A man, viewed as a behaving system, is quite simple. The apparent complexity of
his behaviour over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment
in which he finds himself [. . .] provided that we include in what we call man’s
environment the cocoon of information, stored in books and in long-term memory,
that man spins about himself.
(Simon 1969, 126f )
To some readers’ surprise, perhaps, this thought was articulated by one of the
pioneers of Artificial Intelligence (henceforth AI). Depending on emphasis, two
markedly different readings can be given to it:
(1) One may focus on the human being as a behaving system, highlighting its
relative simplicity while not further analysing the contributions from its environment. Under this reading, human cognitive achievements indeed appear
rather modest.
(2) One may focus on the environment and the information it provides to the
human being. Under this reading, environmental information is factored into
the equation as a constitutive element of human cognitive achievements in all
their richness.
Joseph Weizenbaum, an AI pioneer-turned-critic, bases his criticism of Herbert
Simon’s statement on the first of these two readings: such a statement, he contends,
reveals a highly unfavourable view of human nature in which that nature is reduced
to processes of a purely formal kind and to mechanically reactive behaviour (Weizenbaum 1976, 128–130). He does not even seem to consider the possibility of
the second reading – which, however, appears to be the more plausible one in the
context of Simon’s argument. To be fair, it has to be noted that Simon first used
the same phrasing to characterise the behaviour of ants (1969, 52), in order to provocatively substitute them with humans on the next page, and later adding human
artefacts to the picture. The question is whether and to what extent the characterisation of the behaviour of ants as “quite simple” is supposed to be equivalent or
analogous to that of human beings, with the normative implications that ensue.
1 Preliminaries
Ants and robots, parlour games
and steam drills
his behaviour over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment
in which he finds himself [. . .] provided that we include in what we call man’s
environment the cocoon of information, stored in books and in long-term memory,
that man spins about himself.
(Simon 1969, 126f )
To some readers’ surprise, perhaps, this thought was articulated by one of the
pioneers of Artificial Intelligence (henceforth AI). Depending on emphasis, two
markedly different readings can be given to it:
(1) One may focus on the human being as a behaving system, highlighting its
relative simplicity while not further analysing the contributions from its environment. Under this reading, human cognitive achievements indeed appear
rather modest.
(2) One may focus on the environment and the information it provides to the
human being. Under this reading, environmental information is factored into
the equation as a constitutive element of human cognitive achievements in all
their richness.
Joseph Weizenbaum, an AI pioneer-turned-critic, bases his criticism of Herbert
Simon’s statement on the first of these two readings: such a statement, he contends,
reveals a highly unfavourable view of human nature in which that nature is reduced
to processes of a purely formal kind and to mechanically reactive behaviour (Weizenbaum 1976, 128–130). He does not even seem to consider the possibility of
the second reading – which, however, appears to be the more plausible one in the
context of Simon’s argument. To be fair, it has to be noted that Simon first used
the same phrasing to characterise the behaviour of ants (1969, 52), in order to provocatively substitute them with humans on the next page, and later adding human
artefacts to the picture. The question is whether and to what extent the characterisation of the behaviour of ants as “quite simple” is supposed to be equivalent or
analogous to that of human beings, with the normative implications that ensue.
1 Preliminaries
Ants and robots, parlour games
and steam drills