Marvin Minsky "The Emotion Machine": Chapter 1: Representing the Mind as a Cloud of Resources
The father of artificial intelligence is thinking about how to make a machine that would be proud of us . Marvin Minsky was a rather tough scientist and the fact that he explored the theme of feelings and emotions with his “scalpel of knowledge”, which makes us human, is quite interesting and useful. The book is an excellent example of how to use the “ITish approach” to try to comprehend the “human”: values, ideals, love, pain, common sense.
Currently, there are many thinkers who argue that everything that makes the human mind stem from the processes that work in the brain, and the brain, in turn, is only a fairly complex machine. However, other thinkers still insist that machines cannot have such mystical things that we call feelings.
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Everyman: Machines can only do what is incorporated in their program, and do it without any thoughts or feelings. The machine can not be tired or have any emotions. She doesn't care when something goes wrong, she feels neither pleasure, nor pride, nor pleasure from achieving her goals.
Vitalist: This is all due to the fact that machines have no spirit or soul, and have no desires, ambitions, desires or goals. That is why the machine simply stops responding when it gets stuck in front of any task, while the person is trying to somehow solve it. Of course, this is how it should happen, because people are made of different kinds of things; we are alive, and cars are not.
In ancient times, these views were possible because we had no idea how biological organisms work. Living organisms seemed completely different from machines, before we developed modern tools. But now we have created new tools - and developed new concepts of physics and chemistry - which have shown that even the simplest cell is a collection of hundreds of different machines. Then, in the 20th century, we discovered an amazing fact: the “material” from which the machine is built, can be arranged in such a way that its properties have almost no effect on what the machine does!
Thus, in order to build any machine, we can use any substances that are strong enough and stable in time: the only thing that is critical is what each individual part of the machine does and how these separate parts can be connected. For example, we can create different computers that will do the same things, using the latest electric chips, or using paper clips made of wood, metal or paper, combining them in such a way that, while watching from the outside, each of these mechanisms would do the same work. [Cm. Section "Universal Machines".]
The above relates to the question of how machines can have emotions and feelings. Previously, it seemed to us that emotions and feelings were different from physical things, because we had no good ways to imagine how something can exist that connects these two spheres. However, today we have a lot of advanced ideas on how machines can support complex processes. In the remainder of the book, ways will be given that allow us to view emotions and feelings as processes.
This view of emotions and feelings transforms the previously posed questions into less mysterious ones: “What processes are connected with emotions?” And “How can machines support these processes?”. Thus, we can get closer to the answer to the question of how the brain can support such a process - and now we know that each brain has a huge number of different parts, each of which does a specific specialized task. Some parts can recognize different patterns, others can control various actions, others can formulate goals and plans, while others can participate in processing a huge amount of knowledge. This allows you to imagine the mind (or brain) as a collection of hundreds or thousands of different resources.
Initially, this idea may seem too vague, but even in this simple form it gives an idea of ​​how the mind can change its state. For example, in the case of Charles’s dedication, it can be assumed that some processes have turned off resources that are commonly used to recognize flaws. The same processes involve other resources that replace his everyday goals with goals that he believes Celia would like to see in him.
Similarly, the state we call Anger selects the right set of resources that allow you to react with greater force and speed, and also suppresses other resources that cause you to proceed with caution; Anger replaces caution with aggressiveness, makes a choice in favor of hostility, instead of empathy, and makes you less planning a subsequent situation.
More generally speaking, the image shows that in our brain there is a set of “selectors” that are used to excite and suppress certain resources.
Thesis: Each of our basic “emotional states” results from a set of turned on and off resources. Each selected resource determines how we think, thanks to a change in the activity of our brain.
Why is our brain equipped with similar mechanisms? Each of them could develop to perform some special, important functions: anger and fear evolved to protect the body, and excitement evolved to facilitate the reproduction process (which, at times, is associated with rather risky behavior).
