Introduction

The Need for Unified Computational Intelligence

Humanity’s newfound ability to compute has granted us unprecedented acceleration of the rate of technological innovation, altered dramatically the structure of social engagement, and presented us with a chance to create a reality to match our imagination. From optimal control to bioinformatics to economic systems, the field of computational intelligence has proven itself a leader in maximizing what society stands to gain from its increasing supply of computing resources. Riding the bleeding edge of what computers are able to do, computational intelligence researchers find ways to increase the energy output from renewable sources, secure large-scale networks, stabilize power grids, control aircraft, detect skin cancer, find land mines, and even teach humans something new about games they have played for millennia. This book introduces ways to unify some key elements of the computational intelligence field in order to guide humanity’s quest for a more perfect alignment between her most ancient dreams and her everyday life.