Susan Schneider

Las acciones tienen consecuencias, y la capacidad de aprender de ellas revolucion la vida en la Tierra. Aunque es bastante evidente que las consecuencias son importantes ( d nde estar amos sin el reforzamiento positivo?), pocos saben que existe una ciencia de las consecuencias con principios que nos afectan cada d a. A pesar de su variedad, las consecuencias parecen seguir un conjunto com n de principios cient ficos y comparten algunos efectos comunes en el cerebro, por ejemplo, en los llamados "centros de placer". El sistema gen tica-ambiente siempre opera de forma integrada, y los cient ficos han demostrado que aprender de las consecuencias activa de manera predecible los genes y reestructura nuestro cerebro. Las aplicaciones posibles de esta ciencia de las consecuencias est n en todas partes, en el hogar, en el trabajo y en el mbito escolar, por mencionar algunos ejemplos. A nivel individual y social, por ejemplo, el autocontrol se enfrenta a menudo a las consecuencias a corto y largo plazo. Despu s de diez a os de trabajo, "La Ciencia de las Consecuencias" narra una historia que abarca desde la gen tica hasta los neurotransmisores, desde la emoci n hasta el lenguaje, desde la educaci n infantil hasta la pol tica, adoptando un enfoque interdisciplinario inclusivo para mostrar c mo algo tan aparentemente simple puede ayudar a dar sentido a tantas cosas. Este t tulo ha recibido numerosos elogios de expertos reconocidos en gen tica, neurociencia y econom a, as como en psicolog a, an lisis de conducta y entrenamiento animal en medios como Nature, The Scientist y Science News.

V etoj knige rech idet o buduschem razuma i o tom, kak nashi predstavlenija o sebe, o razume i o sobstvennoj prirode mogut izmenit buduschee - k luchshemu ili k khudshemu. V nej dve tsentralnye sjuzhetnye linii: odna - eto razmyshlenija o tom, chto takoe soznanie, vtoraja - preduprezhdenie o tom, chto nesposobnost produmat filosofskie posledstvija sozdanija iskusstvennogo intellekta mozhet polozhit konets dalnejshemu protsvetaniju suschestv, obladajuschikh soznaniem. Avtor pytaetsja najti otvety na voprosy: mogut li mashiny obladat soznaniem i mozhet li chelovek slitsja s iskusstvennym intellektom radi rasshirenija svoikh vozmozhnostej? Perevodchik: Natalja LisovaNauchnyj redaktor: Aleksandr Kaplan, d-r biol. naukRedaktor: Vjacheslav Ionov

A guide to AI’s thorniest implications that asks: How shall we navigate our brave new world? We are at a monumental turning point in human history. AI is taking intelligence in new directions. The strongest human competitors in chess, go, and Jeopardy! have been beaten by AIs, and AI is getting more sophisticated by the day. Further, AI research is going inside the human brain itself, attempting to augment human minds. It may even create greater-than-human-level intelligence, leading to a new generation of artificial minds—Minds 2.0. Susan Schneider, a philosopher, argues that these undertakings must not be attempted without a richer understanding of the nature of the mind. An insufficient grasp of the underlying philosophical issues could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. Examining the philosophical questions lying beneath the algorithms, Schneider takes on AI’s thorniest implications.

Hailed by the Washington Post as “a sure-footed and witty guide to slippery ethical terrain,” a philosophical exploration of AI and the future of the mind that Astronomer Royal Martin Rees calls “profound and entertaining”Humans may not be Earth’s most intelligent beings for much longer: the world champions of chess, Go, and Jeopardy! are now all AIs. Given the rapid pace of progress in AI, many predict that it could advance to human-level intelligence within the next several decades. From there, it could quickly outpace human intelligence. What do these developments mean for the future of the mind? In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions, but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness. Schneider argues that an insufficient grasp of the nature of these entities could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. To flourish, we must grasp the philosophical issues lying beneath the algorithms. At the heart of her exploration is a sober-minded discussion of what AI can truly achieve: Can robots really be conscious? Can we merge with AI, as tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil suggest? Is the mind just a program? Examining these thorny issues, Schneider proposes ways we can test for machine consciousness, questions whether consciousness is an unavoidable byproduct of sophisticated intelligence, and considers the overall dangers of creating machine minds.

