Kennedy - The Industrialization of Intelligence : Mind and Machine in the Modern Age

Dei gratia

Among the pleasures I have encountered in writing this book is this opportunity to pause and thank those individuals who were so selfless and helpful to me.

Richard Osborne, Patricia Motzkin and Richard Feldman studiously read and commented on large segments of the book in draft, and their comments on presentation and content alike were invaluable. Bill Kennedy and Rod Glasgow also read draft chapters and offered searching comments and creative suggestions relating to mathematical and logical theory that greatly contributed to the finished product, and gave me some modicum of confidence that I had handled these concepts correctly.

In addition to being an opportunity to deal with these old friends, the book served as a wonderful excuse to contact complete strangers to solicit their opinions and insights. This is a task that predictably confronts one with folks who for various reasons simply cannot be bothered, but the distress caused by the occasional rebuff was more than mitigated by the more frequent response one received from researchers who were most generous with their time and were admirably patient in communicating a bit of their understanding to a neophyte. My particular thanks to Professors Daniel Matt of the Graduate Theological Union; John Searle, Richard M. Karp and John L. Rhodes of the University of California, Berkeley; George Sheridan of the University of Oregon; Paul Bezucha of Amherst, and to Rita Adrosko of the Smithsonian Institution, Dennis Hehrer of Ford Aerospace, William Inmon of Data Dialogs and Jean Huchard, an independent scholar of weaving technique in Lyons. I regret that much of what we discussed could not be made to fit into this single book, and hope that these fine minds and generous spirits will not be too shocked at the way their thoughts have found their way into the text.

Dr Louis Mosniers thoughtful and exceedingly patient translations of French and German texts were critical to my avoiding some rather frightening misconceptions on some points of fact and to broadening my perspective on other critical issues. Ken Caldwell, who assisted me in research, was an astonishing fount of information who, fortunately for this author, has thoroughly mastered the art of just in time. Brad Bunnin served me as legal counsel in the finest sense of the phrase and in addition was most generous in helping me get my project off the ground. Michael Pountney, my editor at Unwin Hyman, displayed admirable patience and calm as the work was being produced and his comments were a model of economy and pith.

Connie Griffiths took in a lonely and somewhat stressed writer while he completed his research in London and kept his body and soul together for the duration. Many thanks to her and her family.