When it was first published in 1972, Hubert Dreyfus's manifesto on the inherent inability of disembodied machines to mimic higher mental functions caused an uproar in the artificial intelligence community. The world has changed since then. Today it is clear that "good old-fashioned AI," based on the idea of using symbolic representations to produce general intelligence, is in decline (although several believers still pursue its pot of gold), and the focus of the Al community has shifted to more complex models of the mind. It has also become more common for AI researchers to seek out and study philosophy. For this edition of his now classic book, Dreyfus has added a lengthy new introduction outlining these changes and assessing the paradigms of connectionism and neural networks that have transformed the field.At a time when researchers were proposing grand plans for general problem solvers and automatic translation machines, Dreyfus predicted that they would fail because their conception of mental functioning was naive, and he suggested that they would do well to acquaint themselves with modern philosophical approaches to human beings. What Computers Can't Do was widely attacked but quietly studied. Dreyfus's arguments are still provocative and focus our attention once again on what it is that makes human beings unique.Hubert L. Dreyfus, who is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, is also the author of Being-in-the-World. A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time, Division I.
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Hubert L. Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley.
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The attempts at language translation by computers had the earliest success, the most extensive and expensive research, and the most unequivocal failure. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The attempts at language translation by computers had the earliest success, the most extensive and expensive research, and the most unequivocal failure. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute 'must read' for people interested in the role of computing in society
7 April 1997
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is an absolute classic that everyone interested in or working in AI should have read. It is one of the very view books on a computer related subject that is over 25 years old and still useful today. That alone might tell you something. I find it interesting that many AI-workers seem to be actually afraid of this book. They should not. It may give the reader a far better sense on limits, use and future of AI work.
I would also recommend this book to people outside the AI world and who are interested in what role the digital computer may play in our lives. But the book is not about bits, so if you don't like technical mumbo-jumbo, this is still a book for you.
The book is very well written. Some readers may find it a difficult book, as it also contains some philosophical issues. But some readers may find themselves in a bookstore asking for the work of Wittgenstein or Heidegger and actually understanding what they read (and like what they read) after having read this book.
I have only one complaint. The introduction to the 1992 MIT Press edition is in fact an afterword. It assumes that you already are familiar with the history of the subject. So, if you read this book, you should start with the Introduction to the 1979 edition instead and keep the Introduction to the MIT Press edition definitely for last.
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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A response to Jeffrey Shallit.
24 Nov 2000
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Mr. Shallit compares the critique of cognitive science by Professor Dreyfus to 'creation science'. He remarks that Dreyfus is not a computer scientist. This is true. But many 'cognitive scientists' aren't either, cognitive science being an interdisciplinary pursuit engaging philosophers, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists, anthropologists and sociologists. It is unfortunate that Dreyfus allowed himself to polemicize by using the word 'alchemy' to characterize his opponents, but he has, by far, been the victim of unargued diatribes against his work. The fact is: most of the salient issues in cognitive science are logical and conceptual, NOT technological. Here, Dreyfus broke new ground (although I would have preferred his treatment to have been more Wittgensteinian than Heideggerian). Phil Agre's brilliant book on computation and human experience (Agre IS a computer scientist) shows that SOME AI-workers have found aspects of Dreyfus's work very telling. But, of course, the issues are, again, not empirical but logical in this field. See, for example, Graham Button et al., "Computers, Minds and Conduct" (Polity/Blackwell, 1995) which picks up where Dreyfus left off. Shallit remarks that Dreyfus has been 'refuted': where? by whom?
The fact is that cognitivism is hotly contested by serious thinkers in many disciplines, but Shallit's name-calling (and the comparison of cognitivism's serious critics to creation scientists) smacks of an abdication from serious engagement and argument.
Dreyfus's revised edition is a fine piece of work, worthy of serious intellectual discussion and confrontation. His many aarguments against Fodor, Chomsky, Simon and others have great merit. It is unfortunate that some folks simply close their eyes and argue from authority. But appeals to (even 'scientific') authority wear thin when left to stand alone!!
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute 'must read' for people interested in the role of computing in society
7 April 1997
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is an absolute classic that everyone interested in or working in AI should have read. It is one of the very view books on a computer related subject that is over 25 years old and still useful today. That alone might tell you something. I find it interesting that many AI-workers seem to be actually afraid of this book. They should not. It may give the reader a far better sense on limits, use and future of AI work.
I would also recommend this book to people outside the AI world and who are interested in what role the digital computer may play in our lives. But the book is not about bits, so if you don't like technical mumbo-jumbo, this is still a book for you.
The book is very well written. Some readers may find it a difficult book, as it also contains some philosophical issues. But some readers may find themselves in a bookstore asking for the work of Wittgenstein or Heidegger and actually understanding what they read (and like what they read) after having read this book.
I have only one complaint. The introduction to the 1992 MIT Press edition is in fact an afterword. It assumes that you already are familiar with the history of the subject. So, if you read this book, you should start with the Introduction to the 1979 edition instead and keep the Introduction to the MIT Press edition definitely for last
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
The message is still potent, but the text is well shuffled
24 Aug 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
It goes without saying that this book remains a landmark in the history of AI research: a sobering antidote to all the research hype.
But what a patchwork it has become. Every ten years, the book has a new section and a new introduction bolted on to it. But not just bolted on to the end, or on to the beginning.
No reader is given an easy path through the text: neither the reader who is new to the material (and who wants to read through the text in chronological order), nor the reader who has read the previous incarnation of the book (and who wants to pick up just the new parts).
The message of the book, too, is unfortunately weakened by its subjective stance, and its invocation of the personalities from the debate.
However, the book still remains a refreshingly different contribution to the world of AI research, an important warning, and a greatly worthwhile read.
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