Marvin Minsky is Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has led to many advances in artificial intelligence, psychology, physical optics, mathematics, and the theory of computation. He has made major contributions in the domains of computer graphics, knowledge and semantics, machine vision, and machine learning. He has also been involved with technologies for space exploration.Professor Minsky is one of the pioneers of intelligence-based robotics. He designed and built some of the first mechanical hands with tactile sensors, visual scanners, and their software and interfaces. In 1951 he built the first neural-network learning machine. With John McCarthy he founded the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 1959. He has written seminal papers in the fields of artificial intelligence, perception, and language. His book The Society of Mind contains hundreds of ideas about the mind, many of which he has further developed in this book.

CONTENTS1 PROLOGUE1.1 THE AGENTS OF THE MIND1.2 THE MIND AND THE BRAIN1.3 THE SOCIETY OF MIND1.4 THE WORLD OF BLOCKS1.5 COMMON SENSE1.6 AGENTS AND AGENCIES2 WHOLES AND PARTS2.1 COMPONENTS AND CONNECTIONS2.2 NOVELISTS AND REDUCTIONISTS2.3 PARTS AND WHOLES2.4 HOLES AND PARTS2.5 EASY THINGS ARE HARD2.6 ARE PEOPLE MACHINES?3 CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE3.1 CONFLICT3.2 NONCOMPROMISE3.3 HIERARCHIES3.4 HETERARCHIES3.5 DESTRUCTIVENESS3.6 PAIN AND PLEASURE SIMPLIFIED4 THE SELF4.1 THE SELF4.2 ONE SELF OR MANY?4.3 THE SOUL4.4 THE CONSERVATIVE SELF4.5 EXPLOITATION4.6 SELF-CONTROL4.7 LONG-RANGE PLANS4.8 IDEALS5 INDIVIDUALITY5.1 CIRCULAR CAUSALITY5.2 UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS5.3 THE REMOTE-CONTROL SELF5.4 PERSONAL IDENTITY5.5 FASHION AND STYLE5.6 TRAITS5.7 PERMANENT IDENTITY6 INSIGHT AND INTROSPECTION6.1 CONSCIOUSNESS6.2 SIGNALS AND SIGNS6.3 THOUGHT-EXPERIMENTS6.4 B-BRAINS6.5 FROZEN REFLECTION6.6 MOMENTARY MENTAL TIME6.7 THE CAUSAL NOW6.8 THINKING WITHOUT THINKING6.9 HEADS IN THE CLOUDS6.10 WORLDS OUT OF MIND6.11 IN-SIGHT6.12 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION6.13 SELF-KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS6.14 CONFUSION7 PROBLEMS AND GOALS7.1 INTELLIGENCE7.2 UNCOMMON SENSE7.3 THE PUZZLE PRINCIPLE7.4 PROBLEM SOLVING7.5 LEARNING AND MEMORY7.6 REINFORCEMENT AND REWARD7.7 LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY7.8 DIFFERENCE-ENGINES7.9 INTENTIONS7.10 GENIUS8 A THEORY OF MEMORY8.1 K-LINES: A THEORY OF MEMORY8.2 RE-MEMBERING8.3 MENTAL STATES AND DISPOSITIONS8.4 PARTIAL MENTAL STATES8.5 LEVEL-BANDS8.6 LEVELS8.7 FRINGES8.8 SOCIETIES OF MEMORIES8.9 KNOWLEDGE-TREES8.10 LEVELS AND CLASSIFICATIONS8.11 LAYERS OF SOCIETIES9 SUMMARIES9.1 WANTING AND LIKING9.2 GERRYMANDERING9.3 