot, O 1936b y Harcourt Brace
fovanovich, Inc.
CONTENTS
PROTOGT'E l7
l.l THE AGENTSO F THE MIND l8
r.2 THE MIND AND THE BRAIN l9
I.3 THE SOCIETYO F MIND 20
t.4 THE WORLDO F BLOCKS 2r
r.5
COMMON SENSE 22
1.6 AGENTSA ND AGENCIES z3
2 VTTHOIEASN D PARTS 24
2.r
COMPONENTSA ND CONNECTIONS 25
2.2 NOVELISTSA ND REDUCTIONISTS 26
2.3 PARTSA ND WHOLES 27
2.4 HOLESA ND PARTS 28
2.5 EASYT HINGS ARE HARD 29
2.6 ARE PEOPLEM ACHINES? 30
3 CONFTICT AND COMPROMISE 3r
3.1 CONFLICT 32
t.z NONCOMPROMISE 33
t.) HIERARCHIES 34
j.4 HETERARCHIES j5
t.> DESTRUCTIVENESS 36
3.6 PAIN AND PLEASURES IMPLIFIED t/
4 THES Etr 3E
4.1 THE SELF 39
4.2 ONE SELFO R MANY? 40
4.) THE SOUL 4l
1.4 THE CONSERVATIVES ELF 42
4.5 EXPLOITATION 43
4.6 SELF-CONTROL 44
4.7 LONG-RANGEP LANS 45
4.8 IDEALS 46
5 INDTVIDUAUTY
47
5.1 CIRCULARC AUSALITY 48
5.2 UNANSWERABLEO UESTIONS 49
>.t THE REMOTE.COI\tr'|ROSLE LF 50
5.4 PERSONALI DENTITY 5l
5.5 FASHIONA ND STYLE ,2
5.6 TRAITS 53
5.7 PERMANENTI DENTITY 54
6 INSIGHT AND INTROSPECTION 55
6.1 CONSCIOUSNESS 56
6.2 SIGNALSA ND SIGNS
6.3 THOUGHT-EXPERIMENTS 58
6.4 B-BRAINS 59
6.5 FROZENR EFLECTION 60
6.6 MOMENTARYM ENTAL TTME 6l
6.7 THE CAUSALN OW 62
6.8 THINKING WITHOUT THINKTNG 63
6.9 HEADSI N THE CLOUDS 64
6.r 0 WORLDSO UT OF MIND 65
6.1I IN-SIGHT 6
6.t2 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 67
6.13 SELF-KNOWLEDGEIS DANGEROUS 68
6.14 CONFUSION 69
7 PROBLEMSA ND GOATS 70
7.r INTELLIGENCE 7l
7.2 UNCOMMON SENSE 72
a/1.) THE PUZZLE PRINCIPLE 73
7.4 PROBLEMS OLVING 74
7.5 LEARNINGA ND MEMORY 75
7.6 REINFORCEMENTA ND REWARD 76
7.7 LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY 77
7.8 DIFFERENCE-ENGINES 78
7.9 INTENTIONS 79
7.l 0 GENIUS 80
E A THEORYO F MEMORY E1
8.1 K-LINES:A THEORYO F MEMORY 82
8.2 RE-MEMBERING 83
8.3 MENTAL STATESA ND DISPOSITIONS 84
8.4 PARTIALM ENTAL STATES 85
8.5 LEVEL-BANDS 86
8.6 LEVELS 87
8.7 FRINGES 88
8.8 SOCIETIESO F MEMORIES 89
8.9 KNOWLEDGE-TREES 90
8.l 0 LEVELSA ND CLASSIFICATIONS 9l
8.n LAYERSO F SOCIETTES 92
9 SUMMARIES 93
9.1 WANTINC AND LIKING 94
9.2 GERRYMANDERING 95
9.3 LEARNINGF ROM FAILURE 96
9.4 ENJOYINGD ISCOMFORT 97
t0 CONTENTS
t0 PAPERT'SP RINCIPTE 98
l0.l PIAGET'SE XPERIMENTS 99
10.2 REASONINGA BOUT AMOUNTS 00
r0.3 PRIORITIES 0l
r0.4 PAPERT'SP RINCIPLE 02
10.5 THE SOCIETY-OF-MORE 03
10.6 ABOUT PIAGET'SE XPERIMENTS 04
10.7 THE CONCEPTO F CONCEPT 05
