The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky

First published: 1986

Type of work: Science

Form and Content

Defining how the mind works and how intelligence is built out of smaller components, The Society of Mind posits the idea that the mind is a society made up of small processes called “agents,” which work together to produce action, thought, commonsense reasoning, emotion, and memory. Marvin Minsky uses examples of computer programs and artificial intelligence to demonstrate how intelligence or mind can be created out of small, repetitive steps.

The form of the book reflects this idea of mental societies; it is made up of 270 page-length essays which present a single idea or theory or demonstration that is connected in different ways to those of the other essays. The form does not impose any hierarchical order on the material, as there are numerous cross-references incorporated in the text, the glossary, and the index. The form also reflects the way the mind itself cross-connects its agents. The book makes extensive use of diagrams and drawings to demonstrate its concepts. Literary quotations are also incorporated in the text to provide examples of cultural cross-references. While the book does not use a considerable amount of technical psychological terminology, Minsky has created many new terms to describe mental processes. Definitions are given in the text and in a glossary. There is also an appendix which discusses the relationship of the mind to the brain.

To introduce the idea of agents, Minsky describes a computer program, “Builder,” which he and Seymour Papert developed in the late 1960’s. It combined a mechanical hand, a television eye, and a computer into a robot which could build a tower out of children’s blocks. The program had to use agents to “see” the block “grasp” it, “place” it, and “release” it. In addition, “Builder” had to be programmed or taught such concepts as not using a block already in the tower and how to begin and end the tower. Each of these agents, individually, is simple and not an activity which would normally be considered intelligence. “Builder” itself merely activates each separate agent. To understand the system as a whole, one must know how each part works, how it interacts with those to which it is connected, and how they combine to accomplish a given function. Intelligence or mind operates the same way. An additional complexity is the fact that the mind can perform a virtually unlimited number of procedures. Therefore, there needs to be an agent which decides which procedure will take precedence. A variety of agents such as noncompromise, hierarchies, and heterarchies can serve this function. Pain and pleasure are also agents which help the mind determine which procedure to give priority. From these simple agents, the mind builds the self, a sense of individuality, consciousness, and meaning.

Intelligence is defined as the ability to solve “hard problems” fairly rapidly and individually. Minsky excludes from intelligence instinctive behavior. The ability to solve hard problems often relies on the use of memory. A theory of memory must be able to answer questions about knowledge such as how it is represented, stored, retrieved, and used. The theory proposed is that “we keep each thing we learn close to the agents that learn it in the first place.” The mind can activate an agent called a “knowledge-line” to do all these things. Knowledge-lines can attach to other knowledge-lines, which in turn create societies. These societies are organized into various “level-bands”; thus, any given mental process operates at any given moment only within a specified range of the structure of the agent. The idea of a level-band explains how it is possible for one process to concentrate on details while other processes are concerned with large-scale plans. From the concepts of agents, knowledge-lines, and level-bands, learning, reasoning, emotions, and language can develop.

There are at least four different ways of learning or “making useful changes in the workings of our minds”: “Uniframing” combines several specific instances into a generalization; “accumulating” collects examples which violate the generalization; “reformulating” modifies the uniframe or accumulation; and “trans-framing” bridges structures, functions, and actions. These learning strategies, and problem solving, depend on the short-term memory in order to be able to modify strategies, remember what has just been done, and do something differently. There are many kinds of memory, some attached to time frames and others totally detached from time. These different kinds of memory allow for the interruption of mental processes and also allow them to be broken up into smaller units.

Reasoning is often divided into two different types: logical and common sense. Logical reasoning is often perceived as more difficult than commonsense reasoning, but actually the reverse is true. Logic follows rigid rules for creating chains of reasons. In fact, it is easier to program a computer to express logical reasoning than the commonsense variety. Commonsense reasoning makes chains through causes, similarities, and dependencies.

Although Western, scientific culture tends to emphasize that thought and emotion are very different, emotions are varieties or types of thoughts built up out of different brain agencies. Emotions may be necessary for certain kinds of learning to take place, especially for constructing coherent value systems or participating in a culture. The emotion of attachment may be requisite for developing a knowledge of language.

To explain how cultural concepts and language are processed, Minsky introduces the idea of “frames,” or a sort of skeletal outline with slots to be filled. Each slot can be connected to other structures and is connected to a “default assumption,” or a basic idea which can be modified or changed as more specific information is gained. For example, for most people the frame for “bird” is a feathered, winged, creature that flies. When it is known that the particular bird under discussion is a penguin, that slot in that frame is modified but the basic default assumptions about birds do not change. Frames such as grammatical structures help in the understanding of sentences. Frames such as cultural contexts and knowledge help in the understanding of language and stories. Most human communication is possible because frames of reference and meaning are constructed.

The power of intelligence comes from its diversity, because it can be made up of many different parts. Humans have many effective, although imperfect, means of achieving and expressing intelligence. The society of mind provides duplication and alternative perspectives which give intelligence versatility and durability.

Critical Context

Marvin Minsky is one of the founders of the science of artificial intelligence, one of the first people to combine psychology, mathematics, and computer science to reach an understanding of such mental processes as memory, thought, and recognition. In 1958, he and John McCarthy created the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. According to physicist Jeremy Bernstein, it is “one of the most creative and distinguished scientific enterprises of its kind in the world.” Many of the most significant researchers of artificial intelligence have been Minsky’s students. Among his most important contributions to the field have been the focus on commonsense reasoning, as opposed to purely logical systems, and his research on the problems of visual recognition. The Society of Mind represents a synthesis of Minsky’s previous work on mental process.

Bibliography

Bernstein, Jeremy. “Mind and Machine: Profile of Marvin Minsky,” in Science Observed: Essays Out of My Mind, 1982.

Johnson-Laird, P.N. “Minsky’s Mentality,” in Nature. CCCXXVIII (July 30, 1987), pp. 387-388.

McCorduck, Pamela. Machines Who Think, 1979.

Meer, Jeff. “Mind Models: How Far Have We Come?” in Psychology Today XXI (May, 1987), pp. 102-103.

Winston, Patrick H., and Richard H. Brown, eds. Artificial Intelligence: An MIT Perspective, 1979 (3 volumes).