Book Description

The Star Trek series has inspired not only armchair fans, but also theresearchers who are trying to better the human race, developing the devices ofthe future, and struggling to conquer space travel. The Star Trek series wasalso the inspiration for this book, which examines the artificial intelligencesportrayed in the shows.

The question we’ll be asking throughout this book is, “How do we get fromwhere we are now to the point where we are able to create truly exceptionalartificial beings such as Holodeck characters, Lieutenant Commander Data, andthe Emergency Medical Hologram?” In order to answer this, we’ll examinewhere we are right now and extrapolate where we are heading. Throughout the booka passion for Star Trek is integrated with academic research from the AI,A-Life, and Robotics domains, which are presented in an easy to understandway—bypassing the technobabble and mind-blowing mathematics.

The book examines the characteristics and capabilities of Star Trek’sartificial life forms and compares them with current technologies in an attemptto predict if we’ll ever create such advanced beings. It is written to provideboth the serious Trekker and the occasional voyeur with a handbook of thecurrent techniques and devices available in the fields of artificialintelligence, robotics, and artificial life. It examines the development ofartificial life forms such as Data and the EMH from the bottom up, includingtheir physical creation programming, and metaphysical aspects such aspersonality and emotions to determine if such beings might some day be areality. 178pp.

If you have ever wanted to know what a positronic brain is or how to write apersonality subroutine then this is the book for you!

Dr. Penny Baillie-de Byl (Australia) has been researching in the areaof artificial intelligence since 1995. She has had a number of internationalconference papers, journal papers, several book chapters, and a book publishedin this area. During her twelve-year career as a university lecturer she hasconsulted as a computer programmer, systems simulator, and Web site applicationengineer. Dr. Baillie-de Byl currently works at the University of SouthernQueensland in Australia where she teaches computer programming, computergraphics and computer game development.

Author: Penny Baillie-de Byl

ISBN: 1-58450-414-5
Pub Date: January 12, 2006
Format: Cloth - 178 pages