Artificial Dreams: The Quest for Non-Biological Intelligence

by Hamid R. Ekbia

This book is a critique of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the perspective of cognitive science – it seeks to examine what we have learned about human cognition from AI successes and failures. The book’s goal is to separate those “AI dreams” that either have been or could be realized from those that are constructed through discourse and are unrealizable. AI research has advanced many areas that are intellectually compelling and holds great promise for advances in science, engineering, and practical systems. After the 1980s, however, the field has often struggled to deliver widely on these promises. This book breaks new ground by analyzing how some of the driving dreams of people practicing AI research become valued contributions, while others devolve into unrealized and unrealizable projects.

Genres: Artificial Intelligence, Science, Nonfiction, Philosophy

416 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2008

About the author

Hamid R. Ekbia is Professor of Informatics, Cognitive Science, and International Studies, and Director of the Center for Research on Mediated Interaction at Indiana University Bloomington. He is the author of Artificial Dreams: The Quest for Non-Biological Intelligence and a coeditor of Big Data Is Not a Monolith (MIT Press).