uper Minds
Overview ||
Sub-Projects ||
Project Leaders ||
Team Members ||
Contact Info
Overview
Minds may be capable of doing things that are forever beyond the reach
of computation. On the other hand, perhaps AI will succeed in building
an android just as smart (and just as conscious) as us. But either way,
the fact of the matter is that minds can in theory be
greatly enhanced by working symbiotically with machines.
Today, if you're in New York using your Sun, you most certainly cannot also
be in a store in Sydney checking out the texture of a hat
to make sure it's an authentic outback design. Today, you
might have some trouble solving a set of differential equations in
your head (you probably even have trouble simulating the calculations of
a spreadsheet in your head). Today, all your assistants (to be
distinguished from intelligent agents that do help you a bit)
are members of homo sapiens.
Tommorrow will be different. Because tomorrow we will allow you to
touch those hats through telepresence, to run those equations in your
head with help from implants, and to call upon the services of
artificial assistants as clever as many of your human colleagues.
Tomorrow, we want to give you the opportunity to be a super-mind.
Sub-Projects
Project Leaders
Selmer Bringsjord
specializes in the logico-mathematical and
philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence (AI), and, on
the applied side, in the intersection of AI and creativity.
He received his
bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and the PhD in
philosophy and logic from Brown University in 1987. Since then he has
been on faculty at Rensselaer,
where in the Departments of Philosophy, Psychology and
Cognitive Science, and Computer Science, he teaches
AI, logic, and philosophy of mind. His pedagogy
is in large part computation-based: All of his courses make intensive
use of the Web, and of courseware of various types (e.g., Hyperproof).
The materials thereon for his courses
Introduction to Logic and Computability and Logic are
in particular
demand; they are used by publishers of logic courseware (e.g.,
Cambridge University Press and Stanford's CSLI). Bringsjord was on
Rensselaer's team that won the prestigious Hesburgh Award (1995) for
excellence in undergraduate education (for technology-based
interactive learning). He was also a Lilly Fellow in 1989, during
which time he designed and implemented an electronic textbook for
introducing cognitive and computer science. He is also involved
in the Creative Agents Project, which
has its roots in a
project he co-directs with Dave Porush; it is known as as Autopoeisis,
and was launched by a generous gift of $300,000 from the Luce
Foundation and grants from Apple Computer.
Bringsjord is author of the critically acclaimed What
Robots Can \& Can't Be (1992, Kluwer; ISBN 0-7923-1662-2), which is
concerned with the future of attempts to create robots that behave as
humans. Two new technical books, Super-Minds, and
Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity,
are forthcoming this year (Kluwer Academic/Lawrence Erlbaum). The book
Abortion: A Dialogue will also be published this Fall by
Hackett. Dr. Bringsjord is also the author of a
novel (Soft Wars}; Penguin, 1991), and papers ranging in approach
from the mathematical to the informal, and covering such areas as
AI, logic, natural theology, and ethics. He has
lectured and interviewed in person and on radio and television across
the United States, and in England, France, Ireland, Australia, Germany,
Thailand, Japan and Canada.
Ron Noel
specializes in cognitive engineering and the study of cognitive,
biological and machine design systems. He received his bachelor's and master's
degree from New Mexico State University, after which he worked for eight years
in two analytical think tanks. In one, a military think tank, he modeled human
cognitive, perceptual and decision behaviors for use in computer simulation to
gain insights into the potential performance of proposed or conceptual systems.
In the other, a cognitive science laboratory, he researched human behavior to
develop models of human abilities for creation of software that either
interfaced to or automated the behaviors. Returning to academia as a lecturer
at the University of Texas at El Paso he received his PhD from New Mexico
State University in engineering psychology, specializing in the Human-Computer
Interface with a related area in digital design and microcomputer architecture.
He is the veteran of many design projects, and many roles within them. He has
received awards ranging from a national design award for artwork to an award by
the US Army for the creation of original electronic hardware. His current
research project, the Mona-Lisa Project,
part of the Creative Agents Project,
is breaking new ground in machine
creativity and the use of non-analytic or holistic processes in design.
Team Members
We are looking to enlarge our team! Contact either of the team
leaders if you're interested.
- John Escobar,
MS student in computer science. John is doing an
impressive
project in the AI/softbot/reasoning area of Super-Teaching. He is using
the powerful Otter theorem prover, and, for interface work,
Java. Hard copy describing John's project is available from
him (escobj@rpi.edu) and Bringsjord.
- Frank Aragona, MS student, computer science. Frank is planning
to focus on the use of animation in the context of logic instruction.
He too will be making use of Java.
- Mark Chiang,
dual major in mechanical engineering and psychology.
Mark's interdisciplinary major makes him ideal for the project. Mark
is currently exploring hardware and VR needs for the project.
- Robert Griffith is majoring
in electrical engineering and minoring in
psychology. Robert is currently conducting research for a project that will
be applied in Super-Teaching. He is gathering information on the electrical
design, tools and hardware needed for the project.
Contact Info