The Emotion Machine, author Marvin Minsky asserts with his characteristic directness, "has three purposes. First, to suggest some constructive ideas about what human minds can do and how our brains might accomplish those things. Second, to make some theories about why people have different abilities.... Third, to propose some ideas about how we could make machines with minds like ours and use them to extend themselves." The famed MIT professor asserts that the human brain is a wondrously versatile instrument that enables us to think in a variety of different ways. Thus, emotions and thoughts can viewed not as distinct things but as different forms of our mental architecture.