EECS Fall 1997 Catalogue Supplement

6.410 Beer and Computers
F 5:30-7, NE43-7ai playroom
0-0-12

In this class we probe the social and cultural implications of AI by meandering amidst the intertwined tendrils of its two philosophical roots: Beer and Computers. As instigators of pride and envy, as tools for achieving brutally primitive goals, and as the focus and inspiration of inane television commercials, beer and computers are as intimately woven into our global culture as the bamboo steamer and the Ginsu knife. This connection was so eloquently described by Friedrick "Captain" Pabst as "...why else would I get up in the morning? Oh, God, the throbbing --- someone shoot me!"

The literature is rich with opportunity for study of beer and computers. The class will compare Francisco Varela's "The Embodied Mind" to Arthur Guinness's "Full-bodied Extra Stout", and Marvin Minksy's "Society of Mind" to Frederic A. Miller's "Genuine Draft Light."

We will study the concept of beer as invoked to enhance social gatherings. If a gathering is lacking in witty repartee, suitable application of beer (and, for advanced students, cider) may compensate for conversational shortcomings. Computers typically have a counterpositive effect, turning an otherwise ebullient cadre into a motley collection of sullen disingenues.

A special focus of the class relevant to AI researchers will be the link between beer and brain functions. Autopsies of alcoholics show that drinking eight beers a day can shrink the brain. Among the symptoms are severe memory loss, double vision and loss of balance. Autopsies of lispm hackers showed that hacking eight hours a day can also shrink the brain, but without the benefits of enhanced sociability and general feelings of confidence and well-being.

We finally will search for possibilities on how to create a relational unity between the AI and bar-room anthropologies which will result not in identity or assimilation but in dynamic interchange, with each radically open to the discoveries and insights of the other at today's

  G   I   R   L      S   C  O  U   T      B   E   N   E   F   I   T

7th floor playroom October 10, 1997 5:30 pm