Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session


 

The term 6.xxx is used in the syllabus to jointly refer to the undergraduate (6.803) and graduate (6.833) versions of the course. A calendar of topics is presented below.

Purpose

6.xxx is designed to help you learn about progress toward the scientific goal of understanding human intelligence from a computational point of view. The foundations for 6.xxx were developed by a group that styles itself as The Human Intelligence Enterprise, from which this subject draws its name.

6.xxx complements 6.034, because 6.xxx focuses on long-standing scientific questions, whereas 6.034 focuses on existing tools for building applications with reasoning and learning capability.

Why You Should Take 6.xxx

  • You should take 6.xxx if you want to learn about the enterprise of explaining intelligence from a computational point of view. When you have finished the subject, you will understand the powerful ideas behind an optimistic view of what will be discovered in the next decade.
  • You should take 6.xxx if you want to develop a foundation for making personal contributions toward reaching the goal of understanding intelligence. When you have finished the subject, you will know about intriguing ideas begging for extension.
  • You should take 6.xxx if you want to learn how to dig the salient ideas out of a research paper without distraction by minutiae. When you have finished the subject, you will have learned to identify big ideas and ignore detritus.
  • You should take 6.xxx if you want to learn to present complex ideas effectively, as if you were presenting a thesis, delivering a job talk, chatting with a high-ranking official at breakfast, or making a presentation to a potential customer or venture capitalist. When you have finished the subject, you will have learned about heuristics that will improve your ability to do all these.

Why 6.xxx can be Viewed as a Humanities Subject

  • 6.xxx is about computational theories of human thinking. Hence, 6.xxx can be viewed as a special kind of psychology subject.
  • 6.xxx is about ferreting big ideas out of original sources through thoughtful reading, writing, and discussion. Hence, 6.xxx can be viewed as a special kind of literature subject.
  • 6.xxx is about packaging ideas into a variety of formats, including abstracts, conclusions, slide shows, press releases, proposals, reports, letters, and conversation. Hence, 6.xxx can be viewed as a subject in communication.
  • 6.xxx is about how to empower ideas through a clear statement of vision, an enumeration of concrete steps toward the vision, an articulation of new results with clarifying details, and a statement of contributions. Hence, 6.xxx can be viewed as a subject in persuasion and leadership.

Why You Should Avoid 6.xxx

  • You should avoid 6.xxx unless you can commit to on-time attendance and committed reading.

Because of the emphasis on reading and discussion, and the limitation on enrollment, regular attendance is obligatory, along with commitment to reading the papers. If you cannot picture yourself in class at 9:30 am, every Monday and Wednesday, you should not register, so as to make room for others who would otherwise be excluded because of the enrollment limitation. A corollary is that you probably should not register for 6.xxx if you are taking five subjects or course equivalents, such as UROP. You definitely should not register if you are involved in a startup or you are taking six or more subjects or subject equivalents.

  • You should avoid 6.xxx if you are not interested in understanding human intelligence from a computational point of view.

Believing that both mind-stretching and near-miss learning are educationally useful, some of the papers I have selected are boring, stupid, or nearly unintelligible. One goal of the subject is to develop the skill of gleaning useful ideas from such papers, but if you have little or no interest in understanding human intelligence, you should not subject yourself to the necessary reading. For more detail on what you will need to read, have a look at the readings section.

  • You should avoid 6.xxx if you already know everything you need to know about communication.

About one-third of the subject is devoted to discussing how to package ideas orally and in writing. You need to be enthusiastic about practicing the skills taught with a positive attitude. For more detail on what will be covered in the communication dimension, have a look at the assignments section.

  • You should avoid 6.xxx if you are enrolled in another limited-enrollment AI subject or an AI subject whose enrollment should be limited.

Alas, advanced AI subjects are scarce, and fairness dictates that they should be offered as broadly as possible. This fairness goal must be balanced, however, against the need to keep some of them small. If you are just generally interested in AI, you should take one of the graduate lecture-based subjects.

Level

6.803 is the undergraduate version of 6.xxx, and 6.833 is the graduate version. The two differ in that 6.833 may require you to attend some extra classes and will require you to complete a substantial term project. Both meet together ordinarily.

The graduate, H-level subject forms a bridge between 6.034 and design/project/thesis work in Artificial Intelligence.

