1) My view in a brief sentence or two:
Are machines able to think to the extent a human thinks? To this day, machines do not have the ability to know more than what is programmed into their memory banks. A machine can not smell the roses, listen to the birds singing, or tell what is right from wrong.
2) Counter Argument:
Some people may believe that machines should be able to think and do things for themselves. Some people would love to have a robot in the home to help with household chores.
3) Address the counterargument:
If a machine was able to think for itself, what use would there be for human life. The machine that does not need a human to repair it, obviously will not need any human life forms around. One machine will be able to fix another machine, therefore the human race could be come extinct.
Q: Could a machine think?
Claim: Machines are able to think to a degree; it all depends on how intellectually they are programmed.
Before going further, I have to define how a machine is to think. A machine does not think like a human being or a cat. A machine is not going to laugh or purr, but it will be able to reproduce the functions that are programmed into it. It will follow directions and ask questions that are in its memory bank. It will perform functions that has been programmed into it.
Most convincing argument defending my view:
“ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company,” (ASIMO). It looks like a little astronaut wearing a pack on its back resembling the air machine that astronauts wear. ASIMO stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. ASIMO has the ability to run, walk (up and down slopes), climb up and down stairs, carry objects, grasp objects, listen to and recognize voice patterns and faces.
.
In the future, ASIMO might be able to be helpful to those individuals in assisted living conditions. ASIMO can hold hands and guide a person in the correct direction. Instead of a Seeing Eye dog, there will be Seeing Eye ASIMO’s running around. There will be no doggy messes to clean up after.
.
Even with a walking computer that can do all the things listed above, we still are not able to create one that is able to understand what an emotion feels like.
.
Dr. Donald Michie created a machine to play Naughts and Crosses (British version of Tic-Tac-Toe). “He called his machine MENACE (Matchbox Educable Naughts And Crosses Engine),” (Darby). Dr. Michie had his machine learn from itself after playing many games against itself.
"ASIMO." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 26 May 2008, 00:18 UTC.
........Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 Jun 2008.
........<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO>
.
Darby, Gary. "The TicTacToe Machine." www.delpjiforfun.org.
........2000-2008. 9 Jun 2008.
........<http://www.delphiforfun.org/Programs/tic_tac_toc_machine.htm>
The Assignment for this Blog Entry:
1) Turing Machine: "...simple abstract computational devices intended to help investigate the extent and limitations of what can be computed" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Turing created sets of computable instructions for computers and machines. He was able to define a machines movements by the code that he wrote for that particular machine.
2) Varieties of Turing Machines:
2a) Arbitrary number if read-write heads: "...that the machine has several read-write heads does not alter the notion of Turing-computability" (Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
2b) Arbitrary movement of the head: "so that the read-write head may move an arbitrary number of cells at any given transition does not alter the notion of Turing-computability" (Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
These were two possibilities of formulas used to make a machine move.
3) Post modernism "...is a rejection to the modern, or Enlightenment thought, that has dominated intellectual life for over two hundred years. To understand what is at stake with current issues surrounding genetics, we need to consider two crucial points of conflict between the modern and postmodern concepts of human personhood" (Leffel).
3a) modernists: "...man is rational by nature" (Leffel).
3b) Cartesian method "...the self is autonomous" (Leffel).
"...postmodernists deny the possibility of rational objectivity because they reject the view of the self that modernism presupposes" (Leffel).
I see this as meaning that post-modernists wish to not believe in the possibility of a machine thinking for itself since it does not fit in the plan for the modern perfect world.
4) Cartesian dualism, "...s simply Descartes concept of dualism" (Philosophy All About).
Descartes believed that "the mind is a nonphysical substance" (Dualism).
With this argument, the mind possibly being a nonphysical substance could also compare to that of a computer as in the computer processor. That is pretty much the mind of a machine.
5) Heuristic knowledge: "...knowledge which is helpful in finding a
solution to a problem" (Can a Machine Think).
