Synopses & Reviews
In [this book, the author] shows why we should expand our ideas about thinking and how thinking itself might change in the future. [This book] explains how our minds work, how they progress from simple kinds of thought to more complex forms that enable us to reflect on ourselves -- what most people refer to as consciousness, or self-awareness. Unlike other broad theories of the mind, this book proceeds in a step-by-step fashion that draws on detailed and specific examples. It shows that thinking -- even higher-level thinking -- can be broken down into a series of specific actions. From emotional states to goals and attachments and on to consciousness and awareness of self, we can understand the process of thinking in all its intricacy. And once we understand thinking, we can build machines -- artificial intelligences -- that can assist with our thinking, machines that can follow the same thinking patterns that we follow and that can think as we do. These humanlike thinking machines would also be emotion machines -- just as we are. -Dust jacket.
Review
"Provocative, delightful, challenging, a rich, funny and altogether fascinating book."
-- Michael Crichton
Review
"Ingenious...stimulating...packed with quips, aphorisms and homely illustrations. A pleasure to read...It will make you think. And that's what brains are for."
-- James W. Lance, The New York Times Book Review (New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year)
Review
"A stunning collage of staccato images, filled to the brim with witty insights and telling aphorisms."
-- Douglas R. Hofstadter, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach
Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction
1 Falling In Love
2 Attachments And Goals
3 From Pain To Suffering
4 Consciousness
5 Levels Of Mental Activities
6 Common Sense
7 Thinking
8 Resourcefulness
9 The Self
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index