Almaden Institute

Hydraulic Ducks, Thinking Machines, and Automaticity Abstract: These after-dinner remarks begin with a very abbreviated version of the history of the relation between technology, and our understanding of the brain and the mind. I will mention the invention of clever machines, ranging from hydraulic automata to thermostats and computers, and how they affected our image of how the brain works. By the same token, evolving knowledge of perception and other cognitive processes also influence the invention of machines. Knowledge of, and theories about, perception and cognition had a direct impact on the development of computer science. Artificial intelligence and neural networks, for example, were dramatically influenced by advances in psychology. This Institute is focused on the new idea of “autonomic computing.” Is this another case of machine imitating nature? What are the properties of this “nature?” The autonomic nervous system supports homeostasis. Many of its functions are consistent with classic theory of control systems. However, in some cases feedback seems to not play a central role. The autonomic nervous system turns out to be surprisingly intelligent and, without our being aware of it, makes inferences about the world. Can we learn from this?.  Professor Lloyd Kaufman - Bio Lloyd Kaufman: Professor, Psychology Department, New York University lk@cns.nyu.edu Lloyd Kaufman is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New York University. Previously he was Professor of Psychology and Neural Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU and Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the NYU School of Medicine. He was co-director of the Neuromagnetism Laboratory of the Departments of Physics and Psychology for over 20 years. Kaufman is the author of “Sight and Mind” (Oxford University Press, 1974), and coeditor of several books dealing with perception as well as with biomagnetism. He is author or coauthor of over 100 papers dealing with visual perception and with the brain’s magnetic field (Magnetic Source Imaging). He is coauthor of a recent paper on the Moon Illusion (with James H. Kaufman), and is currently writing a paper on binocular stereopsis. Kaufman has a long-standing interest in the history of psychology and of neural science.