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The idea of a thinking machine is an amazing one. It would be like humans creating artificial life, only more impressive because we would be creating consciousness. Or would we ? It's tempting to think that a machine that could think would think like us. But a bit of reflection shows that's not an inevitable conclusion.
To begin with, we'd better be clear about what we mean by "think". A comparison with human thinking might be intuitive, but what about animal thinking? Does a chimpanzee think? Does a crow? Does an octopus ?
The philosopher Thomas Nagel said that there was "something that it is like" to have conscious experiences. There's something that it is like to see the colour red, or to go water skiing. We are more than just our brain states.
Could there ever be "something that it's like" to be a thinking machine? In an imagined conversation with the first intelligent machine, a human might ask "Are you conscious?", to which it might reply, "How would I know?".
http://theconversation.com/what-does-it-mean-to-think-and-could-a-machine-ever-do-it-51316
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Covalent on Friday January 08 2016, @02:27PM
Yes.
How can I be so sure? It will be possible to perfectly simulate a human brain using artificial neurons, and probably in my lifetime. We're already able to do this with smaller, less complex brains: http://www.artificialbrains.com/openworm [artificialbrains.com]
If we can completely simulate a human brain, then how can we call what it does anything but "thinking"? At that point the philosophers and pedantists can argue until the cows come home, but those arguments will be irrelevant. Thinking is like pornography: I know it when I see it.
And when that simulated human brain writes a symphony or a poem, or falls in love, or forgets where it put its car keys, then it will be thinking.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Saturday January 09 2016, @06:15PM
Thinking is like pornography: I know it when I see it.
Ahhh, sooo close to the answer...
When an electronic device says "Thinking is like pornography: I know it when I see it, and oh by the way, porn makes me horny" then you'll have a machine that can at least mimic human consciousness.
And no, the electronic device you're presently using to read "Thinking is like pornography..." doesn't count. It's just doing what it's told.