Dear reader, have you heard of Herbert A. Simon? As your knowledgeable friend, allow me to introduce you to this pioneer in artificial intelligence whose groundbreaking theories changed how we see decision-making. This legendary thinker crossed boundaries between computer science, economics, and psychology – leaving an unmatched legacy of boundary-spanning research.
Origins of a Brilliant Mind
Simon was born in 1916 and was an only child. His father worked as an electrical engineer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From a young age, Simon took a strong interest in science and mathematics during his schooling.
He continued nurturing his analytical mind at the University of Chicago. There Simon earned a BA in 1936, followed by a PhD in political science in 1943. His doctoral thesis ingeniously combined mathematical models and organizational theory – a hint of the cross-disciplinary methods he would come to be known for.
Leading a Revolution in Artificial Intelligence
The years after the Second World War saw Simon at the vanguard of the new field researchers called "artificial intelligence." Collaborating closely with psychologist Allen Newell at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he conducted pioneering work that led to many AI firsts.
For instance, Newell and Simon created the Logic Theorist program in 1956. This software could prove logical theorems from the famous Principia Mathematica – mimicking the human thought process! Simon foresaw that one day "[m]achines will be capable of doing any work a man can do.” While the timeline was optimistic, Simon clearly recognized AI’s vast potential.
“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” – Herbert A. Simon
The two researchers established the Carnegie Mellon University AI program shortly after. There they built programs like General Problem Solver, the Soar cognitive architecture, and a theory of neural knowledge networks. For these trailblazing innovations advancing cognitive science through technology, Simon rightfully earned renown as a “founding father of artificial intelligence.”
Herbert Simon explicating early AI concepts (Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)
Illuminating the True Nature of Human Decision-Making
Simon made breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, but most of his five-decade career as a professor at Carnegie Mellon focused on developing a science of human problem solving and decision processes.
In organizations and daily life, he theorized, total rationality is unattainable. Instead, our minds apply “bounded rationality” – making satisfactory rather than perfect choices given limited time and brainpower. He coined the term “satisficing” to describe this tendency. These concepts became seminal theories in sociology and economics.
"Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves." – Herbert A. Simon
Simon standardized the idea that people base decisions on approximate rules and not just cold logic. This challenged previous economic models and brought him the 1978 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. His work built the foundations for behavioral economics and various fields examining real human judgment.
Pushing the Boundaries of Multiple Disciplines
Few scholars in the 20th century contributed as extensively to fields as diverse as computer science, behavioral and cognitive psychology, economics, management theory public administration as Herbert Simon. Some leading authorities have called him a modern polymath.
He authored over 1000 papers and books covering computer simulation of intelligence, decision theory, organization theory, psychology of discovery – and even the psychology of scientific creativity itself! His staggeringly prolific career crossed so many boundaries that by 1987 he had become the only researcher ever to be a fellow of four professional societies:
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- American Psychological Association
- National Academy of Sciences
- American Economic Association
A few of his preeminent books offering seminal theories across disciplines include:
| Year | Book Title | Major Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Administrative Behavior | Pioneering theories in organizational decision-making and management science |
| 1957 | Models of Man: Social and Rational | Influential formulation of bounded rationality |
| 1969 | Sciences of the Artificial | Laid philosophical foundations for study of artificial intelligence and computer simulation |
| 1972 | Human Problem Solving | Theory of problem solving as rule-governed information processing and search |
Lasting Influence Across the Science of the Artificial
Dear reader, Herbert Simon pioneered so many fields advancing the science of information, cognition and problem solving that we have only scratched the surface here. Through rigorous research crossing lines between social and computer sciences, he uncovered fundamental truths about how both natural and artificial minds reason. His boundary-breaking discoveries left advancements across behavioral economics, machine learning, management science and far more as his legacy.
I hope this glimpse at a legendary thinker has enlightened and maybe even inspired you! Let me know if you would like to learn more.
