Mind and Machine - Flashcards (GOFAI & Classical Cognitive Science)

40 practice flashcards covering AI history, GOFAI, and classical cognitive science concepts.

What is Marvin Minsky’s Maxim?

Machines do work that would require mental effort if done by humans.

What early AI image is described in Homer’s Iliad?

Hephaestus building unmanned tripods with android attendants who could think and act.

What is Descartes’ dualism commonly called, and what does it separate?

The Ghost in the Machine; it separates mind (immaterial) from body (mechanical).

What inspired Descartes to think about mechanical minds in his time?

Moving hydraulic statues in the royal gardens of Paris.

According to Descartes, where does language use fit in the dividing line between humans and animals?

Language use marks a boundary between mere behavior and genuine cognition.

How did Hobbes define a name in Elements of Philosophy?

A word used as a mark that may evoke a thought and signal that thought to others.

What problem about meaning does Hobbes’ device for names raise?

Where meanings come from; there is a question of original meaning rather than derivation from other thoughts.

What did David Hume propose as the ‘secret springs’ of the mind?

An association of ideas—ideas attract each other like a universal force.

What is Haugeland’s ‘paradox of mechanical reason’?

A tension between treating thought as symbol manipulation and treating it as genuinely mechanical.

What distinction did Pascal make between esprit géométrique and esprit de finesse?

Geometric/mathematical thinking vs intuitive, 'finesse' thinking.

What were Leibniz’s universal characteristic and calculus ratiocinator intended to do?

A universal language for all concepts and a calculation framework to automate reasoning.

What is a Pascaline?

Pascal’s mechanical calculator that could add and subtract.

What is the Stepped Reckoner and the Leibniz wheel?

Leibniz’s machine for performing all four arithmetic operations using a stepped drum.

What famous phrase did Leibniz associate with calculative reasoning?

“Let us calculate!” and a dream of reducing all reasoning to calculation.

What is Wiener’s view on Leibniz’s calculus in relation to AI?

It contains the germs of the machina ratiocinatrix, the reasoning machine.

What was the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on AI (1956) about?

A conference that named AI, gathered key figures, and tried to unify the field.

What pivotal 1950 paper by Turing began the modern AI conversation?

Computing Machinery and Intelligence.

What transition did Turing effect regarding machines and computers?

From talking about machines in general to focusing on digital computers.

What is the GPS in AI, and what problem does it address?

General Problem Solver; it uses heuristics to solve broad logical puzzles.

What is the frame problem in AI?

Difficulties updating beliefs efficiently in light of new information; exhaustive updates are impractical.

How are ‘weak AI’ and ‘strong AI’ different in their claims?

Weak AI: AI as theoretical psychology; strong AI: computers genuinely understand and have cognitive states.

What is suprapsychological AI?

Cognition as it could be—potential human-machine hybrids and superintelligent futures.

What does GOFAI stand for and what is its core method?

Good Old-Fashioned AI; symbolic, rule-based manipulation of symbols.

What are the three roots of the classical (GOFAI) approach to AI?

Logic, linguistics, and functionalism (RTM).

Who is associated with Boole and the view that thought can be formalized?

George Boole; his Laws of Thought underpin symbolic logic for AI.

What is Modus Ponens and why is it central to GOFAI?

If p and p→q, then q; a canonical valid inference form used in formal reasoning.

What does Haugeland mean by the claim 'syntax, semantics will take care of itself'?

If you get the formal structure right (syntax), the meaning (semantics) follows.

What is Generative Grammar and who is its key figure?

A theory that language is generated by a finite set of rules; Noam Chomsky.

What is mentalese?

Fodor’s term for the innate ‘language of thought’—the symbolic medium of thinking.

What is the central claim of functionalism about mental states?

Mental states are defined by their causal role rather than by their substance; multiple realizability.

What are metaphysical functionalism and computation-representation functionalism?

Two forms of functionalism: one focusing on causal roles; the other on computational representations.

What is a Turing machine composed of?

A read/write head, an unbounded tape, a finite set of states, and a machine table.

What is a Universal Turing Machine (UTM)?

A machine that can simulate any other Turing machine when given its description.

What does Turing’s thesis claim about computation and the mind?

Anything computable by a computer can be computed by a Turing machine; cognition could be simulated.

What is the significance of the ‘moronic’ procedures concept?

Algorithms that are deliberately simple and deterministic; finiteness, definiteness, effectiveness.

How did Newell, Shaw and Simon approach proving theorems with the Logic Theory Machine?

They used heuristics to search a space of possibilities, mimicking human problem-solving.

What was the main limitation revealed by the Logic Theory Machine and GPS?

Problem formulation is crucial; solving is not enough—the initial problem representation matters.

How did Deep Blue demonstrate AI capabilities in chess?

Brute-force search with sophisticated heuristics and large databases; excelled at chess but not a model of general intelligence.

What is ELIZA, and why is it significant?

An early NLP program that mimicked a Rogerian therapist; highlighted limits of AI and raised ethical concerns.

How does the mind-body problem relate to AI’s implications?

If AI succeeds, it challenges dualism and supports physicalism; functionalism allows mind-like processes to be implemented physically.

What role does ‘multiple realizability’ play in AI debates?

Mental states could be realized in different physical substrates (brains or machines) achieving the same function.

What is the main idea behind the ‘ três roots’ GOFAI chapter’s message?

Cognition as rule-governed symbol manipulation; computation as a model for mind.

What is the difference between symbolic GOFAI and dynamical cognitive science?

Symbolic GOFAI emphasizes discrete symbols and rules; dynamical approaches emphasize temporal, real-time processes.