homunculi
Edge.org
I've changed my mind about how to handle the homunculus temptation: the almost irresistible urge to install a "little man in the brain" to be the Boss, the Central Meaner, the Enjoyer of pleasures and the Sufferer of pains. In Brainstorms (1978) I described and defended the classic GOFAI (Good Old Fashioned AI) strategy that came to be known as "homuncular functionalism," replacing the little man with a committee. The AI programmer begins with an intentionally characterized problem, and thus frankly views the computer anthropomorphically: if he solves the problem he will say he has designed a computer than can [e.g.,] understand questions in English . His first and highest level of design breaks the computer down into subsystems, each of which is given intentionally characterized tasks; he composes a flow chart of evaluators, rememberers, discriminators, overseers and the like. These are homunculi with a vengeance. . . . . Each homunculus in turn is analyzed into smaller homunculi, but, more important, into less clever homunculi.