Indecision, creativity, irrationality….
By ZanetaSunday, May 14th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
The discussion over artificial intelligence is one that I just can’t seem to make up my mind about. Like many of my classmates, initially after reading the Searle article I was pretty convinced by his arguments. I found the Chinese room hypothetical compelling and in general his arguments seemed to validate my previous inclinations against AI. Yet as I have continued to ponder the possibility of AI my views have continued to fluctuate and I am not sure whether this is the result of Brooks, class discussion, or just my own changing temperaments. While I do find Brooks’ discussion of the human mind as one big machine with many subparts to be an effective analogy, my indecision surrounding my views on AI seems a prime example of the type of “conscious” processes a machine would lack, whether it is able to pass the Turing Test or not. Essential to human thinking and cognition is an ability to think critically, to assess and re-assess our views and to attempt to combine our emotions with logic and rational thought to reach our final views and opinions. Again, my ever changing views on AI is one example of the quest to balance my fear that computers or machines could ever attain the same consciousness as humans and more reasoned and substantiated arguments on the issue as presented by Searle and Brooks. Yet this incorporation of emotion and irrationality is something that I would think machines would lack, but that I find essential to human consciousness. I guess ultimately, while my views remain in limbo and after reading Brooks I am more open to the possibility of AI, it’s this absence of irrationality and spontaneity triggered my emotion, mood, interaction etc. that really trips me up when considering the possibility of AI. I don’t doubt that a computer can pass the Turing test, but I still question the possibility for a machine to achieve what we consider human consciousness. Nevertheless, considering the possibility has been somewhat mind boggling and certainly put me in touch with my more erratic side.