At the time of his death in February 1957, John von Neumann, renowned for his theory of games and his work at the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study, was serving as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. Ray Kurzweil is an inventor, author, and futurist who has written six books including The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
"This book is the earliest serious examination of the human brain
from the perspective of a mathematician and computer pioneer. Prior
to von Neumann, the fields of computer science and neuroscience
were two islands with no bridge between them."—Ray Kurzweil, from
the foreword
"This book contains exactly the line of reasoning that inspired the
architecture underlying Watson, the machine that beat the best
human champions at Jeopardy!. A must read for any new computer
scientist and reread for all of us who enjoy the stunning power of
thoughtful observation and objective reason."—David Ferrucci, IBM
T.J. Watson Research Center
"This innocent-looking little book lies at the eye of a hurricane.
It represents a locus of clarity and calm at the center of a vast
vortex of powerful arguments and competing research programs."—Paul
and Patricia Churchland, on the earlier edition
"Perhaps the most powerful, lucid and penetrating mind in the
history of computer science, von Neumann's observations about the
language of the brain resonate with remarkable insight. Decades
ahead of his time, he launches a thread of reasoning based on his
unmatched understanding of computing that suggests the human
nervous system is best understood, not as a digital machine but has
a statistical one. . . . 'The nervous system is a computing machine
which manages to do its exceedingly complicated work on a rather
low level of precision....what matters are not the precise
positions of definite markers, digits, but the statistical
characteristics of their occurrences, i.e., frequencies. . . .' It
is exactly this line of reasoning that inspired the essential
architecture underlying Watson, the machine that beat the best
human champions at Jeopardy! There is no precise mathematics to
human language and yet it is the foundation for expressing human
thought. Von Neumann reasons his way from analog machines to
digital machines to delivering unparalleled insight into the
computational paradigm underlying the human brain. A must read for
any new computer scientist and reread for all of us who enjoy the
stunning power of thoughtful observation and objective
reason."—David Ferrucci, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
"This work from the earliest days of computing reminds us of von
Neumann’s deep thinking and clarity of expression."—Dag Spicer,
Senior Curator, Computer History Museum
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
