zlacker

I agree that he didn't mean it in an arrogant way, didn't think he had all the answers, and was asking big questions. He was all about integrating multiple methods, including commonsense knowledge like CYC. But it's hard to get commonsense knowledge methods funded by the current "benefactors of AI".

Here is something he said to me in April 2009 in a discussion about educational software for the OLPC:

Marvin Minsky: "I've been unsuccessful at getting support for a major project to build the architecture proposed in "The Emotion Machine." The idea is to make an AI that can use multiple methods and commonsense knowledge--so that whenever it gets stuck, it can try another approach. The trouble is that most funding has come under the control of statistical and logical practitioners, or people who think we need to solve low-level problems before we can deal with human-level ones."

Maybe (I'll venture a wild guess) it's just that investing in statistical AI research currently makes more financial sense for the goals of the advertising industry that's funding most of the research these days... You're the product, and all that.