海角大神

Pioneer of artificial intelligence, mathematician, and avid pianist Marvin Minsky died Sunday, Jan. 24. He was 88.聽News of his death was announced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. According to The Washington Post, an email distributed to employees read:

Dr. Minsky鈥檚 formal education was in the field of mathematics, earning his undergraduate from Harvard in 1950 and his PhD in 1954. But, after achieving his doctorate, he shifted his attention to artificial intelligence. He referred to the puzzle of artificial intelligence as 鈥渉opelessly profound鈥� in a 1981 interview with The New Yorker.

As an inventor, Minsky contributed creations such as the first neural network simulator, SNARC, and the Confocal Scanning Microscope, among other various inventions, according to his MIT biography page. However, his biggest impact comes from his insights into human intelligence, which shaped the field of artificial intelligence.

鈥淢arvin was one of the very few people in computing whose visions and perspectives liberated the computer from being a glorified adding machine to start to realize its destiny as one of the most powerful amplifiers for human endeavors in history,鈥� computer scientist and Minsky colleague聽Alan Kay told The New York Times.

Minsky鈥檚 work in artificial intelligence was driven by the concept of 鈥渋mparting to machines the human capacity for commonsense reasoning,鈥� as written on his biography page. He believed the functioning, commonsense intelligence associated with the human mind could be recreated in machines.

Minsky outlined his thoughts on human intelligence and structure in two books: "The Emotion Machine" (2006) and "The Society of Mind" (1988).

In "The Emotion Machine," Minsky outlined his focus on the logical, rational thought needed for everyday actions and away from the complexities of emotions prevalent in the field of artificial intelligence. He spoke about his ideas in the novel in an interview with New Scientist in 2007:

In the early 1970s, Minsky collaborated with Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator. The duo developed a theory called 鈥淭he Society of Mind,鈥� which was outlined in Minsky鈥檚 book of the same name. The underlying theory maintains that the human mind is made up of various different components, all of which are used for different tasks, and that the system could be replicated in a machine. "The Society of Mind" did not seek to prove a theory, but instead listed different insights and models of thinking about human intelligence.聽The theories had a lasting impact on shaping the field of artificial intelligence.

"The challenges he defined are still driving our quest for intelligent machines and inspiring researchers to push the boundaries in computer science." Daniela Rus, director of the lab that Prof. Minsky cofounded, now known as the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said in the MIT News announcement.聽

Minsky had been with MIT since 1958 and during that time, he was a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab.聽 He also had an impact on many of his students.

鈥淢arvin taught me how to think,鈥� Danny Hillis, a former student and current entreprenuer and inventor, said to The New York Times. "He always challenged you to question the status quo."