Marvin Minsky
Marvin Minsky
#### Full Name and Common Aliases
Marvin Lee Minsky was a prominent American-Austrian cognitive scientist, computer scientist, and philosopher.
Birth and Death Dates
Born: August 9, 1927, New York City, USA
Died: January 24, 2016, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality and Profession(s)
Nationality: American-Austrian
Profession: Cognitive Scientist, Computer Scientist, Philosopher
Early Life and Background
Marvin Minsky grew up in a family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. His father, Jacob Minsky, was an engineer and inventor, which sparked Marvin's curiosity from an early age. Minsky developed an interest in electronics at the age of 10 and began building simple devices using homemade components.
As he entered adolescence, his fascination with technology continued to grow, leading him to study electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico and later completing a master's degree in mathematics at Harvard University. His experiences during this period set the foundation for his future work in artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
Major Accomplishments
Minsky made significant contributions to various fields, including:
Artificial Intelligence (AI): He is best known for coining the term "perceptron," a type of feedforward neural network used in early AI research. His work laid the groundwork for modern deep learning techniques.
Neural Networks: Minsky's Perceptron model was designed to simulate human vision and perception, but it was later found to be flawed due to its inability to learn from examples. This led to a deeper understanding of neural network limitations.
Cognitive Science: He contributed to the development of cognitive science as an interdisciplinary field, exploring topics such as artificial intelligence, psychology, philosophy, computer science, and neuroscience.Notable Works or Actions
Some notable works by Marvin Minsky include:
_Perceptron_ (1958) - A foundational paper introducing the concept of a feedforward neural network.
_Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines_ (1967) - A book that explored the theoretical foundations of computation, including neural networks and recursive functions.Impact and Legacy
Minsky's work in AI and cognitive science has had a lasting impact on various fields:
Advancements in Deep Learning: His Perceptron model laid the groundwork for modern deep learning techniques.
* Interdisciplinary Research: Minsky's contributions to cognitive science demonstrated the value of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Marvin Minsky is widely quoted and remembered due to his pioneering work in AI, neural networks, and cognitive science. His legacy continues to inspire new generations of researchers and thinkers, making him a key figure in shaping our understanding of artificial intelligence and its applications.
Minsky's contributions have also led to the development of various technological advancements, including speech recognition systems, self-driving cars, and medical imaging techniques. As a thought leader in his field, he has left an enduring impact on modern society through his groundbreaking work.
Marvin Minsky's quote:
"An intelligent person is one who feels no need to be understood."
This quote encapsulates Minsky's philosophy of embracing complexity and the pursuit of understanding the intricate workings of human cognition. His legacy serves as a testament to the power of interdisciplinary research and the importance of exploring the frontiers of human knowledge.
His work continues to inspire new generations of researchers, thinkers, and innovators, ensuring his place in history as one of the most influential figures in AI and cognitive science.
Quotes by Marvin Minsky
It's degrading or insulting to say somebody is a good person or has a soul. Each person has built this incredibly complex structure, and if you attribute it to a magical pearl in the middle of an oyster that makes you good, that's trivializing a person and keeps you from thinking of what's really happening.
We all admire great accomplishments in the sciences, arts, and humanities - but we rarely acknowledge how much we achieve in the course of our everyday lives.
Some people believe that you should die, and some people think dying is a nuisance. I'm one of the latter. So I think we should get rid of death.
We humans are not the end of evolution, so if we can make a machine that's as smart as a person, we can probably also make one that's much smarter. There's no point in making just another person. You want to make one that can do things we can't.
I suspect that pleasure is mainly used to turn off parts of the brain so you can keep fresh the memories of things you're trying to learn. It protects the short-term memory buffers. That's one theory of pleasure.
I think every person either inherits or eventually makes up their own idea of what they are and who they are and what caused the world to be, and it seems to me that these stories of creation myth, adopted by different cultures - most of them are less insightful than the stories made up by individual poets and writers.
I believe that everyone has to construct a mental model of what they are and where they came from and why they are as they are, and the word soul in each person is the name for that particular mish-mash of those fully formed ideas of one's nature.
With the appearance of communications networks and interconnected computers, we got the world wide web, and it changed the lives of most people, I think.
I started working at a point in history when digital computers were becoming mature, and before that, there were no such machines.
Sometimes a problem will seem completely insurmountable. Then someone comes up with a simple new idea, or just a rearrangement of old ideas, that completely eliminates it.