If several selectors become active at the same time, then some resources can be simultaneously called and suppressed. This can lead to some kinds of mental states in which we say that "our feelings are mixed." Thus, when a “critical resource” detects any threat, it can activate the Selector, which can cause you to both run and fight by incorporating both sets of resources responsible for Anger and Fear.
Student: I could better capture your thought if you were more accurate and could define the concept of "resource." Are you saying that each resource has a separate, well-defined place in the brain?
I use the word resource in a somewhat vague form, so that it can be attributed to any kind of structures and processes that vary from perception and action to ways of representing knowledge sets. Some resources use functions that work in well-defined parts of the brain, while other parts use different mechanisms scattered around the brain. (We'll talk more about this in the Resources section.)
As mentioned, this idea of ​​a cloud of resources may be too vague - but in the course of the book we will develop more detailed ideas about what our mental resources can do - and how their activities can lead to how people think and act. Then, when we delve into the design of these schemes, we will replace this vague idea of ​​the Resource Cloud with more thoughtful theories about how our resources are organized.
Romanticist: You talk about the emotional states of a person, as if they are only a way of thinking, it is heard too cold and abstract, too intellectually, boring and mechanical. Your theory says nothing about where feelings arise with all their colors and intensity, or where our ambitions and goals arise. This theory does not explain where joy and pain come from, which flow from our success or failure, or how our body interacts with the mind when we are excited by looking at works of art.
Rebecca West : “It overflows the limits of the mind and becomes an important physical event. The blood drains from the arms and legs, and flows back to the heart, which for some time turns into an unusually high temple, the columns of which shine with several kinds of light, and then returning to numb flesh, diluted with some substance that is faster and easier and more energetic than it really is. "
In the ordinary, everyday observation of ourselves, some of our senses seem to be inside our bodies — especially when we are under muscular tension. However, our brain cannot directly determine these stresses on its own; instead, we sense the signals that come to our brain through the nerve fibers from the muscles and tendons. This means that we can also represent our bodies as a collection of certain resources that our brain can use.
So, instead of discussing emotions, as if they were some great phenomenon, the rest of the book will tell you why we’ll better focus on what mental resources are, what things these resources can do, and how each they affect the objects with which it is associated. And in particular, we will develop ideas about what turns them on and off.
Student: Why do I need to turn off resources? Why not make them work all the time?
Indeed, some resources are never turned off - for example, those that are associated with such vital functions as breathing, balancing and holding postures, as well as those that constantly look at certain types of hazards. However, if all our resources were active at the same time, they would constantly be involved in conflicts. You cannot force your body to run and walk, or move in two different directions at the same time. How should we resolve such internal conflicts? In human society, the easiest way to resolve such conflicts is competition. But when competition leads to an excessive waste of resources, we find ways in organizing several levels of management, in which each higher-level manager chooses what action to take on the basis of data from the managers in lower positions.
However, the human mind cannot have a similar hierarchy. This is due to the fact that, in general, no single resource at a lower level can solve any complex problem on its own. Thus, when a “critical” lower-level resource encounters a problem that it must resolve, it may temporarily need to control one or more overlying resources, for example, to break the problem into smaller parts; or recall how a similar problem was resolved in the past; or try to make a couple of different attempts to solve the problem, and then compare and evaluate the result. Thus, the “critical component” can use several “selectors”, each of which can lead to different ways of thinking about the problem.
Now, each of the high-level strategies has to use hundreds of low-level processes, so if we try to use several “ways of thinking” at the same time, they will interfere with each other - thus, we still need the highest level of management. This may be one of the reasons why our “reflections” always seem to us to be a serial, step-by-step process than to those who instantly give their results. However, each such high-level “step” should involve many low-level processes that should work simultaneously. Thus, the feeling that our thoughts are similar to a sequential flow is an illusion, since the high-level parts of our brain have little understanding of low-level subprocesses. (We discuss this in more detail in § 4 and §7).
