The Third Culture

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THE DISRESPECTED STUDENT — OR — THE NEED FOR THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
A Talk with Roger Schank
[8.16.99]

Introduction by
John Brockman

Roger Schank is a computer scientist and cognitive psychologist who has worked in the AI field for twenty-five years. Like Marvin Minsky, he takes the strong AI view, but rather than trying to build an intelligent machine he wants to deconstruct the human mind. He wants to know, in particular, how natural language — one's mother tongue — is processed, how memory works, and how learning occurs. Schank thinks of the human mind as a learning device, and he thinks that it is being taught in the wrong way. He is something of a gadfly; he deplores the curriculum-based, drill-oriented methods in today's schools, and his most recent contributions have been in the area of education, looking at ways to use computers to enhance the learning process.

— JB

ROGER SCHANK, a leading Artificial Intelligence researcher, is the Chairman and CTO for Cognitive Arts and has been the Director of the Institute for the Learning Sciences since its founding in 1989. He holds three faculty appointments at Northwestern University as John Evans Professor of Computer Science, Education, and Psychology. Previously, he was Professor of Computer Science and Psychology at Yale University and Director of the Yale Artificial Intelligence Project. His books include: Dynamic Memory: A Theory Of Learning In Computers And People , Tell Me A Story: A New Look At Real And Artificial Memory, The Connoisseur's Guide To The Mind, And Engines For Education and Virtual Learning: A Revolutionary Approach To Building A Highly Skilled Workforce.

Further reading:

"Information is Surprises" — Roger Schank in The Third Culture— Comments by Murray Gell-Mann, Marvin Minsky, Francisco Varela, Steven Pinker, W. Daniel Hillis, and Daniel C. Dennett


Roger Schank's "Education Outrage" Column #6: "The Professor Fails the Test"

To The Disrepected Student.....