| Topic |
Week |
Date(s) | Additional Information |
| I. Introduction: What this Course is About | 0 | Aug 24 | |
| II. Classical Artificial Intelligence A. Early History Reading: C1 (“The Beginnings of AI”) (The notation “C1” refers to chapter 1 in Copeland.) B. Early AI Successes Reading: C2 (“Some Dazzling Exhibits”) |
1 | Aug 29 | |
| III. The Turing Test Reading: C3 (“Can a Machine Think”) Turing (1950), “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” [H2] (The notation “H2” refers to chapter 2 of Haugeland.) |
1 | Aug 31 | Two “Uncanny Canyons” |
| IV. Intentionality Reading: Dennett (1981), “True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why It Works” [H3] |
2 | Sep 5 | Notes on Intentionality |
| V. Physical Symbol Systems | |||
| A. The Physical Symbol System Hypothesis Reading: C4 (“The Symbol System Hypothesis”) Newell & Simon (1976), “Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search” [H4] |
2 | Sep 7 | |
| B. Calculi and Computation Reading: M2 (“The Continuous and the Discrete”) (The notation “M2” refers to ch. 2 of a book I am preparing, which I will hand out in class and/or is available online.) |
3 | Sep 12 | NO CLASS! |
| C. Thought as Computation Logic and knowledge representation (Hellenistic & Medieval logic); mechanized reasoning (Lull, Hobbes). Reading: M3 (“Thought as Computation”), parts 3.1–3.4. |
3 | Sep 14 | NO CLASS! |
| VI. Knowledge Representation Languages | |||
| A. Knowledge Representation Languages Before AI Ideal languages (Wilkins) and mathematics-based approaches to knowledge representation and inference (Leibniz, Boole, Jevons). Reading: M3 (“Thought as Computation”), parts 3.5–3.8. (We will discuss M2 and M3 during this class meeting.) |
4 | Sep 19 | |
| B. AI Knowledge Representation Languages Reading: C5 (Knowledge Representation and Common Sense) Minsky (1974), “A Framework for Representing Knowledge” [H5] |
4 |
Sep 21 | |
| C. Phenomenological Critiques Reading: Dreyfus (1979), “From Micro-Worlds to Knowledge Representation: AI at an Impasse” [H6] |
5 | Sep 26 | |
| D. The Chinese Room Argument Reading: C6 (“The Curious Case of the Chinese Room”) Searle (1980), “Minds, Brains, and Programs” [H7] |
5 |
Sep 28 | |
| VII. Free Will and Robots Reading: C7 (“Freedom”) |
6 |
Oct 3 | |
| VIII. Consciousness Reading: C8 (“Consciousness”) |
6 |
Oct 5 | |
| IX. Connectionism and Neural Networks | |||
| A. Brains vs. Computers Reading: C9 (“Are We Computers?”) + undetermined additional reading on neuroscience |
7 | Oct 10 | |
| B. Connectionism Reading: C10.1-5 (“AI’s Fresh Start: Parallel Distributed Processing”) Rumelhart (1989), “The Architecture of Mind: A Connectionist Approach”) [H8] Smolensky (1989), “Connectionist Modeling: Neural Computation / Mental Connections” [H9] |
8 |
Oct 17, 19 | |
| C. Neurophilosophy Reading: Paul Churchland (1989), “On the Nature of Theories: A Neurocomputational Perspective” [H10] |
9 |
Oct 31 | |
| D. Critiques of Connectionism Reading: Rosenberg (1990), “Connectionism and Cognition” [H11] Fodor & Pylyshyn (1988), “Connectionism and Cognitive Architecture: A Critical Analysis” [H12] |
9–10 | Nov 2, 7 | |
| E. Eliminativism Reading: Ramsey, Stich & Garon (1990), “Connectionism, Eliminativism, and the Future of Folk Psychology” [H13] |
10 |
Nov 9 | |
| F. Symbolic Cognition and Connectionism Reading: C10.7-11 (“The Church-Turing Thesis” etc.) Clark (1992), “The Presence of a Symbol” [H14] |
11 | Nov 14 | |
| XI. Natural and Artificial Intelligence in the Real World | |||
| A. Embodied Intelligence Reading: Brooks (1991), “Intelligence without Representation” [H15] |
11 | Nov 16 | |
| B. Dynamics and Cognition Reading: van Gelder (1996), “Dynamics and Cognition” [H16] |
12 | Nov 21 | |
| X. Limitations of the Discrete | |||
| A. Natural Computation Reading: MacLennan (2003), “Transcending Turing Computability” [pdf] |
13 | Nov 28 | |
| B. Collective Intelligence (Self-organization in Social Insect etc.) |
13 |
Nov 30 | |
| XII. Wrapup / Discussion |
14 |
Dec 5 | |
Return to Minds & Machines home page
Return to MacLennan's home page
Send mail to Bruce MacLennan / MacLennan@cs.utk.edu
This page is www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/UH267/Schedule.html