The society of mind

Lecture: 1 session / week, 2.5 hours / session

The subject of this course is to discuss theories about how minds work. We will emphasize aspects of thinking that are so poorly understood that they are still considered to be more philosophical than scientific. Our goal is to replace ill-defined folk theories of 'consciousness', 'self' and 'emotion' with more concrete computational concepts.

This course centers around two books, Society of Mind and The Emotion Machine. The full text of The Emotion Machine is also available on Prof. Minsky's homepage. There are no course prerequisites for 6.868. However, you are expected to have read Society of Mind in advance.

This class takes the form of an interactive seminar, in which you will be able to actively discuss and debate ideas. We expect that you will be thoughtful, inquisitive, and prepared.

Now about your expectations:

All sessions include Q/A and discussion components. There are four lectures devoted entirely to Q/A.

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