Critic: In any case, I think your approach to the switching of resources is too radical. Perhaps this approach can be used to predict the behavior of insects or fish, but Charles did not switch, if you follow your descriptions, to a completely different state of mind. He changed some aspects of his behavior, but he still remembers his name and remains the same as he was in most other cases.
Quite right, what we have presented now is just a caricature. To develop the idea of ​​a Cloud of Resources, we started with a simplified model in which each of the resources could be turned on or off. To some extent, it can be applied to describe the actions of insects and fish, and to some things that make the children of people, because they are prone to strong and rapid changes in their condition. However, in the process of growing up, we develop ways of “self-control,” and our resources become much less “reactive.” Instead, we learn to turn them on and off to one degree or another, so that we can listen and speak, and gain access to areas of knowledge and skills, although we will use them with different priorities. And over time, we develop more sophisticated ways to control both the old instincts and the new processes, as well as to create new types of their composition, through which several active processes are involved at once - and then we say that we experience mixed feelings.
For the translation, thanks to Stanislav Sukhanitsky, who responded to my call in the “previous chapter.” Who wants to help with the translation - write in a personal or mail magisterludi2016@yandex.ru
By the way, we launched the translation of another cool book - “The Dream Machine: The History of Computer Revolution” .
Marvin Lee Minsky (Eng. Marvin Lee Minsky; August 9, 1927 - January 24, 2016) - American scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Laboratory of artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ Wikipedia ]
Interesting Facts:
§1-5. Representation of the Mind As Resource Clouds
Currently, there are many thinkers who argue that everything that makes the human mind stem from the processes that work in the brain, and the brain, in turn, is only a fairly complex machine. However, other thinkers still insist that machines cannot have such mystical things that we call feelings.
')
Everyman: Machines can only do what is incorporated in their program, and do it without any thoughts or feelings. The machine can not be tired or have any emotions. She doesn't care when something goes wrong, she feels neither pleasure, nor pride, nor pleasure from achieving her goals.
Vitalist: This is all due to the fact that machines have no spirit or soul, and have no desires, ambitions, desires or goals. That is why the machine simply stops responding when it gets stuck in front of any task, while the person is trying to somehow solve it. Of course, this is how it should happen, because people are made of different kinds of things; we are alive, and cars are not.
In ancient times, these views were possible because we had no idea how biological organisms work. Living organisms seemed completely different from machines, before we developed modern tools. But now we have created new tools - and developed new concepts of physics and chemistry - which have shown that even the simplest cell is a collection of hundreds of different machines. Then, in the 20th century, we discovered an amazing fact: the “material” from which the machine is built, can be arranged in such a way that its properties have almost no effect on what the machine does!
Thus, in order to build any machine, we can use any substances that are strong enough and stable in time: the only thing that is critical is what each individual part of the machine does and how these separate parts can be connected. For example, we can create different computers that will do the same things, using the latest electric chips, or using paper clips made of wood, metal or paper, combining them in such a way that, while watching from the outside, each of these mechanisms would do the same work. [Cm. Section "Universal Machines".]
The above relates to the question of how machines can have emotions and feelings. Previously, it seemed to us that emotions and feelings were different from physical things, because we had no good ways to imagine how something can exist that connects these two spheres. However, today we have a lot of advanced ideas on how machines can support complex processes. In the remainder of the book, ways will be given that allow us to view emotions and feelings as processes.
This view of emotions and feelings transforms the previously posed questions into less mysterious ones: “What processes are connected with emotions?” And “How can machines support these processes?”. Thus, we can get closer to the answer to the question of how the brain can support such a process - and now we know that each brain has a huge number of different parts, each of which does a specific specialized task. Some parts can recognize different patterns, others can control various actions, others can formulate goals and plans, while others can participate in processing a huge amount of knowledge. This allows you to imagine the mind (or brain) as a collection of hundreds or thousands of different resources.
Initially, this idea may seem too vague, but even in this simple form it gives an idea of ​​how the mind can change its state. For example, in the case of Charles’s dedication, it can be assumed that some processes have turned off resources that are commonly used to recognize flaws. The same processes involve other resources that replace his everyday goals with goals that he believes Celia would like to see in him.
