Preface I. Foundations 1: Brains, Minds, and Numbers 2: Computing Minds 3: Computing Brains 4: The Astonishing Hypothesis II. Faculties 5: Perception 6: Memory 7: Language 8: Thinking III. Finale 9: Being No One 10: Imagine 11: The Mind in the Act of Finding Appendices A. Bayesian Inference and Decision Making B. Mind the Gap Bibliography Index Credits
Shimon Edelman is the author of Representation and Recognition in Vision and of dozens of scholarly publications in theoretical neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, all focusing on reverse-engineering the human brain. This effort, billed as the Experimental Epistemology Project, has resulted in several breakthroughs in understanding how the brain gives rise to the mind.
"This is a surprising book. On page 1, I was told that it contains
a map of the London Underground; on page 275, I discovered why, and
the pages accidentally viewed between had me trapped. Almost every
one has an illustration, and the text tells its tale in lucid,
well-focused paragraphs. You would learn a lot just from flipping
its pages, and I can guarantee that you would also be entertained.
If you have the slightest interest in the mind and how it
works,
you should not let this book slip past you." --Horace Barlow, FRS,
Retired Royal Society Research Professor of Physiology, University
of Cambridge
"...a unique blend of cognitive psychology, artificial
intelligence, neuroscience, and philosophy. It will be well
received in a survey course in cognitive psychology focusing on
artificial intelligence, or the reverse."--PsycCritiques
"Edelman develops the thesis that the mind is computation, grounds
it in neuroscience, supports it with empirical findings from
diverse literatures, and brings it to bear on classical
philosophical issues. Exemplifying the future of the science, the
treatment is so inter-disciplinary as to not show favoritism
towards a particular discipline. The writing is playful enough for
a lay audience, accessible enough for advanced undergraduates, and
informative enough
for seasoned scientists."--Lawrence W. Barsalou, Samuel Candler
Dobbs Professor of Psychology, Emory University
"A well-written and provocative attempt to integrate the detailed
findings of psychology and neuroscience within a computational
paradigm--where computation boils down not to computers but to
organization." --Margaret A. Boden, Research Professor of Cognitive
Science, University of Sussex
"This is an awe-inspiring book in multiple senses, but most
importantly because it inspires its reader to be awed by the
mysteries of the mind, and even more awed by what is known. Dr.
Edelman forges a unified and coherent theory that nonetheless
encompasses topics as diverse as computation, consciousness,
perception, attention, memory, judgment, reasoning, creativity,
language, ethics, truth, and beauty. The book offers a rigorous,
computational account of
cognition that is simultaneously witty, cultivated, and connected
to the world."--Robert Goldstone, Chancellors Professor of
Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Director of the Cognitive
Science
Program, Indiana University
"Shimon Edelman has written a fresh book about one of the main
mysteries in science today: how the mind works and, in fact, what
is the mind? It is easy and fun to read but at the same time almost
every page reveals a new intriguing connection between computation,
psychology and philosophy. I find it to be deep, challenging, and
provocative--wonderful for any curious mind." --Tomaso Poggio,
Eugene McDermott Professor, McGovern Institute, Computer Science
and
Artificial Intelligence Lab, and Brain Sciences Department,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"As I have long held, philosophers and scientists studying the mind
should be required to have first-hand experience of designing,
implementing, testing, debugging, documenting, and analyzing
working cognitive systems. Simply reading about it is no
substitute, though I think reading this book comes pretty close,
and, in any case, should accompany doing it."-- Aaron Sloman,
Honorary Professor of Artificial Intelligence and
Cognitive Science, University of Birmingham
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