Managers, business owners, computer-literate individuals and software developers alike are all seeking an understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and wondering what its uses might be. In this discussion, the author explains what artificial intelligence can do and cannot do, and what benefits it holds for applications such as banking financial services, and expert systems of all kinds. Topics include: the strengths and weaknesses of software development and engineering; the promises and problems of machine learning; expert systems and success stories; practical software through artificial intelligence; artificial intelligence and conventional software engineering problems; software engineering methodology; new paradigms for system engineering; what the future holds.

From Black Holes and Big Bangs to the Higgs boson and the infinitesimal building blocks of all matter, modern science has been spectacularly successful, with one glaring exception - intelligence. Intelligence still remains as one of the greatest mysteries in science.How do you chat so effortlessly? How do you remember, and why do you forget? From a basis of ten maxims What Makes You Clever explains the difficulties as well as the persuasive and persistent over-estimations of progress in Artificial Intelligence. Computers have transformed our lives, and will continue to do so for many years to come. But ever since the Turing Test proposed in 1950 up to IBM's Deep Blue computer that won the second six-game match against world champion Garry Kasparov, the science of artificial intelligence has struggled to make progress.The reader's expertise is engaged to probe human language, machine learning, neural computing, holistic systems and emergent phenomenon. What Makes You Clever reveals the difficulties that scientists grapple with in their efforts to understand your cleverness, and points to possible ways forward.

From Black Holes and Big Bangs to the Higgs boson and the infinitesimal building blocks of all matter, modern science has been spectacularly successful, with one glaring exception - intelligence. Intelligence still remains as one of the greatest mysteries in science.How do you chat so effortlessly? How do you remember, and why do you forget? From a basis of ten maxims What Makes You Clever explains the difficulties as well as the persuasive and persistent over-estimations of progress in Artificial Intelligence. Computers have transformed our lives, and will continue to do so for many years to come. But ever since the Turing Test proposed in 1950 up to IBM's Deep Blue computer that won the second six-game match against world champion Garry Kasparov, the science of artificial intelligence has struggled to make progress.The reader's expertise is engaged to probe human language, machine learning, neural computing, holistic systems and emergent phenomenon. What Makes You Clever reveals the difficulties that scientists grapple with in their efforts to understand your cleverness, and points to possible ways forward.

IT systems explode budget estimates, bust production deadlines by years, and then fail to work properly. Why this IT-system crisis? Poor programmers? Inadequate project management? No.

"The Seductive Computer" argues that the fundamental nature of programming technology itself is the real culprit; it promises perfection but can only deliver emergent chaos. It is also an insidiously compelling technology, peculiarly male oriented.

IT systems, an unavoidable and increasing reality in all our lives, are something new to man - large-scale discrete complexity. "The Seductive Computer" explains this novelty that defies human understanding.

This book illustrates in a simple yet thorough manner the underlying concepts necessary for understanding the IT-system crisis - not How To Program but what the demands of programming are. It then proceeds to lay out the full gamut of issues - all stemming from the nature of the technology.

From development to maintenance IT-system personnel are grappling with incipient chaos. The technicians are seduced by the detailed challenge of the technology. The scientists are seduced by the promises of their technology. The managers and users are seduced by the mysteries of the technology. No IT system is ever fully understood by anyone, so surprising behaviours will always emerge.

What can be done? We must rein in our expectations of IT systems: what they can do, and how reliably they can do it. On the positive side, "The Seductive Computer" discusses novel paradigms that look beyond the current discrete technology: neural computing and precise approximation computing.

This outstanding collection is designed to address the fundamental issues and principles underlying the task of Artificial Intelligence. The editors have selected not only papers now recognized as classics but also many specially commissioned papers which examine the methodological and theoretical foundations of the discipline from a wide variety of perspectives: computer science and software engineering, cognitive psychology, philosophy, formal logic and linguistics. Carefully planned and structured, the volume tackles many of the contentious questions of immediate concern to AI researchers and interested observers. Is Artificial Intelligence in fact a discipline, or is it simply part of computer science? What is the role of programs in AI and how do they relate to theories? What is the nature of representation and implementation, and how should the challenge of connectionism be viewed? Can AI be characterized as an empirical science? The comprehensiveness of this collection is further enhanced by the full, annotated bibliography. All readers who want to consider what Artificial Intelligence really is will find this sourcebook invaluable, and the editors will undoubtedly succeed in their secondary aim of stimulating a lively and continuing debate.