商品描述
In The Allure of Machinic Life, John Johnston examines new forms of nascent life that emerge through technical interactions within human-constructed environments—"machinic life"—in the sciences of cybernetics, artificial life, and artificial intelligence. With the development of such research initiatives as the evolution of digital organisms, computer immune systems, artificial protocells, evolutionary robotics, and swarm systems, Johnston argues, machinic life has achieved a complexity and autonomy worthy of study in its own right.
Drawing on the publications of scientists as well as a range of work in contemporary philosophy and cultural theory, but always with the primary focus on the "objects at hand"—the machines, programs, and processes that constitute machinic life—Johnston shows how they come about, how they operate, and how they are already changing. This understanding is a necessary first step, he further argues, that must precede speculation about the meaning and cultural implications of these new forms of life.
Developing the concept of the "computational assemblage" (a machine and its associated discourse) as a framework to identify both resemblances and differences in form and function, Johnston offers a conceptual history of each of the three sciences. He considers the new theory of machines proposed by cybernetics from several perspectives, including Lacanian psychoanalysis and "machinic philosophy." He examines the history of the new science of artificial life and its relation to theories of evolution, emergence, and complex adaptive systems (as illustrated by a series of experiments carried out on various software platforms). He describes the history of artificial intelligence as a series of unfolding conceptual conflicts—decodings and recodings—leading to a "new AI" that is strongly influenced by artificial life. Finally, in examining the role played by neuroscience in several contemporary research initiatives, he shows how further success in the building of intelligent machines will most likely result from progress in our understanding of how the human brain actually works.
Drawing on the publications of scientists as well as a range of work in contemporary philosophy and cultural theory, but always with the primary focus on the "objects at hand"—the machines, programs, and processes that constitute machinic life—Johnston shows how they come about, how they operate, and how they are already changing. This understanding is a necessary first step, he further argues, that must precede speculation about the meaning and cultural implications of these new forms of life.
Developing the concept of the "computational assemblage" (a machine and its associated discourse) as a framework to identify both resemblances and differences in form and function, Johnston offers a conceptual history of each of the three sciences. He considers the new theory of machines proposed by cybernetics from several perspectives, including Lacanian psychoanalysis and "machinic philosophy." He examines the history of the new science of artificial life and its relation to theories of evolution, emergence, and complex adaptive systems (as illustrated by a series of experiments carried out on various software platforms). He describes the history of artificial intelligence as a series of unfolding conceptual conflicts—decodings and recodings—leading to a "new AI" that is strongly influenced by artificial life. Finally, in examining the role played by neuroscience in several contemporary research initiatives, he shows how further success in the building of intelligent machines will most likely result from progress in our understanding of how the human brain actually works.
商品描述(中文翻譯)
在《機械生命的魅力》中，約翰·約翰斯頓（John Johnston）探討了通過人類建構環境中的技術互動而出現的新型初生生命——「機械生命」——在控制論、人工生命和人工智慧等科學領域中的表現。約翰斯頓主張，隨著數位生物、計算機免疫系統、人工原始細胞、進化機器人和群體系統等研究計畫的發展，機械生命已經達到了值得獨立研究的複雜性和自主性。
約翰斯頓借鑒了科學家的出版物以及當代哲學和文化理論的各種作品，但始終將重點放在「手頭的物件」上——構成機械生命的機器、程序和過程——他展示了這些物件是如何產生的、如何運作的，以及它們如何已經在改變。他進一步主張，這種理解是必須的第一步，必須在對這些新型生命的意義和文化影響進行推測之前完成。
約翰斯頓發展了「計算組合體」（一台機器及其相關話語）的概念，作為識別形式和功能之間相似性和差異性的框架，並為這三個科學提供了概念歷史。他從多個角度考慮了控制論提出的新機器理論，包括拉康（Lacan）的精神分析和「機械哲學」。他檢視了人工生命這一新科學的歷史及其與進化、湧現和複雜適應系統理論的關係（如一系列在各種軟體平台上進行的實驗所示）。他將人工智慧的歷史描述為一系列展開的概念衝突——解碼和重編碼——導致了一種受到人工生命強烈影響的「新人工智慧」。最後，在檢視神經科學在幾個當代研究計畫中所扮演的角色時，他展示了在建造智能機器方面的進一步成功，很可能來自於我們對人類大腦實際運作方式的理解進展。
