Artificial Dreams
The Quest for Non-Biological Intelligence

Uncovers the hidden assumptions about Artificial Intelligence, penetrating deeply into the inner workings of models and systems.

H. R. Ekbia (Author)

9780521703390, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 April 2008

416 pages, 5 tables
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.4 cm, 0.56 kg

"...Artificial Dreams: The Quest for NonBiological Intelligence is written in a clear and accessible style that lay audiences and researchers outside of AI will enjoy reading; they will find the book very interesting in its breadth of coverage and, if they are curious about doing further reading, will find its extensive references very useful....Cognitive psychologists with interests in AI but who have not kept up with it are likely to find Ekbia's coverage and treatment very interesting..."
--Michael Palij, PsycCRITIQUES, March 11, 2009, Vol. 54, Release 10, Article 4

This book is a critique of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the perspective of cognitive science – it seeks to examine what we have learned about human cognition from AI successes and failures. The book's goal is to separate those 'AI dreams' that either have been or could be realized from those that are constructed through discourse and are unrealizable. AI research has advanced many areas that are intellectually compelling and holds great promise for advances in science, engineering, and practical systems. After the 1980s, however, the field has often struggled to deliver widely on these promises. This book breaks new ground by analyzing how some of the driving dreams of people practicing AI research become valued contributions, while others devolve into unrealized and unrealizable projects.

1. The origins of AI
2. Supercomputing AI
3. Cybernetic AI
4. Knowledge-intensive AI
5. Case-based AI
6. Connectionist AI
7. Dynamical AI
8. Neo-robotic AI
9. Analogical AI.

Subject Areas: Artificial intelligence [UYQ], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]