This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. The present volume offers a broad and imaginative approach to the study of the mind, which emphasizes several themes, namely: the importance of functional organization apart from the specific material by means of which it may be implemented; the use of modeling to simulate these functional processes and subject them to certain kinds of tests; the use of mentalistic language to describe and predict the behavior of artifacts; and the subsumption of processes of adaptation, learning, and intelligence by means of explanatory principles. The author has produced a rich and complex, lucid and readable discussion that clarifies and illuminates many of the most difficult problems arising within this difficult domain.

This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. The present volume offers a broad and imaginative approach to the study of the mind, which emphasizes several themes, namely: the importance of functional organization apart from the specific material by means of which it may be implemented; the use of modeling to simulate these functional processes and subject them to certain kinds of tests; the use of mentalistic language to describe and predict the behavior of artifacts; and the subsumption of processes of adaptation, learning, and intelligence by means of explanatory principles. The author has produced a rich and complex, lucid and readable discussion that clarifies and illuminates many of the most difficult problems arising within this difficult domain.

Identifies eleven individuals and their contributions to and discoveries in computer science and engineering.

Following significant advances in deep learning and related areas interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly grown. In particular, the application of AI in drug discovery provides an opportunity to tackle challenges that previously have been difficult to solve, such as predicting properties, designing molecules and optimising synthetic routes. Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery aims to introduce the reader to AI and machine learning tools and techniques, and to outline specific challenges including designing new molecular structures, synthesis planning and simulation. Providing a wealth of information from leading experts in the field this book is ideal for students, postgraduates and established researchers in both industry and academia.

From Oxford's leading AI researcher comes a fun and accessible tour through the history and future of one of the most cutting edge and misunderstood field in science: Artificial Intelligence The somewhat ill-defined long-term aim of AI is to build machines that are conscious, self-aware, and sentient; machines capable of the kind of intelligent autonomous action that currently only people are capable of. As an AI researcher with 25 years of experience, professor Mike Wooldridge has learned to be obsessively cautious about such claims, while still promoting an intense optimism about the future of the field. There have been genuine scientific breakthroughs that have made AI systems possible in the past decade that the founders of the field would have hailed as miraculous. Driverless cars and automated translation tools are just two examples of AI technologies that have become a practical, everyday reality in the past few years, and which will have a huge impact on our world. While the dream of conscious machines remains, Professor Wooldridge believes, a distant prospect, the floodgates for AI have opened. Wooldridge's A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence is an exciting romp through the history of this groundbreaking field--a one-stop-shop for AI's past, present, and world-changing future.

Elon Musk named Our Final Invention one of 5 books everyone should read about the future A Huffington Post Definitive Tech Book of 2013 Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the "smart" in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street, and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence. In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI's Holy Grail—human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine. Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, Our Final Invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?

This ambitious study explores how important darkness--artificial darkness--was, as an actual technology, in producing not just photographs but visual novelties and experiments in cinema in the nineteenth century. The study plays out against a backdrop of urban history, where most scholars have focused on the growth of artificial light and the electrification of cities. Elcott’s study challenges that approach. In considering zones of darkness, it ranges from the sites of production (darkrooms, studios) to those of reception (theaters/cinemas/arcades) that shaped modern media and perceptions. He argues that, in the nineteenth century, the avant-garde was often less interested in the filmed image than in everything surrounding it: the screen, the projected light, the darkness, the experience of disembodiment. He argues that darkness has a history separate from night, evil, or the color black, and has a specifically modern manifestation as a media technology. We are all aware of the "velvet light trap” in photography, but at the heart of this book are technologies of darkness crucial to cinema that were commonly known as "the black screen,” but have, over time, faded from the storied discourse.

An illustrated journey through 250 milestones in computer science, from the ancient abacus to Boolean algebra, GPS, and social media. With 250 illustrated landmark inventions, publications, and events—encompassing everything from ancient record-keeping devices to the latest computing technologies—The Computer Book takes a chronological journey through the history and future of computer science. Two expert authors, with decades of experience working in computer research and innovation, explore topics including: the Sumerian abacus * the first spam message * Morse code * cryptography * early computers * Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics * UNIX and early programming languages * movies * video games * mainframes * minis and micros * hacking * virtual reality * and more “What a delight! A fast trip through the computing landscape in the company of friendly tour guides who know the history.” —Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University

A breakthrough theory that tools and technology are the real drivers of human evolution Although humans are one of the great apes, along with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, we are remarkably different from them. Unlike our cousins who subsist on raw food, spend their days and nights outdoors, and wear a thick coat of hair, humans are entirely dependent on artificial things, such as clothing, shelter, and the use of tools, and would die in nature without them. Yet, despite our status as the weakest ape, we are the masters of this planet. Given these inherent deficits, how did humans come out on top? In this fascinating new account of our origins, leading archaeologist Timothy Taylor proposes a new way of thinking about human evolution through our relationship with objects. Drawing on the latest fossil evidence, Taylor argues that at each step of our species' development, humans made choices that caused us to assume greater control of our evolution. Our appropriation of objects allowed us to walk upright, lose our body hair, and grow significantly larger brains. As we push the frontiers of scientific technology, creating prosthetics, intelligent implants, and artificially modified genes, we continue a process that started in the prehistoric past, when we first began to extend our powers through objects. Weaving together lively discussions of major discoveries of human skeletons and artifacts with a reexamination of Darwin's theory of evolution, Taylor takes us on an exciting and challenging journey that begins to answer the fundamental question about our existence: what makes humans unique, and what does that mean for our future?

Simultaneously critiquing, historicizing and theorizing prosthetics, this text lays out a balanced and complex picture of its subject, neither vilifying nor celebrating the merger of flesh and machine.