topics: |  philosophy | evolution | brain | sociology

Excerpts

On Sept 11, 1956, at MIT, three papers were presented at a meeting of the
Institute for Radio Engineers.  One was by Allen Newell and H Simon, "The
Logic Theory machine", (foundational in AI) another by George Miller, "The
magical number seven, plus or minus two" (foundational in cognitive
linguistics), and Noam Chomsky: "Three models for the description of
language" (foundational for linguistics).  In Herbert Simon's 1969 book, he
talks of this occasion and the cordial relations between AI and
linguistics.

But by 1989 the gulf had widened. - p.385

The Chomsky hierarchy of grammars was closely related to Turing's purely
logical investigations of computing processes.  When announced, many
in the humanities, esp foreign-language departments, were extremely hostile
to it.

"Chomsky may be prof of linguistics at MIT, and linguistics may be one of
the humanities, but Chomsky's work was science, and science was the Enemy--
as every card-carrying humanist knows.
    Our meddling intellect
  Misshapes the beauteous forms of things
    We murder to dissect. - Wordsworth" p.386

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Chapter 10, "Bully for Brontosaurus", critiques Stephen Jay Gould's ideas
which distort evolutionary theory by undermining adaptationism, gradualism
and other evolutionary processes.

Chapter 13 investigates the role of language as an interface to a group
activity; analyzes behavioural evolution as a possible mechanism that gave
rise to language.  Section 2 debates the positions of Chomsky ("In the case
of such systems as language or wings it is not easy even to imagine a course
of selection that might have given rise to them.")