Michael Arbib's The Metaphorical Brain 2: The Sequel?

Hollywood has a penchant for making sequels which are generally related to the boxoffice performance of the parent. Unfortunately, like a photo-copy that has been copied one too many times the plot, the characters and the general value of the movie begins to fade. As a good rule of thumb, it is usually advisable to avoid any movie, play, or book ending in a numeral. I thus, began my reading of Michael Arbib’s new book The Metaphorical Brain 2 with some trepidation. I had at one time read The Metaphorical Brain, published now some 20 years ago (I read it in the 198Os), and have fond memories of Arbib’s ability to transcend so many fields and find some common ground on which neuroscience and AI could interact. In 1972, this was either a courageous or insane essay to write. In these years of the “AI summer” (1970-198 l), this sort of blatant materialism could be met with years of rejection by funding agencies and journals. Besides Michael Arbib, Stephen Grossberg, Jim Anderson and Jack Cowan there were only a few others who were keeping the Neural Network candle burning during these dark years.