2001: A Space Odyssey and the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence April 5, 2007

2001: A Space Odyssey and the Evolution of (Artificial Intelligence) AI

A Talk by Professor Marvin Minsky

Thursday, April 5, 8:00 PM
List Visual Arts Center
Bartos Theatre

Marvin Minsky is one of the founders of the study of Artificial Intelligence, and also has made many contributions to computer science, psychology, mathematics, linguistics, robotics, and optics. Professor Minsky was also an on-set advisor on the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Since the early 1950s, Professor Minsky has developed computational models of human mental processes and, in recent years has worked chiefly on ideas about how human commonsense reasoning works. He is the author of the 1987 best seller The Society of Mind (which is also the title of the course he teaches at MIT) and its new sequel, The Emotion Machine. This new book suggests that we can best understand human emotional states by regarding them, not as different or complementary to 'intellectual' or 'rational' mental conditions, but as being among our many different, alternative mental strategies or "Ways to Think."

This program is presented in conjunction with Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology and Contemporary Art a two-part exhibition that explores ways in which artists address the influence of technology on the senses.

The talk is free and open to the general public.
Information: 617.253.4680 or http://web.mit.edu/lvac

Official Website: http://web.mit.edu/lvac/www/programs/index.html