r0.8 EDUCATIONA ND DEVELOPMENT 06
10.9 LEARNINGA HIERARCHY 07
ll THE SHAPEO F SPACE 108
ll.l SEEINGR ED 109
u.2 THE SHAPEO F SPACE lt0
il.3 NEARNESSES lil
I t.4 INNATE GEOGRAPHY n2
ll.5 SENSINGS IMILARITIES lr3
t 1.6 THE CENTEREDS ELF 114
l1.7 PREDESTINEDL EARNING n5
I1.8 HALF-BRAINS ll6
I I.9 DUMBBELLT HEORIES TT7
t2 TEARNING MEANING I t6
t2.l A BLOCK-ARCHS CENARIO l19
t2.2 LEARNING MEANING r20
12.3 UNIFRAMES I2I
2.4 STRUCTUREA ND FUNCTION r22
z.> THE FUNCTIONSO F STRUCTURES 123
2.6 ACCUMULATION r24
2.7 ACCUMULATION STRATEGIES 12,
2.8 PROBLEMSO F DISUNITY 126
2.9 THE EXCEPTIONP RINCIPLE r27
2.l 0 HOW TOWERSW ORK 128
2.ll HOW CAUSESW ORK r29
2.t2 MEANING AND DEFINITION 130
2.t3 BRIDGE-DEFINITIONS l3l
l3 SEEINGA ND BETIEVING 132
r3.I REFORMULATION r73
13.2 BOUNDARIES t34
13.3 SEEINGA ND BELIEVING 135
t3.4 CHILDREN'SD RAWING-FRAMES r36
13.5 LEARNINGA SCRIPT r37
r3.6 THE FRONTIERE FFECT 138
17.7 DUPLICATIONS 139
C O NTE NTS ll
l4 RETORMUI,ATION 140
4.1 USING REFORMULATIONS 4l
4.2 THE BODY-SUPPORCT ONCEFI 42
4.7 MEANS AND ENDS 43
4.4 SEEINGS 9UARES 44
4.5 BRAINSTORMING 45
4.6 THE INVESTMENTP RINCIPLE 46
4.7 PARTSA ND HOLES 47
4.8 THE POWERO F NEGATIVE THINKING 48
4.9 THE INTERACTION-SQUARE 49
l5 CONSCIOUSNESASN D MEMORY 150
t5.r MOMENTARY MENTAL STATE 5l
t5.2 SELF-EXAMINATION 52
rr.3
MEMORY 53
15.4 MEMORIESO F MEMORIES 54
I5.5 THE IMMANENCE ILLUSION
15.6 MANY KINDS OF MEMORY 56
t5.7 MEMORY REARRANGEMENTS 57
15.8 ANATOMY OF MEMORY 58
15.9 INTERRUPTIONA ND RECOVERY 59
r5l.0 LOSINGT RACK 60
r5.lr THE RECURSIONP RINCIPLE 6I
l6 EMOTION t62
16.I EMOTION 63
16.2 MENTAL GROWTH 64
16.3 MENTAL PROTO-SPECIALISTS 65
t6.4 CROSS-EXCLUSION 66
16.5 AVALANCHE EFFECTS 67
16.6 MOTIVATION 68
16.7 EXPLOITATION 69
16.8 STIMULUSV S. SIMULUS 70
16.9 INFANT EMOTIONS 7l
16l.0 ADULT EMOTIONS 72
t7 DEVETOPMENT t73
7.r SE-O UENCESO F TEACHING-SELVES 74
7.2 ATTACHMENT.LEARNING 75
7.3 ATTACHMENT SIMPLIFIES 76
7.4 FUNCTIONAL AUTONOMY 77
7.5 DEVELOPMENTALS TAGES 78
7.6 PREREOUISITESF OR GROWTH 79
7.7 GENETIC TIMETABLES 80
7.8 ATTACHMENT-IMAGES 8l
t7.9 DIFFERENTS PANSO F MEMORIES 82
17l.0 INTELLECTUAL TRAUMA 83
17.n INTELLECTUAL IDEALS 84
L2 CONTENTS
165
IE REASONING
18I. MUST MACHINESB E LOGICAL? 86
I8.Z CHAINS OF REASONING 87
18.3 CHAINING 88
18.4 LOGICAL CHAINS 89
18.5 STRONGA RGUMENTS 90
18.6 MAGNITUDE FROM MULTITUDE 91
