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Models of
Addiction
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This is under construction by, and will be maintained by
Selmer Bringsjord, Director of
RPI's
Minds & Machines Program. Copyright 1997, Selmer Bringsjord and
Rensselaer. Links to Dr. Reid's lab and reesarch are forthcoming.
This project is driven by Professor Larry Reid's research into addiction.
It includes his
Laboratory for Psychopharmacology.
Issues addressed in the Models of Addiction Project encompass
Dr. Reid's work, but are broadened by a number of other researchers
to include the following.
- Can we solve America's drug problem by learning more about the brain?
Could certain medicines cure people of addictions?
- Is addiction at bottom the result of
irrationalty, another example in a long list of phenomena that has convinced
many that human beings (unlike artificial agents, it would seem) are
fundamentally irrational?
How is it that people can fall into akrasia, i.e., that they can
desire to do x, intend to do x, be able to do x, and yet fail
to do x?
- Suppose that a robot is in need of more energy for its power source,
and that this robot is crucial for the operation of some important systems.
What happens if it decides, of its own will, not to go back for
recharge? Is this question coherent? What does it mean for a robot
to have a will? Can a robot have a will?
- Is it possible to be addicted to an activity that by the lights
of many looks to be constructive? E.g., are some people addicted to
computer games? What is it about such games that makes it seem
to some that such kids are addicted? Why are some games addictive
and some not? (These questions relate to another
project in Minds and Machines:
The Gaming Mind.
- What sorts of failure in information-processing is bound up with
cocaine addiction and the like?
What sorts of information-processing models
can be given for addiction?
- Could a machine be addicted? Why or why not? And what does the
answer tell us about differences between human minds and machines?
Is it that machines can't have genuine feelings? Is that what
prevents them from experiencing addiction? More generally, can a
machine suffer from other "mental" afflictions --- autism, perhaps?
Interesting Links
- What's going on in the area of building artificial brain parts and brain?
Well, an artificial cochlea
exists, and it works amazingly well despite being rather
crude technologically. A semi-technical Web-site that is somewhat
useful (it contains references) is
http://diwww.epfl.ch/lami/team/vschaik/eap/cochlea.html.
It appears that these cochlear implants are actually being sold
now.
A couple of sites about specific products are:
There are also some pages dealing with artificial retinas.
It looks like groups have proceeded as far as
clinical trials, but not to mass market. Here are some Web sites: