The Structure of Intelligence: A New Mathematical Model of Mind

by Ben Goertzel

0. 0 Psychology versus Complex Systems Science Over the last century, psychology has become much less of an art and much more of a science. Philosophical speculation is out; data collection is in. In many ways this has been a very positive trend. Cognitive science (Mandler, 1985) has given us scientific analyses of a variety of intelligent short-term memory, language processing, vision processing, etc. And thanks to molecular psychology (Franklin, 1985), we now have a rudimentary understanding of the chemical processes underlying personality and mental illness. However, there is a growing feeling-particularly among non-psychologists (see e. g. Sommerhoff, 1990) - that, with the new emphasis on data collection, something important has been lost. Very little attention is paid to the question of how it all fits together. The early psychologists, and the classical philosophers of mind, were concerned with the general nature of mentality as much as with the mechanisms underlying specific phenomena. But the new, scientific psychology has made disappointingly little progress toward the resolution of these more general questions. One way to deal with this complaint is to dismiss the questions themselves. After all, one might argue, a scientific psychology cannot be expected to deal with fuzzy philosophical questions that probably have little empirical signifi­ cance. It is interesting that behaviorists and cognitive scientists tend to be in agreement regarding the question of the overall structure of the mind.

Genres: Artificial Intelligence, Reference

196 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 1993

Reviews

[Sakeeb Rahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goertzel's Structure of Intelligence is a powerful reframing of intelligence through a systems lens. Instead of viewing the mind as a collection of isolated algorithms, Goertzel presents a compelling case for understanding it as a complex, self-organizing system—the "master network." This network, composed of interacting programs, uses induction, deduction, and especially analogy to achieve flexible optimization in unpredictable environments. I was particularly fascinated by Chapter 2's exploration of multilevel optimization and simulated annealing as models for thought processes—practical tools for optimizing search and problem-solving. The network-theoretic model of intelligence, reminiscent of Hofstadter's emphasis on analogy as a core element of intelligence (Chapter 6), is a true eye-opener. Chapter 12's definition of "feasible intelligence" adds a crucial layer, acknowledging the physical constraints of computation and offering a framework for modeling intelligent systems all the way up to AGI. This book offers a fresh perspective and practical tools for anyone serious about understanding and building truly intelligent systems.

[Joshua]

I checked this out from Hale Library almost a year ago because I wanted to get started reading the background for Goertzel's General Theory of General Intelligence series of videos (wait, that playlist has seven videos, but there are ten videos in total, or should I say "in toto"). In October, I was planning to read it "soon." I still have not even finished watching the videos. Sad.

(Thu 11 Aug 2022 01:23:11 PM CDT)