Allen Newell
In plain wordsAn American computer scientist who, with Herbert Simon, wrote early AI programs that solved problems the way people do, and who sought a single theory of how the mind works.
American computer scientist who treated programs as theories of how people think, working first at the RAND Corporation and then, for most of his career, at Carnegie Mellon University. With Herbert A. SimonHerbert A. Simon, prop. n.: An American scientist of decision-making who, with Allen Newell, wrote some of the first AI programs and argued that minds and computers both think by manipulating symbols. and the programmer Cliff Shaw he created the Information Processing Language (IPL), the first list-processing language, and used it to write the Logic TheoristLogic Theorist, prop. n.: A 1956 computer program that proved theorems from a classic logic textbook by searching cleverly rather than trying every possibility. Many historians count it as the first AI program. (1956), often called the first AI program, and the General Problem SolverGeneral Problem Solver, prop. n.: A 1950s program meant to solve any well-defined puzzle by repeatedly comparing where it was with where it wanted to be and choosing steps that closed the gap. (1957). The book 'Human Problem Solving' (1972, with Simon) modeled thought with production systemsproduction system, n.: A program built from many 'if this, then do that' rules plus a memory of current facts; it repeatedly finds a rule whose 'if' part matches and carries out its 'then' part., and their joint Turing Award lecture (1976) stated the physical symbol system hypothesisphysical symbol system hypothesis, n.: The 1976 claim by two AI pioneers that a machine which stores and rearranges symbols according to rules has everything needed for general intelligence, and that anything generally intelligent must be such a machine.. From the early 1980s he developed the Soar cognitive architecturecognitive architecture, n.: A blueprint for a complete thinking system — how memory, attention, learning and decision-making fit together — used both to build general AI agents and to model how the human mind works. with John Laird and Paul Rosenbloom, and in 'Unified Theories of Cognition' (1990) he argued that psychology needed a single computational theory of the mind. He was the first president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, now the Association for the Advancement of Artificial IntelligenceAssociation for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, prop. n.: A major professional society for artificial intelligence researchers, founded in the United States in 1979, which runs a large yearly AI conference, publishes a magazine and honors leading scientists.. Turing AwardTuring Award, prop. n.: Nicknamed the 'Nobel Prize of computing', the top honor in computer science, awarded each year since 1966 by the Association for Computing Machinery. Several AI pioneers have received it. 1975 (with Simon); US National Medal of Science 1992.
Related
- Herbert A. SimonHerbert A. Simon, prop. n.: An American scientist of decision-making who, with Allen Newell, wrote some of the first AI programs and argued that minds and computers both think by manipulating symbols.
- Logic TheoristLogic Theorist, prop. n.: A 1956 computer program that proved theorems from a classic logic textbook by searching cleverly rather than trying every possibility. Many historians count it as the first AI program.
- General Problem SolverGeneral Problem Solver, prop. n.: A 1950s program meant to solve any well-defined puzzle by repeatedly comparing where it was with where it wanted to be and choosing steps that closed the gap.
- physical symbol system hypothesisphysical symbol system hypothesis, n.: The 1976 claim by two AI pioneers that a machine which stores and rearranges symbols according to rules has everything needed for general intelligence, and that anything generally intelligent must be such a machine.
- cognitive architecturecognitive architecture, n.: A blueprint for a complete thinking system — how memory, attention, learning and decision-making fit together — used both to build general AI agents and to model how the human mind works.
- production systemproduction system, n.: A program built from many 'if this, then do that' rules plus a memory of current facts; it repeatedly finds a rule whose 'if' part matches and carries out its 'then' part.
Sources
- Newell, A. & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human Problem Solving. Prentice-Hall.
- Newell, A. (1990). Unified Theories of Cognition. Harvard University Press.
Mentioned in
Dartmouth workshopDartmouth workshop, prop. n.: A summer meeting of scientists at Dartmouth College in 1956, planned in a 1955 funding proposal that first used the phrase 'artificial intelligence'. Most histories treat it as the moment AI became a research field of its own., General Problem SolverGeneral Problem Solver, prop. n.: A 1950s program meant to solve any well-defined puzzle by repeatedly comparing where it was with where it wanted to be and choosing steps that closed the gap., Herbert A. SimonHerbert A. Simon, prop. n.: An American scientist of decision-making who, with Allen Newell, wrote some of the first AI programs and argued that minds and computers both think by manipulating symbols., Logic TheoristLogic Theorist, prop. n.: A 1956 computer program that proved theorems from a classic logic textbook by searching cleverly rather than trying every possibility. Many historians count it as the first AI program., physical symbol system hypothesisphysical symbol system hypothesis, n.: The 1976 claim by two AI pioneers that a machine which stores and rearranges symbols according to rules has everything needed for general intelligence, and that anything generally intelligent must be such a machine., Turing AwardTuring Award, prop. n.: Nicknamed the 'Nobel Prize of computing', the top honor in computer science, awarded each year since 1966 by the Association for Computing Machinery. Several AI pioneers have received it., Association for the Advancement of Artificial IntelligenceAssociation for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, prop. n.: A major professional society for artificial intelligence researchers, founded in the United States in 1979, which runs a large yearly AI conference, publishes a magazine and honors leading scientists., blackboard systemblackboard system, n.: A design for AI programs that lets many independent specialist modules collaborate only through a shared workspace: each watches it, posts a piece of the answer when it sees a chance, and builds on what others posted., cognitive architecturecognitive architecture, n.: A blueprint for a complete thinking system — how memory, attention, learning and decision-making fit together — used both to build general AI agents and to model how the human mind works., means–ends analysismeans–ends analysis, n.: A problem-solving method that compares where you are with where you want to be, picks an action that shrinks the biggest difference, and sets itself smaller goals when that action cannot yet be taken., production systemproduction system, n.: A program built from many 'if this, then do that' rules plus a memory of current facts; it repeatedly finds a rule whose 'if' part matches and carries out its 'then' part., RAND CorporationRAND Corporation, prop. n.: An American research organization, long funded mainly by the US government, where early AI programs were written and which now advises governments on AI and security.