Similarly, the state we call Anger selects the right set of resources that allow you to react with greater force and speed, and also suppresses other resources that cause you to proceed with caution; Anger replaces caution with aggressiveness, makes a choice in favor of hostility, instead of empathy, and makes you less planning a subsequent situation.
More generally speaking, the image shows that in our brain there is a set of “selectors” that are used to excite and suppress certain resources.
Thesis: Each of our basic “emotional states” results from a set of turned on and off resources. Each selected resource determines how we think, thanks to a change in the activity of our brain.
Why is our brain equipped with similar mechanisms? Each of them could develop to perform some special, important functions: anger and fear evolved to protect the body, and excitement evolved to facilitate the reproduction process (which, at times, is associated with rather risky behavior).
If several selectors become active at the same time, then some resources can be simultaneously called and suppressed. This can lead to some kinds of mental states in which we say that "our feelings are mixed." Thus, when a “critical resource” detects any threat, it can activate the Selector, which can cause you to both run and fight by incorporating both sets of resources responsible for Anger and Fear.
Student: I could better capture your thought if you were more accurate and could define the concept of "resource." Are you saying that each resource has a separate, well-defined place in the brain?
I use the word resource in a somewhat vague form, so that it can be attributed to any kind of structures and processes that vary from perception and action to ways of representing knowledge sets. Some resources use functions that work in well-defined parts of the brain, while other parts use different mechanisms scattered around the brain. (We'll talk more about this in the Resources section.)
As mentioned, this idea of ​​a cloud of resources may be too vague - but in the course of the book we will develop more detailed ideas about what our mental resources can do - and how their activities can lead to how people think and act. Then, when we delve into the design of these schemes, we will replace this vague idea of ​​the Resource Cloud with more thoughtful theories about how our resources are organized.
Romanticist: You talk about the emotional states of a person, as if they are only a way of thinking, it is heard too cold and abstract, too intellectually, boring and mechanical. Your theory says nothing about where feelings arise with all their colors and intensity, or where our ambitions and goals arise. This theory does not explain where joy and pain come from, which flow from our success or failure, or how our body interacts with the mind when we are excited by looking at works of art.
Rebecca West : “It overflows the limits of the mind and becomes an important physical event. The blood drains from the arms and legs, and flows back to the heart, which for some time turns into an unusually high temple, the columns of which shine with several kinds of light, and then returning to numb flesh, diluted with some substance that is faster and easier and more energetic than it really is. "
In the ordinary, everyday observation of ourselves, some of our senses seem to be inside our bodies — especially when we are under muscular tension. However, our brain cannot directly determine these stresses on its own; instead, we sense the signals that come to our brain through the nerve fibers from the muscles and tendons. This means that we can also represent our bodies as a collection of certain resources that our brain can use.
So, instead of discussing emotions, as if they were some great phenomenon, the rest of the book will tell you why we’ll better focus on what mental resources are, what things these resources can do, and how each they affect the objects with which it is associated. And in particular, we will develop ideas about what turns them on and off.
Student: Why do I need to turn off resources? Why not make them work all the time?
Indeed, some resources are never turned off - for example, those that are associated with such vital functions as breathing, balancing and holding postures, as well as those that constantly look at certain types of hazards. However, if all our resources were active at the same time, they would constantly be involved in conflicts. You cannot force your body to run and walk, or move in two different directions at the same time. How should we resolve such internal conflicts? In human society, the easiest way to resolve such conflicts is competition. But when competition leads to an excessive waste of resources, we find ways in organizing several levels of management, in which each higher-level manager chooses what action to take on the basis of data from the managers in lower positions.
