> I cannot make sense of what the author means by symbol manipulation. He means basically all of what was called "AI" between Minsky's days and the recent neur

> I cannot make sense of what the author means by symbol manipulation. He means basically all of what was called "AI" between Minsky's days and the recent neural network renaissance (~2013ish). If you weren't in CS, or too young, before 2013, you probably don't remember this. Neural networks were extremely uncool for a very very long time. They were derided as "connectionist AI". LISP was created as an "AI language". If that seems weird to you, read up on the history, it will do you good. The history of CS is about as un-"modern" as it gets. Those who aren't aware of it are doomed to repeat it.