Rafael E. Núñez is a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego. He is, of course, a major proponent of embodied cognition and his monumental work, Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being, written with George Lakoff, has revolutionized the understanding of mathematical cognition.
The publication [...]
Archive for December, 2008
A Field Guide to Embodied Cognition
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Philosophy of Mind, Technology, tagged Artificial Intelligence, cartesianism, cognitivism, embodied cognition, embodiment, evolution, evolutionary science, Michael Anderson, Michael L. Anderson, situated cognition on December 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Michael L. Anderson has put together a nice field guide to embodied cognition (PDF) which you can access online by following that link.
Centrally, the article outlines that the field of embodied cognition is:
(1) Starkly opposed to Cartesianism.
(2) Denies the conceptual divide between humans and animals, reconnecting our conception of humanity to an evolutionary continuum.
(3) [...]
For the Last Minute Holiday Shopper: Get an iRobot!
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Technology, tagged bottom up, christmas gifts, cleaning gutters, ConnectR, dirt dog, embodied cognition, floor cleaning, gadget geeks, gift ideas, Holiday gifts, iRobot, last minute shopper, looj, robot maids, Robotics, robots, Rodney Brooks, roomba, scooba, verro on December 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Need a last minute holiday shopping idea for the ultimate gadget geek? Does your loved one obsess over embodied cognition or robotics, or just have trouble keeping their floor or gutters clean?
iRobot might just be the perfect gift. Co-founded by embodied robotics guru Rodney Brooks, the iRobot store has an arsenal of high tech [...]
Monday Profile: Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Posted in Epistemology, Existentialism, Monday Profile, Perception, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Mind, Psychology, philosophy, tagged bodily perception, body-subject, cartesianism, cogito, conception, Descartes, developmental psychology, empiricism, idealism, intellectualism, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Merleau-Ponty, Mind, mind and body, Perception, Phenomenology, phenomenology of perception, philosophy, Psychology, subject and object on December 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) was a French philosopher and phenomenologist. He continues to be credited as the most influential figure in the development of a philosophical understanding of the importance of the body and corporeality.
His most central work in this regard is The Phenomenology of Perception. Through a phenomenological examination of perception, Merleau-Ponty argued for [...]
What Makes a Terminator Tick: Embodied Cognition
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Robotics, tagged AI, Artificial Intelligence, bottom up cognition, Discover, Discover Magazine, disembodiment, embodied cognition, embodiment, Robotics, sarah connor, sarah connor chronicles, science fiction, Science Not Fiction, terminator on December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A blog over at Discover Magazine pointed me toward the latest episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which alludes to the importance of embodiment in the development of Artificial Intelligence. During the episode, which was first aired on December 15th, an Artificial Intelligence researcher poignantly notes that “…tactile experience is integral to A.I. development.”
Indeed! [...]
Monday Profile: Rodney Brooks
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Biological Sciences, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Monday Profile, Perception, Robotics, Technology, tagged Artificial Intelligence, biology, cambrian intelligence, cog, CSAIL, elephants don't play chess, embodiment, flesh and machines, frege, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, mobots, perceptual reasoning, Robotics, robots, Rodney Brooks, sensorimotor reasoning, subsumption, subsumption architecture, symbolic processing, turing on December 15, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Rodney Brooks is a Professor of Robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he also the directs the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Unquestionably, Brooks is the figurehead and principle leader of the embodied robotics movement.
Since his work was first published in 1986, Brooks has brought forth a new era in [...]
Call for Contributions: 2009 Mobile Manipulation Challenge
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Call for Papers, Conferences/Symposia, Robotics, Technology, tagged call for contributions, Call for Papers, embodied cognition, embodied robotics, embodiment, IJCAI, International Joint Conference on Aritifical Intelligence, mobile manipulation, mobile manipulation challenge, Robotics on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In conjunction with the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, a robotics exhibition is being held, called the Mobile Manipulation Challenge, from July 13-16 in 2009 in Pasadena, CA.
They need contributions, and are looking for demonstrations of physically embodied robots performing mobile manipulation tasks. Areas of interest include: Point-and-fetching, assembling structures, and searching for [...]
Monday Profile: Donna Haraway
Posted in Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Epistemology, Feminist Thought, Monday Profile, Perception, philosophy, tagged biology, cyberculture, cyborg manifesto, cyborgs, Donna Haraway, embodiment, Epistemology, essentialism, feminism, feminist epistemology, gender, history of consciousness, Perception, philosophy, primatology, race, situated knowledge, subject and object, vision, zoology on December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Donna Haraway is currently a professor of the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She began her career studying Zoology and Philosophy, and eventually earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Yale in 1972.
Haraway’s most central contribution to the study of embodiment comes at an intersection between [...]
Robot Maids Still A Long Ways Off; Mixed Blessing
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Perception, Robotics, Technology, tagged Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, cognitivism, embodied cognition, embodied robotics, embodiment, Jetsons, Lost in Space, MIT, MIT robotics laboratory, New York Times, Nicholas Roy, robot maids, robot pets, Robotics, science, Stanley Kubrick, terminator on December 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In this recent NY Times article, we get asked: “What happened to all of those early promises of having cogent robots, fully or partially integrated into our society, helping us out with all of our daily tasks?” Where are our robot maids, like in The Jetsons? Robots to dramatically and obnoxiously warn us of [...]
