Minsky, Marvin
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1927-2016) US computer scientist of considerable renown in the field of artificial intelligence, who at the time of his death was Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and also professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He advised Stanley Kubrick on the plausibility of a talking, sentient Computer by the year 2001, for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). His one sf novel is The Turing Option (1992) with Harry Harrison, whose AI speculations are presented in melodramatic Technothriller mode; the AI-augmented human protagonist moves toward a Posthuman condition. Minsky also collaborated with David Gerrold on the Flash Fiction squib "Why There Are No Type-C Civilizations" (June 2008 Jim Baen's Universe). His essays – several of sf relevance – and the draft text of his nonfiction The Emotion Machine (2006) are available from his MIT web page [see under links below]. [DRL]
Marvin Lee Minsky
born New York: 9 August 1927
died Boston, Massachusetts: 24 January 2016
works
- The Turing Option (New York: Warner Books, 1992) with Harry Harrison [hb/Carol Gillot]
nonfiction (selected)
- The Emotion Machine (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006) [nonfiction: hb/]
links
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