Can Computers Think? The case for and against artificial intelligence

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA-, December 1996

download word file, 4 pages 4.3

Downloaded 231 times

Artificial intelligence has been the subject of many bad '80's

movies and countless science fiction novels. But what happens when we

seriously consider the question of computers that think. Is it possible for

computers to have complex thoughts, and even emotions, like homo sapien? This

paper will seek to answer that question and also look at what attempts are being

made to make artificial intelligence (hereafter called AI) a reality.

Before we can investigate whether or not computers can think, it is

necessary to establish what exactly thinking is. Examining the three main

theories is sort of like examining three religions. None offers enough support so

as to effectively eliminate the possibility of the others being true. The three main

theories are: 1. Thought doesn't exist; enough said. 2. Thought does exist, but

is contained wholly in the brain. In other words, the actual material of the brain is

capable of what we identify as thought.

3. Thought is the result of some sort of

mystical phenomena involving the soul and a whole slew of other unprovable

ideas. Since neither reader nor writer is a scientist, for all intents and purposes,

we will say only that thought is what we (as homo sapien) experience.

So what are we to consider intelligence? The most compelling

argument is that intelligence is the ability to adapt to an environment. Desktop

computers can, say, go to a specific WWW address. But, if the address were

changed, it wouldn't know how to go about finding the new one (or even that it

should). So intelligence is the ability to perform a task taking into consideration

the circumstances of completing the task.

So now that we have all of that out of that way, can computers think? The

issue is contested as hotly among scientists...