Talking nets - James A. Anderson

Since World War II, a group of scientists has been attempting to
understand the human nervous system and to build computer systems that emulate the
brain's abilities. Many of the early workers in this field of neural networks came
from cybernetics; others came from neuroscience, physics, electrical engineering,
mathematics, psychology, even economics. In this collection of interviews, those who
helped to shape the field share their childhood memories, their influences, how they
became interested in neural networks, and what they see as its
future.

The subjects tell stories that have been told, referred
to, whispered about, and imagined throughout the history of the field. Together, the
interviews form a Rashomon-like web of reality. Some of the
mythic people responsible for the foundations of modern brain theory and
cybernetics, such as Norbert Wiener, Warren McCulloch, and Frank Rosenblatt, appear
prominently in the recollections. The interviewees agree about some things and
disagree about more. Together, they tell the story of how science is actually done,
including the false starts, and the Darwinian struggle for jobs, resources, and
reputation. Although some of the interviews contain technical material, there is no
actual mathematics in the
book.

ContributorsJames A. Anderson, Michael
Arbib, Gail Carpenter, Leon Cooper, Jack Cowan, Walter Freeman, Stephen Grossberg,
Robert Hecht-Neilsen, Geoffrey Hinton, Teuvo Kohonen, Bart Kosko, Jerome Lettvin,
Carver Mead, David Rumelhart, Terry Sejnowski, Paul Werbos, Bernard Widrow