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Title: Flesh and Machines : How Robots Will Change Us by Rodney Brooks ISBN: 0-375-72527-X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (15 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Second tier
Comment: I was disappointed by Flesh and Machines, Rodney Brooks' rambling discourse on robotics. Unlike Ray Kurzweil's thought-provoking The Age of Spiritual Machines or even Hans Moravec's mind-bending Robot, Brooks seems to have no purpose in this book, except to write one. The material is familiar and has been covered better elsewhere.
Not that it wasn't interesting in spots. Once you get past his drawn-out autobiography, Brooks provides a good overview of the problems researchers face trying to provide robots with the capabilities humans find second-nature. Vision is a good example; while computer vision is capable of detecting and recognizing human faces from the front, it falls down when confronted by side views or when people wear a hat, shave, even as they age.
Brooks is also interesting when he discusses whether humans are special or just a biomolecular machine. As you might expect, he sees us as machines interacting with the objects of the world in accordance with physics, but he comes at it in a gentle, considerate manner. Eventually, he asserts, mankind will accept robots as emotional machines. Much as we have begun to overcome racial and gender discrimination, we will begin to accept our robots, both emotionally and legally.
Flesh and Machines is a cut below Kurzweil's and Moravec's works so start with one of these. If you enjoy the subject, pick up Flesh and Machines for a pleasant weekend read.
Rating: 3
Summary: a gentle chat
Comment: Its a decent book about Robots and AI written in a friendly and honest manner. The first 2 sections of the book are interesting but the third section dealing with the future seems very uncertain.
Rodney Brooks seems to have lost his faith in Robots slightly and instead of getting Ray Kurzweils' ranting hyper future we get crappy robot lawnmowers and robots that can open the fridge and maybe get you a beer if you install a speciak fridge. Hmmmm runs out of steam a bit.
Still though he has been at it for 20 years and anybody thats been at anything for 20 years is worth having a listen to. And thats what its like, a gentle chat!
Rating: 5
Summary: Part autobiography/ Part robot building philosophy
Comment: I really liked this book, Brooks writes in a very conversational style, he explains some theory mixed in with the here and now of his life--good if your like me and enjoy listening to tales about how robots are created, but to some it might be boring. For me, the most interesting part was in the appendix about how Genghis worked.
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Title: The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil ISBN: 0140282025 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species by Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio ISBN: 0262133822 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI by Rodney A. Brooks ISBN: 0262522632 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 16 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind by Hans P. Moravec ISBN: 0195136306 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Arguing A.I. : The Battle for Twenty-first-Century Science by Sam Williams ISBN: 081299180X Publisher: AtRandom Pub. Date: 22 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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