http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/ en-us Copyright 2004 Thu, 22 Jul 2004 21:09:26 -0500 Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:45:52 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.01D http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter. Every bit of the brain does something in particular, and surprisingly specific abilities, memories, and responses are in localized areas. Journalist Rita Carter has drawn a map of what is known (and speculated)... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/mapping_the_min.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/mapping_the_min.html Thu, 22 Jul 2004 21:09:26 -0500 The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences by Robert A. Wilson, Frank C. Keil, eds. While not a casual entry into the field, MITECS is an essential addition to the reference shelf for anyone seriously interested in AI, consciousness,... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_mit_encyclo.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_mit_encyclo.html Thu, 22 Jul 2004 21:04:26 -0500 Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler. Nanotechnology, or molecular technology, involves the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules, something the human body already does. In Engines of Creation, Drexler attempts to predict, justify, quantify, and caution us about this... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/engines_of_crea.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/engines_of_crea.html Thu, 22 Jul 2004 21:01:31 -0500 Are We Spiritual Machines? by Ray Kurzweil. Computers are becoming more powerful at an ever-increasing rate, but will they ever become conscious? Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil thinks so and explains how we will "download" our software (our minds)... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/are_we_spiritua.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/are_we_spiritua.html Thu, 22 Jul 2004 20:25:41 -0500 The Adapted Mind by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby. This collection of essays is centred on the complex, evolved psychological mechanisms that generate human behaviour and culture.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_adapted_min.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_adapted_min.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:58:48 -0500 Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind by David Buss. Providing an overview of the field, this textbook highlights the adaptive problems that humans face and uses this discussion to examine topics like sex and mating, parenting and... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/evolutionary_ps.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/evolutionary_ps.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:58:11 -0500 Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book applies Godel's seminal contribution to modern mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/gadel_escher_ba.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/gadel_escher_ba.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:57:00 -0500 Our Molecular Future by Douglas Mulhall. Nanotechnology, the ability to rearrange individual atoms, will lead to technological advances that will change every aspect of our world, including our own species.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/our_molecular_f.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/our_molecular_f.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:55:46 -0500 The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley. Human life, scientific journalist Matt Ridley suggests, is a complex balancing act: we behave with self-interest foremost in mind, but also in ways that do not harm, and sometimes even benefit, others.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_origins_of.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_origins_of.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:49:07 -0500 The Spike by Damien Broderick. The acceleration of change is increasing so sharply that the future is not just unknowable but unrecognizable.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_spike.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_spike.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:48:24 -0500 The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. Attacks the notion that an infant's mind is a blank slate, arguing instead that human beings have an inherited universal structure shaped by the demands made upon the species for survival, albeit with... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_blank_slate.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_blank_slate.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:47:21 -0500 How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker. One of the world's leading cognitive scientists rehabilitates some unfashionable ideas, such as that the mind is a computer and that human nature was shaped by natural selection.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/how_the_mind_wo.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/how_the_mind_wo.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:29:47 -0500 The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. An accessible introduction to the science of evolutionary psychology and how it explains many aspects of human nature.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_moral_anima.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_moral_anima.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:19:17 -0500 The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil. A history of the future, particularly in regards to computers and technology. Filled with timelines for how the author guesses our technology will evolve over the next century.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_age_of_spir.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/the_age_of_spir.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:18:07 -0500 I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. In this collection of short stories, a classic of science fiction, Asimov set out the principles of robot behavior that we know as the Three Laws of Robotics.... http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/i_robot.html http://www.asimovlaws.com/reading/2004/07/i_robot.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:14:08 -0500