Review by Choice Review
An extremely well-written book about artificial intelligence (AI) and an engrossing mix of history, speculation, and philosophy. The first four chapters give a concise history of AI up until 1970, with many interesting anecdotes--some classic, some new. The next four are an analytical account of the successes and the difficulties in the next two decades. The last section of the book is a balanced critique of the problems and promises of the field, with discussions of connectionist computing and of the philosophical, psychological, and social aspects of AI. Crevier, once a student at MIT, is now a researcher in AI. His personal knowledge of many leaders in AI, and his interviews with numerous AI superstars, including Herbert Simon and Marvin Minsky, make the book both interesting and authoritative. Extremely rewarding reading for anyone interested in computers at any level that will provide as much pleasure and knowledge to the reader as did that earlier classic, Pamela McCorduck's Machines Who Think (1979). All levels. R. Bharath; Northern Michigan University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Anxious that silicon matter will soon overpower gray matter? Despite Gary Kasparov's being one of the few humans who can still defeat the chess program Deep Thought, there's no need for worry, at least for now. An electronics engineer wearing a press hat, Crevier reveals in this tour through the labs and minds of AI scientists the formidable challenge of emulating the human thought process, a multifaceted mystery that blends formal logic, math, psychology, and linguistics. The computer, however powerful, can only follow a rigid heuristic procedure that, at some point, is confounded by common sense. The repetitive hints of this verity lie in the scores of projects undertaken in the AI community since machine intelligence became a notional possibility in the late 1950s and a commercial product (in the form of expert systems) in the 1980s. Presenting the history with the right level of complexity, this knowledgeable insider explains the projects, the visions of their theorists and creators, and the logical constructs they use in a way that humanizes the mechanical subject. An excellent overview, which the computer-literati will find irresistible, and whose news to homo sapiens panicked by the specter of sentiens ex machina is relax--but only, Crevier predicts, for the next 50 years. ~--Gilbert Taylor
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An engineering professor at the University of Quebec and an entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence, Crevier predicts that by 2020 or so, computers will have acquired the critical facility that has evaded all thinking machines to date: the ability to reason on a commonsensical level. Setting aside the commanding implications of that speculation, Crevier focusses on AI social history in this chronicle of the more than 30-year engineering saga of the AI movement, citing observations of such guiding lights in the field as Marvin Minsky, Herbert Simon and Allen Newell. In documenting the jolts and starts of this relatively new area of inquiry (with its overload of acronyms), Crevier diminishes the dislocating effect of confronting an evolution in intelligence greater than our own. Like a sermon preached to believers, this update on the AI movement will appeal mostly to its followers. Library of Science and Small Computer Book Club alternates. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
``Tumultuous'' may not be the right adjective to describe the history of artificial intelligence. Certainly, it has promised great things that often failed to materialize, so that the general effect has been more disappointment than tumult. Even the few success stories, like Mycin and Xcon, have their problems. Xcon, the expert configurator used by Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), eventually began to crumble from its own weight. The cost to keep knowledge bases current proved to be far higher than anticipated. One joke at DEC is that Xcon replaced 75 systems people, but the expert system requires 150 to maintain it. Crevier traces the history, knows the people, and understands the technology. He concludes with a question: Are we creating the next species of intelligent life on Earth? He sees the answer as a major concern of the 21st century. For computer and technology collections.-- Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Livermore, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
