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AFFECTIVE COMPUTING
Rosalind W. Picard. 1997. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press. [ISBN 0-262-16170-2.
292 pages, including index. $27.50.]
If you are interested in what artificial intelligence may portend, you will find Affective computing a fascinating glimpse into a future in which computers programmed with emotional capabilities are "companions in our endeavors to better understand how we are made, and so enhance our own humanity" (p. xi).
Drawing on recent research in perception and decision-making, which includes emotions as an integral component, Rosalind Picard theorizes that emotional mechanisms must work together with rule-based systems if computers are to be truly effective in making decisions. Picard calls this concept affective computing, that is, "computing that relates to, arises from, or deliberately influences emotions" (p. 3).
In her introduction, she discusses how the cortex and the limbic system are intertwined in decision-making and perception, including the neurological finding that the emotion-mediating parts of the brain are involved in even the most rational thinking. Therefore, since emotions play an active role in intelligence and are a critical part of social interactions, Picard reasons that computers must have emotions to function intelligently and sensitively toward humans.
The book is divided into two parts:
1. The theoretical basis and principles of affective computing
2. The design, construction, and programming of computers to enable them to recognize, express, and have emotions
Part I explores why emotions must become part of computing...