Massimo Negrotti - Böcker

The debate on the feasibility and applications of artificial intelligence has concentrated on the arguments about the concept of "intelligence", largely neglecting the concept of the "artificial". Most of the recent literature is concerned with whether or not the concept of intelligence is transferable to the computer. Apart from the book by H.A. Simon, "The Sciences of the Artificial" (1969), no serious attempt has been made to define a conceptual framework for understanding the true nature of intelligent machines independently of the "human" features claimed, or denied, for them. "Understanding the Artificial" aims to promote a "second wave" of debate on AI which may help human culture to adapt itself to the artificial rather than to assimilate it according to a user-oriented philosophy. This collection of papers, edited by Professor Massimo Negrotti, discusses the potential losses and gains from AI if we abandon the original anthropomorphic pretension. The authors aim to clarify the main differences between human knowledge processes and computer information processing and suggest the most plausible alternatives to the original ambitions of AI.The authors aim to redefine the epistemology and the objectives of the discipline by highlighting potential problems and possible solutions which should be accepted as typical of the concept of the "artificial" rather than of an information-based imitation of man. This monograph on computer science, artificial intelligence, philosophy of science and sociology is intended for researchers and postgraduate students.

The human ambition to reproduce and improve natural objects and processes has a long history, and ranges from dreams to actual design, from Icarus’s wings to modern robotics and bioengineering. This imperative seems to be linked not only to practical utility but also to our deepest psychology. Nevertheless, reproducing something natural is not an easy enterprise, and the actual replication of a natural object or process by means of some technology is impossible. In this book the author uses the term naturoid to designate any real artifact arising from our attempts to reproduce natural instances. He concentrates on activities that involve the reproduction of something existing in nature, and whose reproduction, through construction strategies which differ from natural ones, we consider to be useful, appealing or interesting.  The development of naturoids may be viewed as a distinct class of technological activity, and the concept should be useful for methodological research into establishing the common rules, potentialities and constraints that characterize the human effort to reproduce natural objects. The author shows that a naturoid is always the result of a reduction of the complexity of natural objects, due to an unavoidable multiple selection strategy. Nevertheless, the reproduction process implies that naturoids take on their own new complexity, resulting in a transfiguration of the natural exemplars and their performances, and leading to a true innovation explosion. While the core performances of contemporary naturoids improve, paradoxically the more a naturoid develops the further it moves away from its natural counterpart. Therefore, naturoids will more and more affect our relationships with advanced technologies and with nature, but in ways quite beyond our predictive capabilities.  The book will be of interest to design scholars and researchers of technology, cultural studies, anthropology and the sociology of scienceand technology.

The human ambition to reproduce and improve natural objects and processes has a long history, and ranges from dreams to actual design, from Icarus’s wings to modern robotics and bioengineering. This imperative seems to be linked not only to practical utility but also to our deepest psychology. Nevertheless, reproducing something natural is not an easy enterprise, and the actual replication of a natural object or process by means of some technology is impossible. In this book the author uses the term naturoid to designate any real artifact arising from our attempts to reproduce natural instances. He concentrates on activities that involve the reproduction of something existing in nature, and whose reproduction, through construction strategies which differ from natural ones, we consider to be useful, appealing or interesting.  The development of naturoids may be viewed as a distinct class of technological activity, and the concept should be useful for methodological research into establishing the common rules, potentialities and constraints that characterize the human effort to reproduce natural objects. The author shows that a naturoid is always the result of a reduction of the complexity of natural objects, due to an unavoidable multiple selection strategy. Nevertheless, the reproduction process implies that naturoids take on their own new complexity, resulting in a transfiguration of the natural exemplars and their performances, and leading to a true innovation explosion. While the core performances of contemporary naturoids improve, paradoxically the more a naturoid develops the further it moves away from its natural counterpart. Therefore, naturoids will more and more affect our relationships with advanced technologies and with nature, but in ways quite beyond our predictive capabilities.  The book will be of interest to design scholars and researchers of technology, cultural studies, anthropology and the sociology of scienceand technology.