One AI or many

Is there one ai or are there many? A dramatic shift in the tone of discussion about artificial intelligence has brought about a suddenly increased awareness of the presence of divergent ways of thinking in what has generally been presented as a unified field. Readers of this issue of Dcedalus who have not kept abreast of recent developments may be astonished to see how many of its authors have chosen to focus on divergences in the field, and particularly on one trend in AI that has come to be known as connectionism. They would not be alone in their surprise. Late in 1985 I participated in a planning meeting to discuss an issue of Dcedalus on AI. At that time I knew (and I assume that most people at that meeting knew) that research activity on "connectionist" themes was growing. But I would have expressed disbelief had anyone at the meeting suggested (no one did) that these themes would soon burst out of the technical journals into such publications as the New York Times Book