A philosophical refashioning of the Language of Thought approach and the related computational theory of mind. The language of thought (LOT) approach to the nature of mind has been highly influential in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind; and yet, as Susan Schneider argues, its philosophical foundations are weak. In this philosophical refashioning of LOT and the related computational theory of mind (CTM), Schneider offers a different framework than has been developed by LOT and CTM's main architect, Jerry Fodor: one that seeks integration with neuroscience, repudiates Fodor's pessimism about the capacity of cognitive science to explain cognition, embraces pragmatism, and advances a different approach to the nature of concepts, mental symbols, and modes of presentation. According to the LOT approach, conceptual thought is determined by the manipulation of mental symbols according to algorithms. Schneider tackles three key problems that have plagued the LOT approach for decades: the computational nature of the central system (the system responsible for higher cognitive function); the nature of symbols; and Frege cases. To address these problems,] Schneider develops a computational theory that is based on the Global Workspace approach; develops a theory of symbols, "the algorithmic view"; and brings her theory of symbols to bear on LOT's account of the causation of thought and behavior. In the course of solving these problems, Schneider shows that LOT must make peace with both computationalism and pragmatism; indeed, the new conception of symbols renders LOT a pragmatist theory. And LOT must turn its focus to cognitive and computational neuroscience for its naturalism to succeed.

Make the next half of your life together the second honeymoon you want it to beAt mid-life, everything changes in most marriages. As the "family" focus shifts back to a "couples" focus, serious questions arise for each partner: Who am I now? Who are you? Who are we together? These questions go to the heart of a relationship, and the answers can often lead to conflict and, ultimately, divorce. Even the best relationships can founder as children grow up and leave home. Career change, financial uncertainty, job loss, infidelity, serious illness, or a partner's changing needs, values, and anxieties can threaten marital life. More subtle and dramatic still are the profoundly different personal changes men and women undergo at mid-life--emotional transformations that can irrevocably alter a marriage's dynamic. But as this wise, compassionate, and groundbreaking book shows, mid-life can also be a time for couples to examine and reinvent their relationships, renew their marital contract--and make a different kind of commitment to each other. Second Honeymoon explores the impact of mid-life on couples and the specific issues partners face--even couples who have never before experienced a serious crisis. Drawing on her long experience working with couples and families, Dr. Sonya Rhodes describes the high-risk roles and behavior patterns that are the stumbling blocks to change, and shows step by step how couples can achieve the critical transformations that will make the second half of their life together the loving second honeymoon they want it to be.

This is a newly revised and redesigned version of the book that was published on June 1, 2013. Set at first in late nineteenth century Eastern Europe, Fire in My Ears is a coming-of-age tale about a beautiful young woman who makes a tragic, far-reaching decision which results in three generations of pain, disappointment, and bitter struggles for happiness. The story unfolds as Mary's adoring father loves her perhaps too much, she is nearly jilted by the handsome Avram, and she brazenly makes her way by train through Europe. She continues across the English Channel, settles in the East End of London and then travels steerage with three young children to America. Finally Mary lives out her life in a mid-century American suburb amid all of her damaged and miserable descendants. Mary's story is told by her grown up granddaughter, Sarah, who learned her grandmother's lessons from nightly tales entrusted to her when she was a nine-year-old child in their shared bedroom. The book alternates between stories that sometimes delight, but often terrify Sarah, and the daily events of her own life. She listens intently for clues to understand the mean-spirited love she observes in the three generations of her family. Mary's determination to save her favorite grandchild from her own unhappy existence is perhaps her only noble gesture and it elevates her to the heroic heights her benighted beauty never could." This wonderful debut work reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof and... The Thorn Birds. The author weaves her characters into a fine tapestry and the reader is hooked from page one " "Family is the core of Jewish life, and memory is the core of a Jewish consciousness. Susan Schneider connects these two with a novel filled with emotional insights about generations of a deeply wounded family.""Well written.... It made me cry and laugh, and feel for this granddaughter who triumphed in the end. This is a must read."

Once a lowly wedding writer, Leigh "Lucky" Quinn is thrust into power as Your Wedding magazine's new Editor-in-Chief on the same day that two of the magazine's major competitors fold. It's the "Big Day" for Lucky and Your Wedding, as well as for the deposed EIC, Grace Ralston, who has been at Your Wedding's helm from day one, and had taken Lucky under her wing. While the formidable Grace faces the humiliation of sudden failure and being forcibly removed from her office (and a future that looms as emptily as an unemployed, pre-cocktail-hour afternoon), Lucky must face the confusion and disappointment of her new staff, especially Felice and Sara, the Art and Fashion directors leftover from Grace's regime. In the wake of Lucky's ascension, for better or for worse, each woman confronts her past and deals with her hectic present in this juicy tale about work, love, loss and the world of bridal weddings.