Monday, January 25, 2016

Remembering Marvin Minsky

MIT Professor Marvin Minsky has died. This is very sad news - Prof. Minsky was perhaps the single most seminal pioneer of Artificial Intelligence research. I was fortunate enough to take his graduate course "Society of Mind" in the spring of 1998. It was pretty mind blowing. I'm not sure how much I understood, but it was fairly self-evident that we were in the presence of genius. If I remember correctly, much of what we discussed in the class was a series of logic exercises designed to help us reverse-engineer the brain. I loved the idea of studying the brain by conceptualizing it as a complex interconnection of simple components - using engineering to forward neuroscience?! Like I said: mind blowing. A unique, quirky, and brilliant individual.

The Washington Post obit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/01/25/marvin-minsky-1927-2016/

The New York Times obit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/marvin-minsky-pioneer-in-artificial-intelligence-dies-at-88.html

His textbook was pretty excellent, too. I recommend it highly!
http://www.amazon.com/Society-Mind-Marvin-Minsky/dp/0671657135/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453780785&sr=8-1&keywords=society+of+mind

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