Suggesting that the world is a dangerous place in part because “the average person does not have anything interesting to do,” scientist and author Marvin Minsky thinks that one solution is to “get everybody to be more of a scientist so that they will have a point.”
In many ways, Minsky, 74, was preaching to the choir–potential future scientists enrolled at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora. Minsky met with about 50 students in a provocative and challenging discussion Wednesday that covered everything from finding meaning in life to what makes a good book.
“The average scientist has 500 years of important problems to solve, but the average person has no goals,” he said. “Most people don’t have any problems to solve. No wonder we see suicide bombers. The world’s a very dangerous place.”
Minsky, who co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959, is an expert on computers and intelligence.
He is author of the book “The Society of Mind,” which theorizes that intelligence is not the result of a single mechanism but of a number of related actions by many small parts. He is working on a book titled “The Emotion Machine.”
Minsky’s visit to the state-run residential high school in Aurora was part of the school’s Great Minds Lecture series that brings renowned scholars to the school to meet with students and lecture on their work.
Before the lecture, Minsky spent about two hours visiting with students and expounding on a variety of topics.
At times joking and at times pessimistic, Minsky made fun of contemporary culture, criticizing everything from football to popular music.
He said the human race is in a state of emergency because the quality of human thought has not progressed greatly over the last 500 years.
“We’re stuck and we need to get over this hump,” he said.
He advised students to constantly ask questions and to look for the one thing that no one is studying.
“If something is popular, then don’t do it,” he said. “If an idea is really popular, there must be something wrong with it and you’re the one to find it out.”
To illustrate, Minsky said he is exploring the idea of programming a computer with the human quality of common sense.
He noted that few other scientists were working on the idea of endowing computers with common sense.
One of the things that keeps Minsky going is the prospect of an infinite number of ideas to explore and ponder, but he said he does not find the ideas in books, or at least not in traditional books.
Minsky said he never reads novels because “all novels are essentially the same. In science fiction in every chapter, however, there’s a new idea you’ve never seen before.”
Students said they appreciated his advice and were inspired by his visit.
“He is my idol,” said Jered Wierzbicki, a senior from Sugar Grove, whose goal is to work in the Artificial Intelligence Lab. “Some people like the Backstreet Boys; I like Marvin Minsky.”
