Can Computer Think

23 Pages 5750 Words

Most people think computers will never be able to think. That is, really
think. Not now or ever. To be sure, most people also agree that computers
can do many things that a person would have to be thinking to do. Then
how could a machine seem to think but not actually think? Well, setting
aside the question of what thinking actually is, I think that most of us
would answer that by saying that in these cases, what the computer is
doing is merely a superficial imitation of human intelligence. It has been
designed to obey certain simple commands, and then it has been provided
with programs composed of those commands. Because of this, the
computer has to obey those commands, but without any idea of what's
happening.

Indeed, when computers first appeared, most of their designers intended
them for nothing only to do huge, mindless computations. That's why the
things were called "computers". Yet even then, a few pioneers --
especially Alan Turing -- envisioned what's now called "Artificial
Intelligence" - or "AI". They saw that computers might possibly go
beyond arithmetic, and maybe imitate the processes that go on inside
human brains.

Today, with robots everywhere in industry and movie films, most people
think Al has gone much further than it has. Yet still, "computer experts"
say machines will never really think. If so, how could they be so smart,
and yet so dumb?





================== CAN MACHINES BE CREATIVE? ==================

We naturally admire our Einsteins and Beethovens, and wonder if
computers ever could create such wondrous theories or symphonies. Most
people think that creativity requires some special, magical "gift" that
simply cannot be explained. If so, then no computer could create - since
anything machines can do (most people think can be explained.

To see what's wrong with that, we must avoid one naive trap. We mustn't
only look at work...