DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Mind Dynamics

A Mind for Structure: Exploring the Roots of Intelligent Systems
By Ken Richardson. Boca Raton, FL: BrownWalker Press, 2006. 344 pp. Paper, $25.95.

However much we may despair of it sometimes, human intelligence is quite striking. Yet despite many years of research in cognitive sciences, precious little is known about its operations: How do we end up perceiving a coherent world? How are memories structured by concepts? How exactly does thinking affect behavior (recall the notorious frame problem)? Likewise, the questions of how the brain realizes cognition and what prompted the evolution and the increasing complexity of cognitive systems are still awaiting definitive answers. On the practical side, artificial intelligence is a long way away from designing a machine that could take over all my household chores, leaving me more time to write this book review (better still, write it for me).