Modern technology is progressing nowadays with an enormous speed and faster than ever. Scientists are in the race of creating smaller, faster and less power consuming microchips and entire systems every day. The world is trying to computerize and make everything as smart as possible, so people can use these systems in their favors, by simplifying their everyday lives. The next goal in the technology advancement is the artificial intelligence (AI). If implemented, it will provide the computers with the ability to educate themselves and have many ways of thinking that are similar to humans.
Often, when talking about the human minds, philosophers bring up functionalism. Functionalism is a way of understanding minds in terms of functions. For functionalism, what matters are not the physical materials what the functional system is made of, but the specific outputs given some inputs. One of the people who described AI in terms of functionalism was Alan Turing. He was a computer scientist who designed a mathematical model of computation which is used in modern computers. Even before the appearance of computers, Alan was thinking about some artificial system that could think and behave as humans. He believed in functionalism and created the famous Turing test which was supposed to measure artificial intelligence and conclude whether a given artificial system was conscious. The test consisted in having a human to perform a text communication with other individuals located in a
When someone brings up the term “artificial intelligence”, a variety of connotations tend to arise, connotations that often are unfair or unrepresentative of the true real-world applications of such a term. Due to the incidentally fear-mongering nature of the media, artificial intelligence can refer to something as basic as a robotic arm in a factory, as well as the implied extinction and/or enslavement of the human race as caused by robo-revolution. As of today, however, when applied in the world of modern technology, artificial intelligence is defined as any innovation that performs a task usually completed by humans. Of course, with this definition, artificial intelligence holds the potential for both societal harm and benefit, and its fate
One of the hottest topics that modern science has been focusing on for a long time is the field of artificial intelligence, the study of intelligence in machines or, according to Minsky, “the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by men”.(qtd in Copeland 1). Artificial Intelligence has a lot of applications and is used in many areas. “We often don’t notice it but AI is all around us. It is present in computer games, in the cruise control in our cars and the servers that route our email.” (BBC 1). Different goals have been set for the science of Artificial Intelligence, but according to Whitby the most mentioned idea about the goal of AI is provided by the Turing Test. This test is also called the
Turing, a physicalist, believed that artificial intelligence could be achieved in the future. Turing argued that the mind was merely due to the physical aspects of the brain and so a machine could one day be created that has a mind of its own, i.e. artificial intelligence. He created a test called the Turing Test to determine whether a machine has artificial intelligence. In the Turing Test, an interrogator asks two subjects a series of questions. One of the subjects is a person, the other is the computer. The goal is for the person to imitate a computer and the computer to imitate the person. If the interrogator is fooled into thinking that the computer is the human then the computer, according to Turing, is concluded to have the ability to think and thus, have a mind. Turing argued that machines passing the Turing Test were sufficient for ascribing thought.
Society today is greatly influenced by technology and the impact it has had within the past 20 years. One of the largest breakthroughs, though, is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). The technology associated with A.I. has greatly developed in the past years, and is only making devices smarter. When someone mentions technology, or even the technological breakthroughs the world has gone through recently, many people go straight to smartphones and computers. A.I. is often overlooked, or put into a general category of "technology". Yet, artificial intelligence is something that should we not be so quick to dismiss, and should be something that gets people talking and even excited for what the future holds.
Functionalism remains, to this day, one of the most influential theories of the mind. While many facets of functionalism has been tested throughout the century, one of the more interesting questions came in the form of computers. Similarly to a human brain, could computers also think? This idea was explored by John R. Searle, in his book titled, Minds, Brains, and Science. The author is a renowned American philosopher, particularly in the philosophy of language and mind, and is currently teaching at the University of California, in Berkeley (“John R. Searle,” 2014). Searle earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Oxford, and has made several contributions to his field on topics, such as consciousness, artificial intelligence, and the problem of free will (“John R. Searle,” 2014). His “Chinese Room” experiment is known as one of the main critiques to the concept of artificial intelligence. In Searle’s book, Searle describes his thought process into this experiment during the second chapter, titled “Can Computers Think?” Searle’s purpose of this chapter in the book is to explain his perspective on the idea that digital computers will never develop the capability to form thought processes, and that a concept such as artificial intelligence could never exist, because our mental states exist in a biological manner. He utilizes his “Chinese Room” argument to aid in the development of his objectives.
