Machine Discovery: Reprinted from Foundations of Science Volume 1, No. 2, 1995/96 ISBN-13: 9789048147939

Author: Zytkow, Jan

Brand: Springer

Edition: Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 1997

Number Of Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9789048147939

Release Date: 08-12-2010

Languages: English

Binding: Paperback

Package Dimensions: 11.0 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches

Details: Human and machine discovery are gradual problem-solving processes of searching large problem spaces for incompletely defined goal objects. Research on problem solving has usually focused on searching an `instance space (empirical exploration) and a `hypothesis space (generation of theories). In scientific discovery, searching must often extend to other spaces as well: spaces of possible problems, of new or improved scientific instruments, of new problem representations, of new concepts, and others. This book focuses especially on the processes for finding new problem representations and new concepts, which are relatively new domains for research on discovery.
Scientific discovery has usually been studied as an activity of individual investigators, but these individuals are positioned in a larger social structure of science, being linked by the `blackboard of open publication (as well as by direct collaboration). Even while an investigator is working alone, the process is strongly influenced by knowledge and skills stored in memory as a result of previous social interactions. In this sense, all research on discovery, including the investigations on individual processes discussed in this book, is social psychology, or even sociology.