16.430 Minsky on models

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Jan 22 2003 - 02:34:44 EST

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 430.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                       www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                         Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu

             Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 07:23:49 +0000
             From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
             Subject: references to Minsky

    Thanks to Vika Zafrin and to some luck, on the trail of words attributed to
    Marvin Minsky, "the brain is a modelling machine", I have found two rather
    good, brief essays by the man:

    "Conscious Machines"
    http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/documents/minsky.html; and
    "Matter, Mind and Models"
    http://medg.lcs.mit.edu/people/doyle/gallery/minsky/mmm.html

    The first makes the useful point that progress in research using models
    increased dramatically when, because of computers, they "could be
    conceived, tested, and discarded in days or weeks instead of years", the
    second that modelling inherently involves a ternary relation between the
    object of study, the model of it and the researcher.

    More suggestions for where to look would be most welcome.

    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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