Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
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Norbert Wiener: Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) was an American mathematician and polymath known as the father of cybernetics. Wiener contributed significantly to mathematics, especially in areas like stochastic and mathematical analysis. His interdisciplinary work in cybernetics explored systems, control theory, and their application to diverse fields like communication, biology, and robotics. See also Cybernetics, Robots, Artificial Intelligence._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
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Seth Lloyd on Wiener - Dictionary of Arguments
Brockman I 3 Wiener, Norbert/Lloyd: Because he was immersed in problems of control, Wiener saw the world as a set of complex, interlocking feedback loops, in which sensors, signals, and actuators such as engines interact via an intricate exchange of signals and information. Brockman I 4 In The Human Use of Human Beings(1) has more to teach us humans than it did the first time around. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the book is that it introduces a large number of topics concerning human/machine interactions that are still of considerable relevance. (…) Wiener foresaw a moment in the near future of 1950 in which humans would cede control of society to a cybernetic artificial intelligence, which would then proceed to wreak havoc on humankind. The automation of manufacturing, Wiener predicted, would both create large advances in productivity and displace many workers from their jobs (…). >Artificial Intelligence. LloydVsWiener: (…) Wiener failed to foresee crucial technological developments. Like pretty much all technologists of the 1950s, he failed to predict the computer revolution. Computers, he thought, would eventually fall in price from hundreds of thousands of (1950s) dollars to tens of thousands; neither he nor his compeers anticipated the tremendous explosion of computer power that would follow the development of the transistor and the integrated circuit. >Computers. Brockman I 5 (…) Wiener was fascinated by the notion of capturing human behavior by mathematical description. In the 1940s, he applied his knowledge of control and feedback loops to neuromuscular feedback in living systems (…). (…) Wiener’s central insight was that the world should be understood in terms of information. Complex systems, such as organisms, brains, and human societies, consist of interlocking feedback loops in which signals exchanged between subsystems result in complex but stable behavior. When feedback loops break down, the system goes unstable. He constructed a compelling picture of how complex biological systems function, a picture that is by and large universally accepted today. Brockman I 6 1. LloydVsWiener: It is exactly in the extension of the cybernetic idea to human beings that Wiener’s conceptions missed their target. Wiener notes that prosthetic limbs would be much more effective if their wearers could communicate directly with their prosthetics by their own neural signals, receiving information about pressure and position from the limb and directing its subsequent motion. This turned out to be a much harder problem than Wiener envisaged: Seventy years down the road, prosthetic limbs that incorporate neural feedback are still in the very early stages. Brockman I 7 2. LloydVsWiener: Wiener (…) greatly underappreciated the potential of digital computation. >N. Wiener, >Human Machine Communication, >Formalization, >Artificial Consciousness. 1. Wiener, N. (1950) The Human Use of Human Beings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Lloyd, Seth. “Wrong, but More Relevant Than Ever” in: Brockman, John (ed.) 2019. Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI. New York: Penguin Press._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Lloyd, Seth Brockman I John Brockman Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI New York 2019 |