Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be at an impasse. The old vision of AI which started as the search for a computer-based approximation of the human mind is not delivering. The initial hype opened the door to ample criticism following failures to fulfill some bold predictions. Cognitive systems research (CSR) has replaced AI at the forefront of this research programme. But CSR is really just a new name for the same set of objectives, designed to elude the tag of failure. The problem with this programme may not be in the methods but in the naïve conceptualizations that have driven and are still driving the research.

Full reference: PerAda Magazine (2010) 938–946
Link: Web Article
A PDF version can be downloaded here.

Journal of Mind Theory An ASLab Journal We all realise that the number of publications in the field of cognitive science is continuously growing. This makes the task of getting a state-of-the-art picture of the field an impossible task for any normal human. We feel the need for simplification and focusing. We believe that the pursuit of the ultimate understanding of mind shall be easier if we are able to get rid of the decorative literature. While that kind of text usually embellishes the many insights on the nature of mind, a narrower focus on the very core issues is absolutely neccessary. Succinctness becomes a major target. Hence, in the old way of the hard sciences, we strive for terse formalisations that will minimise the need of ink and paper and will hopefully convey precise, non-interpretable expressions of theories or hypotheses on mind nature.

If we are succesful in this simplifying and focusing attempt, then there will be a single journal in the reading pile.

This is a chapter by Ricardo Sanz, Carlos Hernández, Jaime Gómez and Adolfo Hernando that has been published in the book Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems 2008

Abstract: The construction of fully effective systems seems to pass through the proper exploitation of goal-centric self-evaluative capabilities that let the system teleologically self-manage. Emotions seem to provide this kind of functionality to biological systems and hence the interest in emotion for function sustainment in artificial systems performing in changing and uncertain environments; far beyond the media hullabaloo of displaying human-like emotion-laden faces in robots. This chapter provides a brief analysis of the scientific theories of emotion and presents an engineering approach for developing technology for robust autonomy by implementing functionality inspired in that of biological emotions.

Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems 2008 Series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology , Vol. 657 Hussain, A.; Aleksander, I.; Smith, L.S.; Barros, A.K.; Chrisley, R.; Cutsuridis, V. (Eds.) 2010, 310 p., ISBN: 978-0-387-79099-2

Get more details about the book at the Springer Website.

A preprint version of our chapter can be downloaded here from the ASLab Website.