Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

A Missing Link in Cybernetics

Logic and Continuity

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alex M. Andrew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Advances an alternative approach to analyze and model intelligence
  • Presents thoughts and ideas systematically
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Cybernetics: Origins and Aims

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 1-16

  3. Where to Start?

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 17-36

  4. Continuous versus Discrete

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 37-55

  5. Adaptation, Self-Organisation, Learning

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 57-83

  6. Backpropagation

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 85-104

  7. Self-Reference

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 105-111

  8. Fractal Intelligence

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 113-116

  9. Conclusions

    • Alex M. Andrew
    Pages 117-126

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 127-139
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

In this book I argue that a reason for the limited success of various studies under the general heading of cybernetics is failure to appreciate the importance of con- nuity, in a simple metrical sense of the term. It is with particular, but certainly not exclusive, reference to the Arti cial Intelligence (AI) effort that the shortcomings of established approaches are most easily seen. One reason for the relative failure of attempts to analyse and model intelligence is the customary assumption that the processing of continuous variables and the manipulation of discrete concepts should be considered separately, frequently with the assumption that continuous processing plays no part in thought. There is much evidence to the contrary incl- ing the observation that the remarkable ability of people and animals to learn from experience nds similar expression in tasks of both discrete and continuous nature and in tasks that require intimate mixing of the two. Such tasks include everyday voluntary movement while preserving balance and posture, with competitive games and athletics offering extreme examples. Continuous measures enter into many tasks that are usually presented as discrete. In tasks of pattern recognition, for example, there is often a continuous measure of the similarity of an imposed pattern to each of a set of paradigms, of which the most similar is selected. The importance of continuity is also indicated by the fact that adjectives and adverbs in everyday verbal communication have comparative and superlative forms.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"The work is a brilliant survey of the different theories concerning cognition, including viewing it as a fractal phenomena … . Andrew’s greatest achievement is precisely summarizing all these mathematical works into a single book, from which readers may choose the line of research that seems more appealing to them. … I recommend this book mostly to researchers, for the utility they could grasp from it. Any student of AI who has some advanced statistical mathematics background can also benefit from this work … ." (Arturo Ortiz-Tapia, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2009)

“This new book by Alex M. Andrew has been published by Springer in the IFSR International Series on Systems Science and Engineering … . It deals with the frequently made discrepancy between the continuous and the discrete. … This book is highly recommended to researchers in artificial intelligence, cybernetics and systems science.” (Robert Vallee, Kybernetes, Vol. 39 (1), 2010)

“The book begins with an interesting perspective of the origins of cybernetics … . Each chapter has a useful summary at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is very well researched, with numerous references to the literature, and to some important debates, over the last 70 years. … the book is descriptive and readily understandable. I happily recommend the book to relevant researchers in cybernetics, AI, and related fields.” (Richard Mitchell, Kybernetes, Vol. 39 (2), 2010)

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation