Make Way for Robot Scientists

摘要

In their 19 June letter ("machines fall short of revolutionary science," p. 1515), P. W. Anderson and E. Abrahams, commenting on our work on the automation of science, state that we are "seriously mistaken about the nature of the scientific enterprise." Their argument seems to be based on two premises: (ⅰ) There are two types of science, normal and revolutionary, and normal science "does not contribute very much to the advancement of knowledge." This view dismisses as unimportant the vast bulk of science, and must surely be wrong.