Selmer Bringsjord
selmer@rpi.edu 
http://www.rpi.edu/ 
brings
Colloquium 3/24, Carnegie 208, RPI
Amid high technology, Spock reasons very, very well. Do we? Our ``Information Age" is exploding with new and exciting technologies; a new group of sophisticates is being spawned, some of them remarkably young. But can these people think? Are they any good at logic, or just good at fun and games?
Selmer Bringsjord specializes in the logico-mathematical and
philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence. 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 Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, New York, where as an Associate Professor he teaches
artificial intelligence, 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 --
thanks to many bright students -- 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 one of the leaders
of the Creative Agents Project, and
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 the author of papers ranging in approach
from the mathematical to the informal, and covering such areas as
artificial intelligence, 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.