>>joelg+(OP)
One amazon review for The Society of Mind says "The book has nothing to do with artificial intelligence. It has everything to do with speculation. And since no one has builty the society of mind from this blueprint in over 15 years, what does that tell us about the usefulness of the idea??"
A"Marvin Minsky" replied:
"It tells us that most AI researchers are still looking for oversimplistic
solutions to problems. This reviewer does not understand that new ideas
often take 2 decades to spread, because most practitioners in most fields don't
oftenmake changes in their careers. The ideas in my 1961 "Steps toward
Artificial Intelligence" became general practice aroun 1980, and those
in "The Society of Mind," are only now (2007) becoming widely adopted."