| Models
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This project is driven by Professor Larry Reid's seminal research into addiction
and neuropharmacology, and includes his Laboratory for Neuropharmacology.
Issues addressed in the Models of Addiction Project include the following.
- How is it that people can
desire to do x, intend to do x, be able to do x, and yet fail
to do x?
- 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? (Larry's last talk here
touched upon this
in a fascinating way.) What sorts of information-processing models
can be given for addiction?
\item 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 {\em feelings}? Is that what
prevents them from experiencing addiction? More generally, can a
machine suffer from other "mental" afflictions --- autism, perhaps?
\item More generally, this project could take us into the psychology
of reasoning, and the question of whether humans are (ever?) rational.
I think these questions just scratch the surface, but perhaps they convey
the gist. What do you think? We would pursue this project and in order
to jump start it I could get your research on-line: film your lab, get
photos and video on the web site, get some publications up there, and so on.
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