Peter M. Asaro
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262083775
- eISBN:
- 9780262256384
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262083775.003.0007
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
This chapter sketches an intellectual portrait of W. Ross Ashby’s thought from his earliest work on the mechanisms of intelligence in 1940 through the birth of what is now called artificial ...
More
This chapter sketches an intellectual portrait of W. Ross Ashby’s thought from his earliest work on the mechanisms of intelligence in 1940 through the birth of what is now called artificial intelligence (AI), around 1956, and to the end of his career in 1972. It begins by examining his earliest published works on adaptation and equilibrium, and the conceptual structure of his notions of the mechanisms of control in biological systems. In particular, it assesses his conceptions of mechanism, equilibrium, stability, and the role of breakdown in achieving equilibrium. It then proceeds to his work on refining the concept of “intelligence,” on the possibility of the mechanical augmentation and amplification of human intelligence, and on how machines might be built that surpass human understanding in their capabilities. Finally, the chapter considers the significance of his philosophy and its role in cybernetic thought.Less
This chapter sketches an intellectual portrait of W. Ross Ashby’s thought from his earliest work on the mechanisms of intelligence in 1940 through the birth of what is now called artificial intelligence (AI), around 1956, and to the end of his career in 1972. It begins by examining his earliest published works on adaptation and equilibrium, and the conceptual structure of his notions of the mechanisms of control in biological systems. In particular, it assesses his conceptions of mechanism, equilibrium, stability, and the role of breakdown in achieving equilibrium. It then proceeds to his work on refining the concept of “intelligence,” on the possibility of the mechanical augmentation and amplification of human intelligence, and on how machines might be built that surpass human understanding in their capabilities. Finally, the chapter considers the significance of his philosophy and its role in cybernetic thought.
James Simpson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198795148
- eISBN:
- 9780191836497
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198795148.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Since the scholarly recovery of Middle English romance, one pronounced judgement is that the genre fails to think. This judgement underestimates the peculiar quality of romance ‘thought’. Like the ...
More
Since the scholarly recovery of Middle English romance, one pronounced judgement is that the genre fails to think. This judgement underestimates the peculiar quality of romance ‘thought’. Like the author’s the Marxist account understands romance ‘thought’ to be a refusal of explicit thought. The author differs from the Marxists in not seeking to expose this refusal of thought as an example of mesmerizing ideology. Instead, the chapter presents romance non-thought as an especially subtle form of cybernetic (in the etymological sense of ‘self-governing’) reformism. This kind of thought requires a holiday from explicit, rational thought, and from thinking too explicitly about shame. Such ‘thought’ instead operates by disabling thought; it requires ‘unthinking’. Romance (un)thinking seeks not to deceive or mesmerize, but rather recognizes that some profound issues, and particularly shame, are better not thought about explicitly. The example used is the popular romance Sir Degaré.Less
Since the scholarly recovery of Middle English romance, one pronounced judgement is that the genre fails to think. This judgement underestimates the peculiar quality of romance ‘thought’. Like the author’s the Marxist account understands romance ‘thought’ to be a refusal of explicit thought. The author differs from the Marxists in not seeking to expose this refusal of thought as an example of mesmerizing ideology. Instead, the chapter presents romance non-thought as an especially subtle form of cybernetic (in the etymological sense of ‘self-governing’) reformism. This kind of thought requires a holiday from explicit, rational thought, and from thinking too explicitly about shame. Such ‘thought’ instead operates by disabling thought; it requires ‘unthinking’. Romance (un)thinking seeks not to deceive or mesmerize, but rather recognizes that some profound issues, and particularly shame, are better not thought about explicitly. The example used is the popular romance Sir Degaré.