However, the human mind cannot have a similar hierarchy. This is due to the fact that, in general, no single resource at a lower level can solve any complex problem on its own. Thus, when a “critical” lower-level resource encounters a problem that it must resolve, it may temporarily need to control one or more overlying resources, for example, to break the problem into smaller parts; or recall how a similar problem was resolved in the past; or try to make a couple of different attempts to solve the problem, and then compare and evaluate the result. Thus, the “critical component” can use several “selectors”, each of which can lead to different ways of thinking about the problem.
Now, each of the high-level strategies has to use hundreds of low-level processes, so if we try to use several “ways of thinking” at the same time, they will interfere with each other - thus, we still need the highest level of management. This may be one of the reasons why our “reflections” always seem to us to be a serial, step-by-step process than to those who instantly give their results. However, each such high-level “step” should involve many low-level processes that should work simultaneously. Thus, the feeling that our thoughts are similar to a sequential flow is an illusion, since the high-level parts of our brain have little understanding of low-level subprocesses. (We discuss this in more detail in § 4 and §7).
Critic: In any case, I think your approach to the switching of resources is too radical. Perhaps this approach can be used to predict the behavior of insects or fish, but Charles did not switch, if you follow your descriptions, to a completely different state of mind. He changed some aspects of his behavior, but he still remembers his name and remains the same as he was in most other cases.
Quite right, what we have presented now is just a caricature. To develop the idea of ​​a Cloud of Resources, we started with a simplified model in which each of the resources could be turned on or off. To some extent, it can be applied to describe the actions of insects and fish, and to some things that make the children of people, because they are prone to strong and rapid changes in their condition. However, in the process of growing up, we develop ways of “self-control,” and our resources become much less “reactive.” Instead, we learn to turn them on and off to one degree or another, so that we can listen and speak, and gain access to areas of knowledge and skills, although we will use them with different priorities. And over time, we develop more sophisticated ways to control both the old instincts and the new processes, as well as to create new types of their composition, through which several active processes are involved at once - and then we say that we experience mixed feelings.
For the translation, thanks to Stanislav Sukhanitsky, who responded to my call in the “previous chapter.” Who wants to help with the translation - write in a personal or mail magisterludi2016@yandex.ru
By the way, we launched the translation of another cool book - “The Dream Machine: The History of Computer Revolution” .
Table of Contents of The Emotion Machine
Introduction
Chapter 4. CONSCIOUSNESS
Chapter 5. LEVELS OF MENTAL ACTIVITIES
Chapter 6. COMMON SENSE
Chapter 7. Thinking.
Chapter 8. Resourcefulness.
Chapter 9. The Self.
Chapter 1. Falling in Love
Love
The Sea Of Mental Mysteries
Moods and Emotions
Infant emotions
Seeing a Mind as a Cloud of Resources
Adult Emotions
Emotion cascades
Questions
The Sea Of Mental Mysteries
Moods and Emotions
Infant emotions
Seeing a Mind as a Cloud of Resources
Adult Emotions
Emotion cascades
Questions
Chapter 2. ATTACHMENTS AND GOALS
Chapter 3. FROM PAIN TO SUFFERINGChapter 4. CONSCIOUSNESS
Chapter 5. LEVELS OF MENTAL ACTIVITIES
Chapter 6. COMMON SENSE
Chapter 7. Thinking.
Chapter 8. Resourcefulness.
Chapter 9. The Self.
about the author
Marvin Lee Minsky (Eng. Marvin Lee Minsky; August 9, 1927 - January 24, 2016) - American scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Laboratory of artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ Wikipedia ]
Interesting Facts:
- Minsky was a friend of critic Harold Bloom from Yale University (Yale University), who spoke of him as “sinister Marvin Minsky”.
- Isaac Asimov described Minsky as one of two people who are smarter than himself; the second, in his opinion, was Karl Sagan.
- Marvin is a robot with artificial intelligence from the cycle of Douglas Adams novels Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film).
- Minsky has a contract to freeze his brain after death in order to be “resurrected” in the future.
- In honor of Minsk named the dog of the protagonist in the movie Tron: Legacy. [ Wikipedia ]
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/354356/
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