LEARNING FROM FAILURE9.4 ENJOYING DISCOMFORT10 PAPERT'S PRINCIPLE10.1 PIAGET'S EXPERIMENTS10.2 REASONING ABOUT AMOUNTS10.3 PRIORITIES10.4 PAPERT'S PRINCIPLE10.5 THE SOCIETY-OF-MORE10.6 ABOUT PIAGET'S EXPERIMENTS10.7 THE CONCEPT OF CONCEPT10.8 EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT10.9 LEARNING A HIERARCHY11 THE SHAPE OF SPACE11.1 SEEING RED11.2 THE SHAPE OF SPACE11.3 NEARNESSES11.4 INNATE GEOGRAPHY11.5 SENSING SIMILARITIES11.6 THE CENTERED SELF11.7 PREDESTINED LEARNING11.8 HALF-BRAINS11.9 DUMBBELL THEORIES12 LEARNING MEANING12.1 A BLOCK-ARCH SCENARIO12.2 LEARNING MEANING12.3 UNIFRAMES12.4 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION12.5 THE FUNCTIONS OF STRUCTURES12.6 ACCUMULATION12.7 ACCUMULATION STRATEGIES12.8 PROBLEMS OF DISUNITY12.9 THE EXCEPTION PRINCIPLE12.10 HOW TOWERS WORK12.11 HOW CAUSES WORK12.12 MEANING AND DEFINITION12.13 BRIDGE-DEFINITIONS13 SEEING AND BELIEVING13.1 REFORMULATION13.2 BOUNDARIES13.3 SEEING AND BELIEVING13.4 CHILDREN'S DRAWING-FRAMES13.5 LEARNING A SCRIPT13.6 THE FRONTIER EFFECT13.7 DUPLICATIONS14 REFORMULATION14.1 USING REFORMULATIONS14.2 THE BODY-SUPPORT CONCEPT14.3 MEANS AND ENDS14.4 SEEING SQUARES14.5 BRAINSTORMING14.6 THE INVESTMENT PRINCIPLE14.7 PARTS AND HOLES14.8 THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING14.9 THE INTERACTION-SQUARE15 CONSCIOUSNESS AND MEMORY15.1 MOMENTARY MENTAL STATE15.2 SELF-EXAMINATION15.3 MEMORY15.4 MEMORIES OF MEMORIES15.5 THE IMMANENCE ILLUSION15.6 MANY KINDS OF MEMORY15.7 MEMORY REARRANGEMENTS15.8 ANATOMY OF MEMORY15.9 INTERRUPTION AND RECOVERY15.10 LOSING TRACK15.11 THE RECURSION PRINCIPLE16 EMOTION16.1 EMOTION16.2 MENTAL GROWTH16.3 MENTAL PROTO-SPECIALISTS16.4 CROSS-EXCLUSION16.5 AVALANCHE EFFECTS16.6 MOTIVATION16.7 EXPLOITATION16.8 STIMULUS VS. SIMULUS16.9 INFANT EMOTIONS16.10 ADULT EMOTIONS17 DEVELOPMENT17.1 SEQUENCES OF TEACHING-SELVES17.2 ATTACHMENT-LEARNING17.3 ATTACHMENT SIMPLIFIES17.4 FUNCTIONAL AUTONOMY17.5 DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES17.6 PREREQUISITES FOR GROWTH17.7 GENETIC TIMETABLES17.8 ATTACHMENT-IMAGES17.9 DIFFERENT SPANS OF MEMORIES17.10 INTELLECTUAL TRAUMA17.11 INTELLECTUAL IDEALSf0 18 REASONING18.1 MUST MACHINES BE LOGICAL?18.2 CHAINS OF REASONING18.3 CHAINING18.4 LOGICAL CHAINS18.5 STRONG ARGUMENTS18.6 MAGNITUDE FROM MULTITUDE18.7 WHAT IS A NUMBER?18.8 MATHEMATICS MADE HARD18.9 ROBUSTNESS AND RECOVERY19 WORDS AND IDEAS19.1 THE ROOTS OF INTENTION19.2 THE LANGUAGE-AGENCY19.3 WORDS AND IDEAS19.4 OBJECTS AND PROPERTIES19.5 POLYNEMES19.6 RECOGNIZERS19.7 WEIGHING EVIDENCE19.8 GENERALIZING19.9 RECOGNIZING THOUGHTS19.10 CLOSING THE RING20 CONTEXT AND AMBIGUITY20.1 AMBIGUITY20.2 NEGOTIATING AMBIGUITY20.3 VISUAL AMBIGUITY20.4 LOCKING-IN AND WEEDING-OUT20.5 MICRONEMES20.6 