This is actually the "process of gaining knowledge or some desired result by intelligent guesswork..." (Heuristic).
In the beginning that is how some of our imagination works. First we go along with a plan without any specific formula on what we want then after he have the concept down, then it is time to crunch the numbers to get to the outcome that is desired.
"CAN A MACHINE THINK?".
..........<http://web.onetel.net.uk/~hibou/ai-course/intro.txt>
"Dualism (philosophy of mind)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
.............15 May 2008. 15:51 UTC. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc.
.............4 Jun 2008 .............<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dualism_%28philosophy_of_mind%29&oldid=212623975>
"heuristic." Whatis.techtarget.com. 2008. ............<http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212246,00.html#>
Leffel, Jim. "Engineering Life: Defining 'Humanity' In
.........A Postmodern Age." 2008.
.........<
Philosophy All About. "Cartesian Dualism." 2002.
..........<http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/cartesian-dualism-faq.htm>
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. September 14, 1995.
........November 5, 2004. "Turning Machines" ........<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/#Oth>
As previously stated in my blog, that we were far behind the creation of a self thinking robot. But, graduate and undergraduate students at Virginia Tech are working on proving that theory to be incorrect.
Attached is an article about a group of students that have created a DARwIn (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence) which is another way of saying a humanoid. Their goal is to make a complete soccer team of robots.
http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/romela/index.html
After some consideration and reading this article, I am not sure if I want to be on the opposing team against a bunch of robots. Soccer players already wear shin guards to be protected from being kicked by other human players. I am not really sure what you would wear to be protected by a robot's kick... OUCH!!!
Topic: Find a video and/or podcast episode that's highly relevant to your topic, and explain why it is relevant.
...I found three videos that all have relevance to my topic. I could not decide which one is the best. I have decided to let my readers choose which one is the best. After you have seen the videos, please leave me a comment about which video you liked the best.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONE
...Although, this is a cartoon still is relevant to the subject: Can Machines Think?
...In this day and age, machines are only able to do what they are programmed to do. Robots are only able to produce the emotions that are programmed into its data banks. Let us take the iRobot* for example, it goes around sweeping your floors but as it senses a wall it will turn as it has been programmed to; it will not fall down the stairs. There are machines that clean your gutters for you, but they are not going to ask you what you want for dinner, or even give you their opinion of what they may want for dinner.
...When machines are able to think for themselves, that will open another whole can of worms. Along with thinking comes feelings, it is difficult to have one with out the other. As displayed in the above video, the robots were not able to understand the concept of what was funny. A machine is not able to feel the joyous atmosphere created by a good joke. A human being can enjoy a joke or two. A human can even tell a joke once in awhile. When was the last time you saw a machine pull a joke on you? If machines were able to think, then they may decide it is funny to not let you open your automatic garage door or allow you to drive the car. When one considers something that is able to think, they should understand that other subjects will also come into play: attitude, sorrow, pain and love... etc. What happens when if someday machines are able to feel all those? What would happen if your blender falls in love with your microwave oven?
* http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=95
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO
...In this video, a dog retrieves a tennis ball and places it in the mechanical contraption just so that he/she is able to play fetch. It is not the machine doing the running back and forth, it is the four legged animal doing the fetching. How is this relevant to my topic? This machine is doing exactly what is programmed to do. There are no substitutes for its actions. If the ball is not in place, the machine can not launch it. If the machine gets tired, there is no coffee break (oil can break) for it to attend to. Obviously the machine is not breaking from its programming. Even when the little boy grabs the tennis ball away, it does not get mad it just waits for the ball to be placed back into the launch track.
...Clearly, it is noted that you can still teach an old dog new tricks! But, I do not think that one can teach the machine new tricks without changing its programming.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE
...In this short clip, it is visible that a pair of legs is pushing a shopping cart around. The legs are doing exactly what they were programmed to do. Even when the waistline starts to catch on fire, the machine does not stop to put the fire out, it just keeps doing what it has been programmed to do.
