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Prof. Sussman's Reading List

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Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#41

Post by kylebgorman »

dnt404-1 wrote: post #21
_tqr3 wrote: post #3

I cannot recommend 'The Society of Mind' enough. This was my first book before diving into Cognitive Science. Although it is mostly psychology(i.e.speculation), it is a brilliant book with insights and ideas.

Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?

"Empiricism" does not usually refer to taking measurements (which seems to be what you have in mind); it is a theory of epistemology which holds that knowledge is primarily experiential. (It just happens that many psychologists are causal empiricists, but it has nothing per se to do with their love of measurement.)

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#43

Post by chm »

kjak wrote: post #9

I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics. I've read the vast majority of the book multiple times. Since we're on the topic of Sussman, has anyone here read through SICM? I've heard that the code is difficult to get to work, but does anyone have an opinion on the rest? I haven't…

I bought Lanczos' book a month ago, I'm ~75 pages in (got other stuff to do). I will give SICM a try. I've just installed the 'ScmUtils Mechanics' package to accompany the book.

How can the code be difficult to get to work if he ships the required package with the book?

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#44

Post by prestonbriggs »

abecedarius wrote: post #24

On The Connection Machine : "Beautiful thesis, though it doesn't tell you anything you can really do today." I don't understand: is data-parallel computing on a GPU much worse somehow? Or is it that there are better sources to read about data-parallel algorithms?

Yeah, data-parallel computing on a GPU doesn't really approach what Hillis was aiming for. Check especially CM Lisp; great stuff.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#45

Post by peteretep »

dublinben wrote: post #31
baddox wrote: post #25

Interesting to see Stranger in a Strange Land on his list. It shows up quite often on top lists of sci-fi books and Heinlein books. I'm halfway through it, after reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Stranger in a Strange Land is certainly the weaker book so far in my opinion.

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

Stop struggling to wade through it and find a better book to read :-)

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#47

Post by im3w1l »

dnt404-1 wrote: post #21
_tqr3 wrote: post #3

I cannot recommend 'The Society of Mind' enough. This was my first book before diving into Cognitive Science. Although it is mostly psychology(i.e.speculation), it is a brilliant book with insights and ideas.

Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?

Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_theory#Critics_o...

Specifically note that his theory, although debunked, still lives on in philosophy and literature analysis. This "stickiness", that people refuse to give up the theory when proven wrong is additionally a bad sign.

Recovered memory therapy is a recent failure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#48

Post by baddox »

jacalata wrote: post #34
dublinben wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

Same thing as Ayn Rand - gibberish philosophy that appeals very strongly to the teenager who thinks that they are the special one.

A funny comparison, since I could see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress getting compared to Ayn Rand due to the depictions of (and brief philosophical expositions on) stateless society.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#49

Post by kleiba »

_tqr3 wrote: post #3

I cannot recommend 'The Society of Mind' enough. This was my first book before diving into Cognitive Science. Although it is mostly psychology(i.e.speculation), it is a brilliant book with insights and ideas.

I bought the book some 15 years ago when my interest in AI was on its peak. I remember not being too impressed by it, but I always wanted to go back and give it a second try, especially since I cannot really remember the reason I didn't like it too much. I believe it was that I found some of the earlier ideas (every page basically describes one idea) not totally convincing, or maybe I just wasn't able to follow the later ones?

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#50

Post by Strilanc »

abc_lisper wrote: post #2

Quantum Computing since Democritus in high school reading list is very heavy. I have had Theory of Computation class in college and I can't read 20 pages of that book.

QC since Democritus is a weird mix of textbook and popularization; I think you could absolutely read it without understanding the details and still enjoy it. You won't get as much, but you'll still get something.

I didn't understand much of algorithms or quantum computing when I first read the lecture notes the book is sourced from [1]. Was still worth it.

1: http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/

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