Title: The philosophy of artificial life /
Authors: Boden, Margaret A.; Boden, Margaret A.
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year: 1996
Subjects: Artificial life.
Abstract: This new volume in the acclaimed Oxford Readings in Philosophy sereis offers a selection of the most important philosophical work being done in the new and fast-growing interdisciplinary area of artificial life. Artificial life research seeks to synthesize the characteristics of life by artificial means, particularly employing computer technology. The essays here explore such fascinating themes as the nature of life, the relation between life and mind, and the limits of technology.
Contents: 1. Artificial Life / Christopher G. Langton -- 2. Autonomy and Artificiality / Margaret A. Boden -- 3. An Approach to the Synthesis of Life / Thomas S. Ray -- 4. Form and Order in Evolutionary Biology / Richard M. Burian and Robert C. Richardson -- 5. Evolution -- Natural and Artificial / John Maynard Smith -- 6. Animals as Cost-Based Robots / David J. McFarland -- 7. From Robots to Rothko: The Bringing Forth of Worlds / Michael Wheeler -- 8. Today the Earwig, Tomorrow Man? / David Kirsh -- 9. Happy Couplings: Emergence and Explanatory Interlock / Andy Clark -- 10. In Praise of Interactive Emergence, Or Why Explanations Don't Have to Wait for Implementations / Horst Hendriks-Jansen -- 11. Aristotle on Life / Gareth B. Matthews -- 12. Spencer and Dewey on Life and Mind / Peter Godfrey-Smith -- 13. The Nature of Life / Mark A. Bedau -- 14. Learning from Functionalism -- Prospects for Strong Artificial Life / Elliott Sober -- 15. Simulations, Realizations, and Theories of Life / H. H. Pattee.