18.7 WHAT IS A NUMBER? 92
18.8 MATHEMATICSM ADE HARD 93
18,9 ROBUSTNESSA ND RECOVERY 94
19 WORDSA ND IDEAS t95
19.I THE ROOTSO F INTENTION l%
9.2 THE LANGUAGE-AGENCY r97
9.1 WORDSA ND IDEAS 198
9.4 OBIECTSA ND PROPERTIES l99
9.5 POLYNEMES 200
9.6 RECOGNIZERS 201
9.7 WEIGHINGE VIDENCE 202
9.8 GENERALIZING 203
9.9 RECOGNIZINGT HOUGHTS 204
9.l 0 CLOSINGT HE RING 205
20 CONTEXT AND AMBIGIIITY 206
20l. AMBIGUITY 207
24.2 NEGOTIATING AMBIGUITY 208
20.3 VISUAL AMBIGUITY 209
20.4 LOCKING-INA ND WEEDING-OUT 2t0
20.5 MICRONEMES 2tL
20.6 THE NEMEIC SPIRAL 2t2
2r3
20.7 CONNECTIONS
zt4
20.8 CONNECTIONL INES
20.9 DISTRIBUTEDM EMORY 2t5
2l TPAIVS.FRAMES 2t6
21I. THE PRONOUNSO F THE MIND 2t7
2r.2 PRONOMES 2t8
2r.v TMNS-FRAMES zr9
2t.4 COMMUNICATION AMONG AGENTS 220
2t.5 AUTOMATISM 2Zr
zzz
2r.6 TRANS-FRAMEP RONOMES
2r.7 GENERALIZINGW ITH PRONOMES 223
zl.8 ATTENTION 224
22 EXPRESSION 225
22.1 PRONOMESA ND POLYNEMES 226
22.2 ISONOMES 227
22.3 DE-SPECIALIZING 228
22.4 LEARNINGA ND TEACHING 229
22.5 INFERENCE 230
22.6 EXPRESSION 23r
z3z
22.7 CAUSESA ND CLAUSES
22.8 INTERRUPTIONS 237
zz.9 PRONOUNSA ND REFERENCES 234
22.10 VERBAL EXPRESSION 235
zz.ll CREATIVEE XPRESSION 236
CONTENTS l3
23 COMPARISONS 237
23.r A WORLDO F DIFFERENCES 238
23.2 DIFFERENCESA ND DUPLICATES 239
23.7 TIME BLINKING 240
23.4 THE MEANINGSO F MORE 241
23.5 FOREIGNA CCENTS 242
24 FRAMES 243
24.1 THE SPEEDO F THOUGHT 244
24.2 FRAMESO F MIND 245
24.) HOW TRANS-FRAMESW ORK 246
24.4 DEFAULT ASSUMPTIONS 247
24.5 NONVERBALR EASONING 248
24.6 DIRECTION-NEMES 249
24.7 PTCTURE.FRAMES 250
24.8 HOW PICTURE-FRAMESW ORK 25r
24.9 RECOGNIZERSA ND MEMORIZERS zrz
25 FRAME-ARRAYS 253
25.r ONE FMME AT A TIME? 254
25.2 FRAME-ARRAYS
L))
25.3 THE STATIONARYW ORLD 256
25.4 THE SENSEO F CONTINUITY t>/
2r.5 EXPECTATIONS 258
75.6 THE FRAME IDEA 259
26 I.ANGUAGE.FRAMES 260
26.r UNDERSTANDINGW ORDS 261
26.2 UNDERSTANDINGS TORIES 262
26.\ SENTENCE-FRAMES 267
26.4 A PARTY-FRAME 264
26.' STORY-FRAMES 265
26.6 SENTENCEA ND NONSENSE 266
26.7 FRAMESF OR NOUNS 267
26.8 FRAMESF OR VERBS 268
26.9 LANGUAGEA ND VISION 269
26.10 LEARNING LANGUAGE 270
26.11 GRAMMAR 271
26.t2 COHERENTD ISCOURSE 277
27 CENSORSA ND JOKES 273
27.1 DEMONS 274
27.2 SUPPRESSORS t/>
27.3 CENSORS 276
27.4 EXCEPTIONST O LOGIC 277
27.5 'OKES 278
27.6 HUMORA ND CENSORSHIP 279
27.7 LAUGHTER 280
27.8 GOOD HUMOR 28r
t4 CONTEN TS