Gary Drescher

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Gary L. Drescher is a scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), author of the book Made-Up Minds: A Constructivist Approach to Artificial Intelligence.

His book describes a theory of how a computer program might be implemented to learn and use new concepts that have not been programmed into it. It introduces the Schema Mechanism, a general learning and concept-building mechanism inspired by Jean Piaget's account of human cognitive development.

The Schema Mechanism is intended to replicate key aspects of cognitive development during infancy. It takes Piaget's theory of human development as source of inspiration for an artificial learning mechanism; and it extends and tests Piaget's theory by seeing whether a specific mechanism that works according to Piagetian themes actually exhibits Piagetian abilities.

More recently, Gary Drescher has turned his attention towards philosophy. He was recently a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, which is directed by Dan Dennett. As a result of his studies there, he has written a book, Good and Real: Demystifying Paradoxes from Physics to Ethics, in which he defends a rigorously mechanistic materialism. In this book, he discusses quantum mechanics, defending the Everett or Multiple Worlds Interpretation, against the dominant Copenhagen Interpretation. Among other things, he argues that the Everett Interpretation of quantum mechanics, allows for a completely determinist outlook, and it undermines the views of those (like Roger Penrose) who hold that quantum mechanics can give us some special insights into the nature of consciousness. In this book, Drescher also provides treatments of the Prisoner's Dilemma and Newcomb's Problem in order to build a defense of the golden rule and Kant's categorical imperative which does not require that we posit anything beyond the physical world as understood by the natural sciences.