Functionalism, one of the most influential and widespread theories of mind of our day, proposes a model of human behaviour based on the way certain inputs are processed when the mind is in a given state, to yield certain outputs. This theory concerns itself only what mental states do, rather than the substance with which they are made, or whether they exist at all; this is called ‘multiple realizability’. In other words, the theory is ontologically modest, or flexible, and this enables functionalism to stay compatible with Cartesian dualism or monisms like materialism, an advantage when other theories lose followers due to their ontological preconceptions. The other notable strength functionalism claims is that it avoids some of the pitfalls of its counterpart theory, behaviourism. However each of these apparent strengths has flaws, both in and of themselves and in comparison to other theories of mind. These strengths and their flaws will be assessed in this essay, but allow me first to outline what the functionalist theory of mind proposes.
Artificial intelligence is the development of a computer system that is able to perform tasks of human intelligence like visual perception, speech recognition, and decision-making. Computer scientists have made a substantial advancement in the
The Imitation Game made you think about if machines really can or cannot think. Alan was a brilliant mathematician and a very important person in World War II. He created a machine to break enigma so that the Allies could understand the messages the Nazi’s were sending out. In the movie there was a scene where Alan was being questioned about a paper he wrote titled “The Imitation Game.” Within the paper he is discussing if machines can or cannot think. Alan points out that the wrong question being asked is “can machines think?” Machines are different from humans, so they will think differently. Just like it is with two different people who do not think the same way. He created a machine that thought differently to break enigma, and it
The further development of artificial intelligence and other cybernetic technologies are highly beneficial to the global society due to the constant movement
The concept of artificial intelligence was first labeled by a man named Alan Turing in 1950, he believed that the future would hold the possibility for man to communicate with computers and sustain a conversation (Atkinson, Solar 1). Although, we have reached the point where it is possible to hold a simple preprogrammed conversation with a computer and give them the ability to learn, there is still a long way to go in making computers fully artificially intelligent. Atkinson and Solar continue to describe some real world applications of artificial intelligence such as, “Data mining technologies, fraud detection, and industrial-strength optimization” (8). In these examples, forms of artificial intelligence like cognitive reasoning abilities are already being used making the demand for them higher.
In attempting to answer the question of whether machines are able to think, Turing redesigns the question around the notion of machines’ effectiveness at mimicking human cognition. Turing proposes to gauge such effectiveness by a variation of an ‘imitation game,’ where a man and a woman are concealed from an interrogator who makes
To progress as a society, we must first look back at all the hardships faced throughout the years. We must look at the world leaders who were able to convince entire countries to eliminate millions of people different than themselves. We must understand the groups of extremists spreading terror and fear across the globe, and we must control people in power abusing their positions to benefit themselves and their agendas. Instead of ignoring these human mistakes, we must break them down and figure out how they could happen. Artificial Intelligence relies on our abilities to learn from our mistakes and mold our future in a way that will be beneficial and equal to all people. This paper will present the many benefits that A.I. will give
lot of benefits and disadvantages, which would increase in the coming years. Artificial Intelligence would be beneficial to humans because we have a lot to improve upon in our society. Artificial Intelligence would be a great asset, but it should be treated with caution.
Computers are everywhere today. It would be impossible to go your entire life without using a computer. Cars, ATMs, and TVs we use everyday, and all contain computers. It is for this reason that computers and their software have to become more intelligent to make our lives easier and computers more accessible. Intelligent computer systems can and do benefit us all; however people have constantly warned that making computers too intelligent can be to our disadvantage.
Artificial Intelligence is a topic within the public media that has existed for decades, but is now a concern due to the reality of human advancement and innovation in the field of science and technology. Many people believe that computers will become self-aware or sentient and view humanity as a disposable resource and gain supremacy. Reasoning that research on the technology should halt and not become more advance. Whereas others believe they will help catapult research and the economy forward, supporting the operations and innovations the technology offers. The complicated and divided solutions to the debate aren’t obvious, but there are more benefits to improving artificial intelligence than there is stopping it. Therefore, the negative effects people believe will occur can be resolved.