THE NEMEIC SPIRAL20.7 CONNECTIONS20.8 CONNECTION LINES20.9 DISTRIBUTED MEMORY21 TRANS-FRAMES21.1 THE PRONOUNS OF THE MIND21.2 PRONOMES21.3 TRANS-FRAMES21.4 COMMUNICATION AMONG AGENTS21.5 AUTOMATISM21.6 TRANS-FRAME PRONOMES21.7 GENERALIZING WITH PRONOMES21.8 ATTENTION22 EXPRESSION22.1 PRONOMES AND POLYNEMES22.2 ISONOMES22.3 DE-SPECIALIZING22.4 LEARNING AND TEACHING22.5 INFERENCE22.6 EXPRESSION22.7 CAUSES AND CLAUSES22.8 INTERRUPTIONS22.9 PRONOUNS AND REFERENCES22.10 VERBAL EXPRESSION22.11 CREATIVE EXPRESSION23 COMPARISONS23.1 A WORLD OF DIFFERENCES23.2 DIFFERENCES AND DUPLICATES23.3 TIME BLINKING23.4 THE MEANINGS OF MORE23.5 FOREIGN ACCENTS24 FRAMES24.1 THE SPEED OF THOUGHT24.2 FRAMES OF MIND24.3 HOW TRANS-FRAMES WORK24.4 DEFAULT ASSUMPTIONS24.5 NONVERBAL REASONING24.6 DIRECTION-NEMES24.7 PICTURE-FRAMES24.8 HOW PICTURE-FRAMES WORK24.9 RECOGNIZERS AND MEMORIZERS25 FRAME-ARRAYS25.1 ONE FRAME AT A TIME?25.2 FRAME-ARRAYS25.3 THE STATIONARY WORLD25.4 THE SENSE OF CONTINUITY25.5 EXPECTATIONS25.6 THE FRAME IDEA26 LANGUAGE-FRAMES26.1 UNDERSTANDING WORDS26.2 UNDERSTANDING STORIES26.3 SENTENCE-FRAMES26.4 A PARTY-FRAME26.5 STORY-FRAMES26.6 SENTENCE AND NONSENSE26.7 FRAMES FOR NOUNS26.8 FRAMES FOR VERBS26.9 LANGUAGE AND VISION26.10 LEARNING LANGUAGE26.11 GRAMMAR26.12 COHERENT DISCOURSE27 CENSORS AND JOKES27.1 DEMONS27.2 SUPPRESSORS27.3 CENSORS27.4 EXCEPTIONS TO LOGIC27.5 JOKES27.6 HUMOR AND CENSORSHIP27.7 LAUGHTER27.8 GOOD HUMOR28 THE MIND AND THE WORLD28.1 THE MYTH OF MENTAL ENERGY28.2 MAGNITUDE AND MARKETPLACE28.3 QUANTITY AND QUALITY28.4 MIND OVER MATTER28.5 THE MIND AND THE WORLD28.6 MINDS AND MACHINES28.7 INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES28.8 OVERLAPPING MINDS29 THE REALMS OF THOUGHT29.1 THE REALMS OF THOUGHT29.2 SEVERAL THOUGHTS AT ONCE29.3 PARANOMES29.4 CROSS-REALM CORRESPONDENCES29.5 THE PROBLEM OF UNITY29.6 AUTISTIC CHILDREN29.7 LIKENESSES AND ANALOGIES29.8 METAPHORS30 MENTAL MODELS30.1 KNOWING30.2 KNOWING AND BELIEVING30.3 MENTAL MODELS30.4 WORLD MODELS30.5 KNOWING OURSELVES30.6 FREEDOM OF WILL30.7 THE MYTH OF THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE30.8 INTELLIGENCE AND RESOURCEFULNESSAPPENDIX31.1 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT31.2 THE GENESIS OF MENTAL REALMS31.3 GESTURES AND TRAJECTORIES31.4 BRAIN CONNECTIONS31.5 SURVIVAL INSTINCT31.6 EVOLUTION AND INTENT31.7 INSULATION AND INTERACTION31.8 EVOLUTION OF HUMAN THOUGHTPOSTSCRIPT AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTGLOSSARY AND BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX

Describing the mind as a "society" that arises out of ever-smaller, mindless agents, each chapter corresponds to a single puzzle piece and a unified theory of the mind emerges before the eyes. Illustrated.