Herbert Simon Research Paper
Who was Herbert Simon? 1
Running Head: WHO WAS HERBERT SIMON?
Who was Herbert Simon? A Glimpse of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Crystal Peru
Politics, Policy and Ethics in the Public Sector
PAD510
May 30, 2010
Who was Herbert Simon? 2
Abstract
This paper investigates and provides factual research on Mr. Herbert Simon and his contributions to the founding of Artificial Intelligence. Herbert A. Simon was one of the founding fathers of artificial intelligence. Simon, who, along with Allen Newell and J.C. Shaw, wrote the first AI program in 1956, received many honors in his lifetime, including the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1978. Simon was a true renaissance man. He researched human decision-making and problem-solving processes and the implications of those processes for social institutions. …show more content…
Herbert Simon articulated from the perspective of 1960 his vision of what we now call the New Economy - the machine-aided system of production and management of the late 20th century. Simon's analysis sprang from what I term the principle of cognitive comparative advantage: one has to understand the quite different cognitive structures of humans and machines (including computers) in order to explain and predict the tasks to which each will be most suited. Perhaps unlike Simon's better-known predictions about progress in artificial intelligence research, the predictions of this 1960 article hold up remarkably well and continue to offer important insights. In what follows I attempt to tell a coherent story about the evolution of machines and the division of labor between humans and machines. Although inspired by Simon's 1960 paper, I weave many other strands into the tapestry, from classical discussions of the division of labor to present-day evolutionary psychology. The basic conclusion is that, with growth in the extent
Running Head: WHO WAS HERBERT SIMON?
Who was Herbert Simon? A Glimpse of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Crystal Peru
Politics, Policy and Ethics in the Public Sector
PAD510
May 30, 2010
Who was Herbert Simon? 2
Abstract
This paper investigates and provides factual research on Mr. Herbert Simon and his contributions to the founding of Artificial Intelligence. Herbert A. Simon was one of the founding fathers of artificial intelligence. Simon, who, along with Allen Newell and J.C. Shaw, wrote the first AI program in 1956, received many honors in his lifetime, including the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1978. Simon was a true renaissance man. He researched human decision-making and problem-solving processes and the implications of those processes for social institutions. …show more content…
Herbert Simon articulated from the perspective of 1960 his vision of what we now call the New Economy - the machine-aided system of production and management of the late 20th century. Simon's analysis sprang from what I term the principle of cognitive comparative advantage: one has to understand the quite different cognitive structures of humans and machines (including computers) in order to explain and predict the tasks to which each will be most suited. Perhaps unlike Simon's better-known predictions about progress in artificial intelligence research, the predictions of this 1960 article hold up remarkably well and continue to offer important insights. In what follows I attempt to tell a coherent story about the evolution of machines and the division of labor between humans and machines. Although inspired by Simon's 1960 paper, I weave many other strands into the tapestry, from classical discussions of the division of labor to present-day evolutionary psychology. The basic conclusion is that, with growth in the extent