4 Insights From the Father of Artificial Intelligence- Herbert Simon

1. One idea can lead to so many fields. 
First off, I'm surprised his autobiography was not titled Mazes of my Life because the recurring theme is mazes and their meaning in decision making. Overall his account has some real gems but is so filled with boring acronym laden academic politics that could have been left out. If the reader is willing to sift through that, Simon gives clear minded first hand accounts of the life as a hard working ultra rational political genius who grappled academically with the cultural upheavals of  world war II, Cold War and founding of a business school. He pursued human decision making questions through revolutionary realms in Economics, Psychology and pioneering early computers into 'artificial intelligence.' What initially interested me in his biography was my constant lookout for a renaissance man type interdisciplinary thinker and even more a modern successful one. What kept me going was his honesty and how he reminded me of certain family members of mine.

 image from saxonianfolkways.wordpress.com

2. A Father in Feedback Systems
Simon gives a forthright telling of his life events with the objectivity that helped make his thinking so logical. In his own words his youth did not show signs of anything particularly original which is a good reminder for parents who over or under stress their own children's talents. Although he did say he skipped grades and wrote an atheist letter which caused some controversy.  His father was a leading engineer who exposed Herbert to industry and did new research in servo feedback designs although Herbert did not appreciate this until much later.

3. He knew 20 languages?
Mr. Simon claimed to know 6 languages well and that he could read up to 20. He definitely had a powerful brain and his work showed that, although he was also a self described workaholic. He successfully took on speaking assignments to large groups of local government leaders early in his 20's assigned by mentors. His career made as near seamless transition from academic graduate studies to a career in managing government as his professors recognized his abilities. One nugget is his list of advice given to a working professor. (add quote) His own experience teaching a wide variety of classes gave me a more realistic picture into the life of a professional university academic. The biggest critique on his dissertation and later in social and personal life were his lack of moral consideration and empathy which he disappointingly never quite seemed to fully grasp.

4. Its who you know even for Nobel Prizes

JOHNNIAC photo by Adam Schuster

Mr. Simon's redeeming trait was his honesty which he exemplified in admitting had he not known the right people he likely would not have been given a Nobel prize. Similarly he recognizes collaboration was extremely important to his AI breakthroughs as he recruited a research team and gave them a location to work. If I understand it correctly his main thesis in economics was that surrounding forces influence people's decisions (what he called bounded rationality) more than their desire and ability to optimize happiness as 'neoclassical economists' believe. (I am grossly simplifying here). Although this is likely partially true I can see why it was unpopular as it is a lot easier and more natural to think of people making their own decisions to pursue their own happiness.

5. Discovering Artificial Intelligence was to prove someone wrong 
The section of his book on conflict with other scientists shows that another major reason that he made his discoveries were to disprove those who said machines can't think or do things like solve geometry problems. This highlights one of the other most valuable insights of this book, his first hand perspectives on how science really happens. Discoveries come in brilliant brief moments of joy when a team is pulling together after long hours of following hunches and developing a taste for finding valuable research. They do not easily fit into neat categories requiring controlled variables. For Simon it was writing the program that helped bridge the gap between computing and thinking using symbols. Although his mind and training were tickets to the game it was in the end Simon's political abilities to recognize valuable problems and bring people together that allowed him to make a lasting contribution to human achievement.