“There is no computer that has common sense,” says Marvin Minsky. “We’re only getting the kinds of things that are capable of making an airline reservation. No computer can look around a room and tell you about it.”

AI’s biggest deficiency right now: “The lack of people with an interest in commonsense reasoning for computers…it’s hard to get 10 capable people.”

Asked to “Pick one: Bill Joy or Ray Kurzweil?” he replied: “Kurzweil is on the right track. Bill Joy is an opportunistic pessimist who thinks the answer to the dangers of technology is to stop progress. I think we’ll take a positive and active role in determining the direction technology goes in, not just sit on the beach and have machines serve us martinis.”