[net.philosophy] Can a Computer Think

rmooney@uicsl.UUCP (05/16/84)

#N:uicsl:17200001:000:1375
uicsl!rmooney    May 16 15:57:00 1984


   My usual answer to this question is that unless one believes in mind body
dualism (which I regard as needless mysticism which is quickly ruled out by
Occam's razor since it requires an increased ontology and resolving the 
historically difficult problem of mind-body interaction), then the answer to 
whether computers could ever be said to think must be yes.  Since a computer 
is effectively a Turing machine it can perform any computational task.  If
nothing else it could numerically simulate every neuron in a human brain.

    The question about it only "simulating" such activity seems to be a
a meaningless remark since a perfect simulation must be, for all practical
purposes, equivalent to the real thing.  The only perfect map is a
physical duplicate of the territory. (see Mind's Eye by Hofstadter & Dennett
, specifically essay #5 on the Turing test for more on this.)

    As for the question whether any computer "thinks" now, I would not commit
myself since I believe "thinking" ability is a continuum and present software
is rather low on this continuum; however, I believe the Turing test would be
a sufficient empirical test since everyone but solipsists grant that other
people "think" and their only knowledge of them is their input/output behavior
In fact Turing originally proposed the test as a substitute for the question
"Can a computer think?"

rmooney@uicsl.UUCP (05/17/84)

#R:uicsl:17200001:uicsl:17200002:000:137
uicsl!rmooney    May 16 16:04:00 1984

Sorry, I left off my name/path

       Ray Mooney
       ..ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!rmooney
       University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

karl@dartvax.UUCP (05/18/84)

Why do people keep referring to The Mind's Eye, [edited] by D.
Hofstadter and S. Dennett? It's the Mind's I, at least the last time
I looked at the cover.

ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/24/84)

Hofstadter pointed out at a lecture that one of the great problems
with computer translations between languages is that even humans
have too hard of a time.  A frenchman once come up to him and complemented
him on his book "zhe mind's one".

-ROn