Can Computer Think? :: essays research papers

Can Computers Think? The Case For and Against Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence has been the subject of many bad "80s" movies and countless acquaintance fiction novels. But what happens when we seriously consider the question of computing devices that think. Is it possible for computers to have complex thoughts, and even emotions, like homo sapien? This paper will seek to state that question and also look at what attempts atomic number 18 being made to make artificial intelligence (hereafter called AI) a reality. Before we can investigate whether or not computers can think, it is necessary to establish what exactly thinking is. Examining the three main theories is sort of like examining three religions. None offers enough support so as to effectively eliminate the possibility of the others being true. The three main theories are 1. Thought doesnt exist enough said. 2. Thought does exist, but is contained wholly in the brain. In other words, the actual mater ial of the brain is capable of what we identify as thought. 3. Thought is the result of some sort of mystical phenomena involving the soul and a whole slew of other unprovable ideas. Since neither reader nor writer is a scientist, for all intents and purposes, we will say only that thought is what we (as homo sapien) experience. So what are we to consider intelligence? The most compelling argument is that intelligence is the ability to adapt to an environment. Desktop computers can, say, go to a specific WWW telephone. But, if the address were changed, it wouldnt know how to go about finding the new one (or even that it should). So intelligence is the ability to perform a task taking into considerateness the circumstances of completing the task. So now that we have all of that out of that way, can computers think? The issue is contested as hotly among scientists as the advantages of social disease over Batman is among pre-pubescent boys. On the one hand are the scientists who say , as philosopher John Searle does, that Programs are all syntax and no semantics. (Discover, 106) Put another way, a computer can actually achieve thought because it merely follows rules that tell it how to shift symbols without ever understanding the meaning of those symbols. (Discover, 106) On the other side of the debate are the advocates of pandemonium, explained by Robert Wright in Time thus Our brain subconsciously generates competing theories about the world, and only the winning theory becomes part of consciousness.