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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》一書中，約翰·約翰斯頓（John Johnston）探討了在人類建構的環境中通過技術互動而出現的新型萌芽生命形式——「機械生命」，這涉及到控制論、人工生命和人工智能等科學領域。約翰斯頓認為，隨著數字生物體的演化、計算機免疫系統、人工原胞、進化機器人和群體系統等研究項目的發展，機械生命已經達到了一種值得獨立研究的複雜性和自主性。
約翰斯頓在書中引用了科學家的著作以及當代哲學和文化理論的一系列作品，但始終將焦點放在「手頭的物體」上——機器、程序和構成機械生命的過程上。他展示了它們是如何產生、運作和改變的。他進一步主張，這種理解是必要的第一步，必須在對這些新生命形式的意義和文化影響進行推測之前。
約翰斯頓通過發展「計算組合」的概念（機器及其相關論述）作為一個框架，來辨識形式和功能上的相似性和差異性，並提供了每個科學的概念歷史。他從多個角度考察了控制論提出的機器新理論，包括拉康精神分析和「機械哲學」。他考察了人工生命的新科學歷史及其與進化、出現和複雜適應系統理論的關係（通過在各種軟件平台上進行的一系列實驗）。他描述了人工智能的歷史，作為一系列展開的概念衝突——解碼和重新編碼——最終導致了受人工生命強烈影響的「新人工智能」。最後，他通過考察神經科學在幾個當代研究項目中的作用，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腦運作方式的進一步理解。
