cher@ihuxi.UUCP (q) (05/18/84)
Can computers think?
Not being a mind/body dualist and thus avoiding Descartes' blunder, means,
it seems, interpreting thinking as electrochemical processes, with logical
operations and information storage/retrieval being higher-level abstractions.
Now, if these processes are simulated (or run just run), and are
undistinguishable at our abstractions' level, how can it possibly mean
"surgical separation" of thinking? That (given those abstractions) would,
indeed, mean full-blown thinking. No computer can do that kind of info
processing to extend which rivals that of human brain, but that is
1) likely to change with time and some development
2) is a quantative consideration which should not overshadow the principles.
The above is (hopefully) another argument in favor of "yes" to the title
question, and also is an attempt to specify terms on which the answer is
given.
Mike Cherepov.