...If a human being caught on fire in the same fashion, I am hoping that the surrounding people would take notice and offer help. But, the individuals passing this incident just go on there own merry way. The legs just keep walking. If the machine was able to think, it might have tried walking towards water or going back to its home destination. Then again, if I were just a pair of legs and I had the ability to think, I do not think that I would want to be walking around pushing a shopping cart.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, here is a podcast that has to deal with the topic: Could Computers Think!
This podcast comes from the Philosopher's Zone, found at http://www.podcast.com
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/pze_20080510.mp3
...The discussion is about a novel, Genesis, written by Bernard Beckett. Its main discussion is about an android that shares a jail cell with a human being. An android, is thought to be an intelligent being with the ability to think. It is a science fiction young adult book, but in the podcast it is compared to Plato's discussions.
...Even though it is science fiction, many ideas come from the stories that we read. Someday, a real life android may be in existence. But until then, we will have to enjoy our interaction with computers or machinery to the point of the mechanical beings making decisions for themselves to be left to television, the movies, books... etc.
In this entry, I have to pick one of my two topics that I discussed in Blog entry #1. I have chosen as my topic:
COULD A MACHINE THINK??????
I was asked by my instructor the following questions:
a)...Does thinking define humanity?
...I agree with Jim Leffel that writes, the French philosopher Rene Descartes "rationalistic deduction 'I think, therefore I am' "(Leffel). Thinking does not define humanity. Humanity is defined as the quality or condition of being human.
......Age." 2008. <
b)...Do animals think?
...I do believe animals can think. In time you can even teach them the difference from right and wrong. If you adopt a house cat, and he/she claws your furniture, over time you can teach the cat not to claw the furniture. If you have a dog, it takes training to teach the dog not to go to the bathroom in the house, but to use the outside areas.
Three new things that I have learned about this topic:
1)...The term The Turing Test was given as a way of discussing the ability of a machine to think. Computers these days can play games with us and teach us new ways to beat the computer. Computers can win at games played with humans. Computers can play against themselves.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/
2)..."The key point about artificial neural systems is that they are trained, not programed; they learn" (Kelly). So there in fact are machines that are able to be learn to this day. The outcome on how this will change or when they will acquire complex intelligence is still unknown. Everyday something new is being invented somewhere, someday soon we may have a computer that can think itself and fix itself without human interaction.
........Magazine. 26 June 2001. KurzwellAI.net
http://www.kur
3)...Can a machine think? Let's define the terms here:
...Machine: an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work
...Think: to have a conscious mind, to some extent of reasoning, remembering experiences, making rational decisions
...Can a machine have a conscious mind, in this day and age - probably not. But, who says that the next generation or even the generation after that might find some way to build a machine that may be able to have the ability to understand reasoning.
http://www.mcgath.com/ai.html
Chapter 4: Do we survive death?
I am interested in this topic because I have thought about it for many years. There was a time that I believed that I was reincarnated from a panther or a tiger, since I have many of the same characteristics of a large cat. I also have wondered where my soul would go when I do pass away. There are many creatures out in the world, and all of them have a soul. I do believe in heaven but is heaven a better place than we are at know, or are we destined to go somewhere else?. Is this the waiting area before you go to the next entity?
Chapter 7: Could a machine think?
This chapter intrigues me since I work with computers all the time. Are we heading in the direction that robots will be able to make their own decisions like the robot from the television show “Lost in Space?” Are we headed in the direction of the WOPR from “Wargames”, where a machine will be able to decide if it is the right time to start a third world war? A computer can make a decision when it is playing chess or tic-tac-toe, and in a form that is thinking. It is only thinking the way it has been programmed; just like humans… we are programmed to think certain ways. Some of those ways are good from bad and right from wrong. So what makes the two of us much different?
http://philosophy.ucsd.edu/faculty/pschurchland/papers/sciam90couldamachinethink.pdf
http://www.abelard.org/turpap/turpap.htm
