Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 408.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 08:41:03 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: sic transit gloria verborum
From the Prologue to Douglas Hofstadter, Fluid Concepts and Creative
Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought (New
York: Basic Books, 1995), p. 1:
'A word on the term "artificial intelligence"... In the 1970's, I
enthusiastically embraced this provocative phrase (or its acronym, "AI") as
a good way of describing my field of research and my own goals. For me and
probably for a good many other people, the term conjured up an exciting
image -- that of questing after the deepest secrets of the human mind and
expressing them as pure, abstract patterns. In the early 1980's, however,
that term, as words are wont to do, gradually started changing
connotations, and began to exude the flavor of commercial applications and
expert systems, as opposed to basic scientific research about the nature of
thinking and being conscious. Then, even worse, it slid down the slope that
ends up in meaningless buzzwords and empty hype. As a result I came to feel
much less comfortable saying or writing "AI". Luckily, a new term was just
then coming into currency "cognitive science" and I started to favor that
way of describing my research interests, since it clearly stresses the idea
of fidelity to what actually goes on in the human mind/brain, as well as
the pure-science nature of the endeavor. Nowadays, I seldom call myself an
"artificial-intelligence researcher" any more, choosing instead to say that
I am a cognitive scientist....'
It isn't as if Hofstadter has not enjoyed some benefits of the power coming
from the roaring commercial engines, so one may feel as if it's a bit much
for him thus to complain, though indirectly. But he does have a point.
Comment?
Yours,
WM
Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS || +44 (0)20
7848-2784 fax: -2980 || willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
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