Are We Unique: A Scientist Explores the Unparalleled Intelligence of the Human Mind

By James S. Trefil

Book Overview

This text explores what it is that is so special about the human mind that sets us apart from all other animals and also makes it impossible to design a computer that could think like we do. It looks at recent findings about animal intelligence to show how different human minds really are from other animal minds. An argument is put forward that the human mind is unique and that even if a computer is built that can think as well as we do, it will not be at all like the human mind in the way that it thinks.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471155365
• ISBN13: 9780471155362
• Release Date: February 1997
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.9" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

informative and highly readable

Trefil gives nice basic summaries of the current states of research in animal intelligence and computer intelligence to see how close these really come to "uniquely" human intelligence. Though I did not find Trefil's quest to prove human intelligence "unique," all that compelling, I thought the book served as an excellent discussion of animal, computer, and human intelligence