Content

The content of 6.xxx is largely based on papers identified in an informal survey of representative AI leaders, who were asked what has most influenced the way they think about human intelligence. The papers mentioned tend to fall into the following categories, ranked by frequency:

  • Visionary Thinking by the Giants
  • Computational Models of Perception and Cognition
  • Powerful Computational Ideas
  • Neuroscience and Human Behavior

Style

  • You read parts or all of one or two papers for each class.
  • You discuss the content of those papers in class, occasionally with the authors.

The following mechanisms are used to ensure that you read the papers and absorb the material:

  • Homework, consisting of either short answers to questions about the papers or the preparation of abstracts, slide shows, and other forms of communication.
  • Verbal questions, often asked of random students during class.

Limit on Enrollment

Because of the emphasis on reading, discussion, and presentation, enrollment is limited.

Credit and Projects

Doing a substantial project is required for graduate H credit. More details are available in the projects section.

Calendar

"Discussion" refers to the introductory first half hour of class that is spent discussing communication heuristics.

SES # TOPICS COMMUNICATION REQUIREMENTS
1 Winston Reflects on the First 50 years  
2 Turing Suggests Test for Success

Assignment

Paper Decoding

Discussion

Broken Glass Diagrams

3 Minsky Lays Out Steps Toward Creating AI

Assignment

Broken Glass Diagrams (cont.)

Discussion

Purpose of Abstract and Conclusion

4 Brooks Denies Value of Representations Davis and Friends Affirm Value of Representations

Assignment

Contributions

Discussion

Vision, Steps, News

5 Marr Speaks to What Constitutes Good Work

Assignment

Talking Points

Discussion

How to Get Famous: Winston's Star

6 Ullman Explains Visual Routines

Assignment

Abstract/Conclusion

Discussion

How to Write a Press Release

7 Ullman Introduces Goldilocks Theory

Assignment

Press Release

Discussion

Discovery Through Knowledge Engineering

8 Rao Offers Explanation for Acquisition of Visual Routines

Assignment

Cover Letter

Discussion

10 to Inform, 10 to Watch

9 Borchardt Focuses on Transitions

Assignment

Tenure Letter

Discussion

How to Write Recommendation Letters

10 Jackendoff Grounds Out in Trajectories

Assignment

Recommendation Letter

Discussion

Slide Shows

11 Vaina and Grearenblatt Condemn Trees

Assignment

Slide Shows (cont.)

Discussion

How to Interview and be Interviewed

12 Minsky Predicts Important Role for Perception

Assignment

Email Critique

Discussion

Spider Web Evaluations

13 Spelke Demonstrates Role of Language in Reorientation

Assignment

Interview

Discussion

Dialog Emulation (Galileo, Plato, Mao, Watson, McPherson)

14 Geiger Argues that Dyslexics See too Much

Assignment

Letter to Author(s)

Discussion

How to Change a Decision

15 Kirby Speculates on the Emergence of Syntax Sutherland Calls for Courage

Assignment

Journal Review

Discussion

How to Write a Journal Review

16 Review

Discussion

How to Construct a Quad Chart

17 Gentner Recalls the Importance of Analogy

Assignment

Study Report

Discussion

How to Run a Study: Terms of Reference

18 Larson Grounds Symbols in Perception

Assignment

Trip Report

Discussion

How to Run a Conference

19 Yuret Lays a Foundation for Language Semantics

Assignment

Proposals

Discussion

How to Write a Letter Proposal

20 Yip and Sussman Use Sparse Spaces to Model Learning of Phonological Rules

Assignment

Textbook Chapter Opening

Discussion

How to Write a Book

21 Finlayson Announces the Goldilocks Principle

Assignment

Endorsement Letter

Discussion

How to Stay in Touch-lifetime Lists

22 Winston Attacks Laird

Assignment

Talking Points

Discussion

How to Run a Panel Discussion

23 Sur Rewires Brains

Assignment

Getting the Message to Garcia

Discussion

Courtesy Calls

24 Coen Perceives Work Together-win Together Theme

Assignment

Recommendation

Discussion

How to Speak

25 Presentations

Assignment

Recommendation, Presentation, Suggestions

Discussion

How to Applaud, Kabuki Style

26 Presentations (cont.)

Assignment

Recommendation, Presentation, Suggestions (cont.)

Discussion

A Boyfriend in a Box