CAN COMPUTERS THINK?
IS A COMPUTER ABLE TO WORK AS EFFICIENTLY AS OUR HUMAN
BRAINS?
Computers
are being equipped with the same sort of input mechanisms as human beings.
It is through these channels that we, as human beings, learn about the world
and form our opinions. What we have to decide now is whether the box of tin
and silicon can be given the intelligence to handle all this input and do
something sensible with it.
Can a machine actually think? Firstly, what does 'think' mean? What would a machine have to do to convince most of humanity that it could think? Human beings have, after all, got used to the idea that they are the cleverest animal on Earth, and are unlikely to recognise the existence of another intelligence without a very positive proof. To an extent, this is demonstrated in the following quote from Professor Jefferson, who said in 1949 : " Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain---that is, not only write it but know it had written it. No mechanism could feel pleasure at its successes, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be angry or depressed when it cannot get what it wants".
By this definition, we will probably never get a computer sustem that matches the brain. But the quotes does show the uneasiness and unwillingness most people have when considering the possibiity that machines could become as intelligent as we are. As it is, the operation of the human brain is still very much a mystery and science has hardly scratched the surface of its complexities.
It appears that the brain is extremely powerful and that we only use a very small part of it. But, on the other hand, we do know that the brain operates on electrical charges, similar in fact to the operation of a computer, as the brain's functioning can be detected with scientific instruments which are sensitive to small electric charges.
But how do we think, and more importantly, where does the creative side of our intelligence come from? That ability to know what we have created, that Professor Jefferson thought marked out the human from the machine? How did Beethoven or Mozart suddenly begin to compose music? Or how did Dickens start to write? Obviously this goes beyond mere considerations of input and output to a central processor, and involves the mystery of inspiration.
All the same, computers today can do a wide range of things formerly done by human beings. Furthermore, they can perform tasks that we would find impossible. Computers have, for example, long been used in government and industry to help make predictions about future trends, and given that the people running the systems can provide the relevant data and indicate how those elements act upon each other, then the systems can work out the results of any changes. Economists in government departments have found these forecasting systems especially useful, since so many factors have to be considered when, for example, predicting the rate of inflation or unemployment, that it would be an impossible job without electronic aids. But in this example, the computer is being used as a tool, and while it is being asked to make judgements, it is still closely controlled by its users.
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