Computation and Human Experience

This book offers a critical reconstruction of the fundamental ideas and methods of artificial intelligence research.

Philip E. Agre (Author)

9780521386036, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 July 1997

392 pages, 52 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

'Bowers is rigorous in his historical and political contextualization, yet it is through his meticulous close readings, mastery of poetic forms, metre, and styles, as well as his ear to linguistic allusions, coupled with eye-opening archival discoveries, that new complexities of radical Anglo-Italian interactions emerge, and unexpected conversations between texts and contexts come to light for the first time … The field of Anglo–Italian scholarship has traditionally been prone to a heavy reliance on biographical or political readings of texts; on the contrary, Bowers's rigorous formal analysis and technical brilliance, grounded in archival research and historical accuracy, set refreshingly new standards, both in Anglo–Italian studies and in Romanticism at large.' Elisa Cozzi, The Keats-Shelley Review

This book offers a critical reconstruction of the fundamental ideas and methods of artificial intelligence research. Through close attention to the metaphors of artificial intelligence and their consequences for the field's patterns of success and failure, it argues for a reorientation of the field away from thought in the head and towards activity in the world. By considering computational ideas in a large, philosophical framework, the author eases critical dialogue between technology and the social sciences. AI can benefit from an understanding of the field in relation to human nature, and in return, it offers a powerful mode of investigation into the practicalities of physical realization. This is one of a series of publications associated with the Earth System Governance Project. For more publications, see www.cambridge.org/earth-system-governance.

1. Introduction
2. Metaphor in practice
3. Machinery and dynamics
4. Abstraction and implementation in cognitive science
5. The digital abstraction
6. Dependency maintenance
7. Rule system
8. Planning and improvisation
9. Running arguments
10. Experiments with running arguments
11. Representation and indexicality
12. Deictic representation.

Subject Areas: Artificial intelligence [UYQ]