Since Alan Turing proposed his test for assessing the “intelligence” of computers back in the 1950s, some researcher somewhere has been striving to develop a creative, free-thinking machine. Android Epistemology, edited by Kenneth Ford, Clark Glymour and Patrick Hayes (MIT, £19.95/$25, ISBN 0 262 06184 8), highlights all the ideas and philosophical discussions that have emerged during the past five years on a fascinating subject that encompasses artificial intelligence, computers and creativity, and robotics. Whether you support the notion of attributing human traits to machines, or feel that android epistemology is the final abandonment of all that is specially human and humane, this readable and accessible collection of papers should broaden your knowledge of thinking machines.
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