Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

MIT Media Lab 313Schein, Edgar H. DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacyof Digital Equipment Corporation. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler,2004.Minsky, Marvin Lee(1927– )AmericanComputer ScientistStarting in the 1950s, Marvin Minsky played a key role inthe establishment of artificial intelligence (AI) as adiscipline. Combining cognitive psychology and computerscience, Minsky developed ways to make computers functionin “brain-like” ways (see neural network) and thendeveloped provocative insights about how the human brainmight be organized.Marvin Minsky was born in New York City on August 9,1927. His father was a medical doctor, and Marvin provedto be a brilliant science student at the Bronx High School ofScience and the Phillips Academy. Although he majored inmathematics at Harvard, he also showed a strong interestin biology and psychology. In 1954, he received his Ph.D. inmathematics at Princeton. In 1956, he was a key participantin the seminal Dartmouth conference that established thegoals of the new discipline of artificial intelligence.One of the most important of those goals was to explorethe relationship between thinking in the human brain andthe operation of computers. Earlier in the century, researchinto the electrical activities of neurons (the brain’s information-processingcells) had led to speculation that thebrain functioned something like an intricate telephoneswitchboard, carrying information through millions of tinyconnections. During the 1940s, researchers had begun toexperiment with creating electronic circuits that mimickedthe activity of neurons.In 1957, Fran Rosenblatt built a device called a perceptron.It consisted of a network of electronic nodes thatcan transmit and respond to signals that function muchlike nerve stimuli in the brain (see neural network). Forexample, a perceptron could “recognize” shapes by selectivelyreinforcing the stimuli from light hitting an arrayof photocells. In 1969, Minsky and Seymour Papert coauthoreda very influential book on the significance andlimitations of perceptron research. Their work not onlyspurred research into neural networks and their possiblepractical applications, but also proved a strong impetus forthe new field of cognitive psychology, bridging the study ofhuman mental processes and the insights of computer science(see cognitive science).Meanwhile, Minsky had joined with John McCarthy (seeMcCarthy, John) to found the Artificial Intelligence Laboratoryat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).In moving from basic perception to the higher order waysin which humans learn, Minsky developed the concept offrames. Frames are a way to categorize knowledge about theworld, such as how to plan a trip. Frames can be brokeninto subframes. For example, the trip-planning frame mighthave subframes about air transportation, hotel reservations,and packing. Minsky’s frames concept became a key to theconstruction of expert systems that today allow computers toadvise on such topics as drilling for oil or medical diagnosis(see expert systems and knowledge representation). Inthe 1970s, Minsky and his colleagues at MIT designed roboticsystems to test the ability to use frames to accomplish simplertasks, such as navigating around the furniture in a room.Minsky believed that the results of research into simulatingcognitive behavior had fruitful implications forhuman psychology. In 1986, Minsky published The Societyof Mind. This book suggests that the human mind is not asingle entity (as classical psychology suggests) or a systemwith a small number of often-warring subentities (as psychoanalysisasserted). It is more useful, Minsky suggests,to think of the mind as consisting of a multitude of independentagents that deal with different parts of the task ofliving and interact with one another in complex ways. Whatwe call mind or consciousness, or a sense of self is, therefore,what emerges from this ongoing interaction.Minsky continues his exploration of human psychologyand cognition with his latest book, The Emotion Machine.He has suggested that emotions are actually just alternativeways of thinking and accessing mental resources. In effect,the mind solves problems by looking among its “scripts”for those that seem applicable to the current situation, andthen reflecting on them and revising as necessary.Minsky continues his research at MIT. He has receivednumerous awards, including the ACM Turing Award (1969)and the International Joint Conference on Artificial IntelligenceResearch Excellence Award (1991).Further ReadingHenderson, Harry. Artificial Intelligence: Mirrors for the Mind. NewYork: Chelsea House, 2007.Marvin Minsky’s Home Page. Available online. URL: http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/. Accessed April 10, 2007.Minsky, Marvin. The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking,Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind. NewYork: Simon & Schuster, 2006.———. The Society of Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.MIT Media LabWhile often associated with innovations in computer interfacesand use of new technology, the Media Lab at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT) is actually a partof the School of Architecture and Planning. This originis perhaps reflected in the organization’s multidisciplinaryresearch, including not only computer science and technologybut cognitive science, learning, art, and design.The lab was founded in 1985 by Nicholas Negroponteand former MIT President Jerome Wiesner (see Negroponte,Nicholas). As of 2006 the lab’s directorship wasassumed by Frank Moss. The lab is funded mainly by corporatedonations, though some projects receive governmentfunding or are done in partnership with other schools orother parts of MIT. There is some ongoing tension betweenthe specific needs and desires of corporate sponsors and thelab’s research interests, and over the disposition of intellectualproperty created by projects.