Models of My LifeIn this candid and witty autobiography, Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon looks at his distinguished and varied career, continually asking himself whether (and how) what he learned as a scientist helps to explain other aspects of his life. A brilliant polymath in an age of increasing specialization, Simon is one of those rare scholars whose work defines fields of inquiry. Crossing disciplinary lines in half a dozen fields, Simon's story encompasses an explosion in the information sciences, the transformation of psychology by the information-processing paradigm, and the use of computer simulation for modeling the behavior of highly complex systems. Simon's theory of bounded rationality led to a Nobel Prize in economics, and his work on building machines that think -- based on the notion that human intelligence is the rule-governed manipulation of symbols -- laid conceptual foundations for the new cognitive science. Subsequently, contrasting metaphors of the maze (Simon's view) and of the mind (neural nets) have dominated the artificial intelligence debate. There is also a warm account of his successful marriage and of an unconsummated love affair, letters to his children, columns, a short story, and political and personal intrigue in academe. |
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Models of my life
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictSimon is a veritable Renaissance man: considered the father of artificial intelligence, he also contributed to the theory of organizational behavior and was the first social scientist to be admitted ... Read full review
Contents
Forests and Fields | 24 |
Education in Chicago | 36 |
Political Science | 55 |
Copyright | |
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Academy activities Administrative Behavior Allen Newell American artificial intelligence association became began Beijing Berkeley bounded rationality building Business School campus career Carnegie Tech chapter chess China Chinese cognitive psychology cognitive science colleagues committee computer science course Cowles Commission decision Department Dorothea early economics economists engineering experience faculty father friends goals graduate students GSIA Harold heuristic Hugo human ideas Illinois Tech important information-processing Institute intellectual interest JOHNNIAC language later learned lectures logic Logic Theorist mathematical maze memory Merriam Milwaukee never Newell organization paper perhaps Pittsburgh planning political science president problem solving processes professional PSAC published RAND role scientific scientists Simon simulation skills social sciences soon spent story summer talk task teaching theorems theory thought took topic Tower of Hanoi trip understand University of Chicago write
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Models of My Life Books in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation series Sloan Foundation Science Series |
| Author | Herbert Alexander Simon |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | BasicBooks, 1991 |
| ISBN | 0465046401, 9780465046409 |
| Length | 415 pages |
| Subjects | › Business & Economics / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |