The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky Swaroop

The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky Swaroop Roy 05005033

Motivation �How does the mind work. �What is the meaning of ”life” in living beings. �How can intelligence emerge from non- intelligence. �How do we learn. �How do we solve problems. �How do we remember events.

Introduction �Society of Mind. . . . whats that ?

Introduction �Society of Mind. . . . whats that ? �Its a scheme in which the mind thought of as being made up of many smaller processes.

Mental Agents �These processes are called mental agents or just agents. �Each agent can only perform simple tasks that need no mind or thought at all. (why ? ) �Yet when these agents are joined in societies -in very special ways- this leads to true intelligence.

�To explain the mind, we have to show minds are built from mindless stuff, from parts that are much smaller and simpler than anything we'd consider smart (agents). �Unless we can explain the mind in terms of things that have no thoughts or feelings their own, we'll only have gone around in a circle

Why do we want to look at the mind this way �Analogous to studying living beings through cells.

Why do we want to look at the mind this way �Analogous to studying living beings through cells. �Similarly studying matter through atoms.

Society of Mind – An Example �To start to see how minds are like societies, consider this task : pick up a cup of tea.

Society of Mind – An Example �To start to see how minds are like societies, consider this task : pick up a cup of tea. �The GRASPING agents want to keep hold of the cup. �The BALANCING agents want to keep the tea from spilling. �The THIRST agents want to drink the tea. �The MOVING agents want to get the cup to the lips

Society of Mind – An Example �Note that each of them are mutually exclusive, balancing does not affect thirst and thirst is not involved in our social life. �They depend on one another to get the job done which is drink tea. �All this happens while talking. �Very complex system.

World of Blocks � Imagine the childs mind contains a host of smaller minds and right now an agent called Builder is in control whose speciality is to build towers from blocks. � Building a tower itself is too complicated a task for any snigle agent so Builder takes help from several other agents.

World of Blocks

Common Sense � Our builder is really far from done. � See must recognize blocks in spite of backgrounds, shades, lights, and even when they're partially obscured by other things. � Move has to guide the arm through complicated paths in space without striking the tower or the child itself. � Grasp must not take a block already in the tower !!!! � What if the tower starts to sway? Real builder must guess the cause. Is it because some joint isn't square enough? Is the foundation insecure, or is the tower too tall for its width? Perhaps is only because the last block was placed too roughly.

Common Sense �All children learn about such things but we rarely ever think about them in our later years, by the time we are adults we consider all of this to be simple ”common sense”. �Commonsense not a simple thing. Instead, its an immense society of hard-earned practical ideasof multitudes of life-learned rules and exceptions, dispositions and tendencies, balances and checks. �Illusion of simplicity comes from losing touch with what happened during infancy, when we formed our first abilities.

Agents and Agencies �A certain sense of loss while breaking down. �Builder is composed of agents like Find and Get, where does the ”knowing how to build” reside ? �Not in any single part, yet those parts are all that Builder is.

Agents and Agencies �A certain sense of loss while breaking down. �Builder is composed of agents like Find and Get, where does the ”knowing how to build” reside ? �Not in any single part, yet those parts are all that Builder is. �Answer: Its not enough to understand what each agent does, also need to know how they are inter-related

Agents and Agencies �Does builder really know how to build towers ?

Agents and Agencies �Does builder really know how to build towers ? �Depends on how you look at it.

Life and Mind �What is Life? One dissects body but finds no life inside. �What is Mind? One dissects a brain but finds no mind inside. �Are life and mind so much more than the "sum of their parts" that it is useless to search for them?

Life and Mind � Holist: Holist "l'll prove no box can hold a mouse. A box is made by nailing six boards together. But its obvious that no box can hold a mouse unless it has some 'mouse-tightness' or containment. Now, no single board contains any containment since the mouse can just walk away from it. And if there is no containment in one board, there can't be any in six boards. So the box can have no mouse-tightness at all. Theoretically, then, the mouse can escape!" � Citizen: "Amazing. Then what does keep the mouse in a box? " � Holist: "Oh, simple. Even though it has no real mousetightness, a goodbox can 'simulate' it so well that the mouse is fooled and can't figure how to escape. "

References �Marvin Minski – Society of Mind (book). �All pictures courtesy “Society of Mind” (book).