Mind Games

NICHOLAS COPERNICUS startled mankind 500 years ago by declaring that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice-versa. His system, the culmination of years of experimentation and technological advance, crushed centuries of egocentric faith. Increasing scientific awareness over the centuries has continued to force men to change their perceptions and beliefs. Today, scientists and philosophers have extended their questioning to challenge the very uniqueness of human intelligence.

Man's visions of self, soul and intelligence are wavering with the introduction of machines that not only add faster and play chess better, but which also display an eerie sense of self awareness and seeming creativity. The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflection on Self and Soul successfully provokes thought on these issues in anticipation of the day when the ultimate superintelligent calculation machine is built. And the day is not too far off.

Presenting a variety of potential discoveries, the book Socratically challengers and humorously suggests many facets of such themes as artificial intelligence and consciousness but does not ask the reader to adopt a particular attitude toward the concepts. Each chapter starts with a dialogue, story or essay, which provides an interesting exploration of the mind, followed by an editorial reflection on the implication of the proposal.

Ranging from fiction by Harvard philosopher Rober Nozick to science fiction by the Polish master Stainslaw Lem, the chapters provide an informative, though cursory, survey of thoughts on the brain. Mixed in are humorous digressions: a riddle that supposedly leaves thinkers catabolic (literally) and a brief parable of a man with no head. Often the pieces do not seem to interrelate, but the editors don't intend them to. Their only goal is to present ideas which will undermine the reader's complacent view of his own intellect.

For example, In one selection, God teaches the Mortal about intelligence and free will:

Mortal: And therefore, O God, I pray the, if thou has on ounce of mercy for this thy suffering creature, absolve me for having to have free will!

God: You reject the greatest giftI have given thee?

Mortal: How can you call that which was forced on me a gift? I have free will, but not of my own choice. I have never freely chosen to have free will. I have to have free will, whether I like it or not!

God why should you wish not to have free will?

Mortal: Because free will means moral responsibility, and moral responsibility is more than I can bear!

The discussion continues until the Mortal eventually concedes that he does not want God to remove his free will, even if given the choice. Editor Douglas R. Hofstadter carries the question one step further, raising the issue of whether science has not replaced religious conception of free will with the mighty neuron.

Hofstadter, a computer scientist, and his collaborator Daniel C. Dennett, a philosophy expert, avoid technical jargon and esoteric language throughout the book. Hofstadter is, or course, well practiced at writing for the layman; he authors a regular column in Scientific American and won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, Godel, EScher, and Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Working with Hofstadter, Dennett--author of Branistorms:- Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology--expands on his own explanations of artificial intelligence, computers and the unity or divisibility of the soul.

The Mind's I presents many improbable scenarios--bodies split from brains and both still functioning, for instance--as well as a perturbing exploration of whether computers can really think for themselves. Man's view of himself was always tended to lab behind technological change. Perhaps for once, we ought to reevaluate ourselves a little early, before a possible onslaught of disembodied brains.