Exploring Robotic Minds: Actions, Symbols, and Consciousness as Self-Organizing Dynamic Phenomena

by Jun Tani

In Exploring Robotic Minds: Actions, Symbols, and Consciousness as Self-Organizing Dynamic Phenomena, Jun Tani sets out to answer an essential and tantalizing question: How do our minds work? By providing an overview of his "synthetic neurorobotics" project, Tani reveals how symbols and concepts that represent the world can emerge in a neurodynamic structure--iterative interactions between the top-down subjective view, which proactively acts on the world, and the bottom-up recognition of the resultant perceptual reality. He argues that nontrivial problems of consciousness and free will could be addressed through structural understanding of such iterative, conflicting interactions between the top-down and the bottom-up pathways.

A wide range of readers will enjoy this wonderful journey of the mind and will follow the author on interdisciplinary discussions that span neuroscience, dynamical systems theories, robotics, and phenomenology. The book also includes many figures, as well as a link to videos of Tani's exciting robotic experiments.

328 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2016

Reviews

[Tavo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most interdisciplinary book I've read. Quite technical on all levels of the conversation. Prof. Tani goes in-depth and connects the different areas around cognitive science in intriguing and meaningful ways.

This work has it all: deep networks, chaos theory, cognitive science, psychology, phenomenology, consciousness and free will.
The topics are properly introduced along with the main obstacles in trying to unify a complete framework which can relate them all.

[İzzet Erten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Robot experiments decorated with unrelated philosophy stuff. Extremely boring...

[yum doofus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5