{"id":66,"date":"2002-11-08T00:52:10","date_gmt":"2002-11-08T05:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alevin.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2002-11-08T00:52:10","modified_gmt":"2002-11-08T05:52:10","slug":"computers-wont-be-reading-plato-any-time-soon-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Computers won’t be reading Plato any time soon, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Ed Nixon<\/a> for a link to an interesting article<\/a> by philosopher
\nJohn Searle, arguing against Ray Kurzweil’s contention that computers
\nwill soon be smarter than people.
\nThe strong part of Searle’s article is the argument that “syntax is not
\nsemantics” — a computer that can calculate chess moves based on
\npre-defined algorithms does not actually understand chess. Searle argues
\nsuccessfully that Deep Blue is unintelligent in the same way that a
\npocket calculator is unintelligent; it is simply manipulating symbols,
\njust as a human who speaks Chinese phrases using a transliteration is
\nmanipulating symbols but does not understand Chinese.
\nSearle is right that Deep Blue is very far from being conscious. The
\nfact that a computer can beat a human at chess means about as much as
\nthe fact that an automobile can move faster than a runner. Humans
\ndesigned the automobile; and human programmers chose the heuristics that
\ndrive Deep Blue’s decisions.
\nSearle is less successful with the argument that a computer cannot have
\nintelligence, since a computer contains a mere model of intelligent
\nprocesses; and models are different from the physical things that they
\nrepresent.
\nSearle acknowledges that human intelligence is an emergent property of
\nneurons firing in the brain. This means, though, that intelligence is
\nbased on circuitry, a pattern of information. Similarly, scientists are
\ngradually deciphering the informational patterns of genes and gene
\nexpression. The lines between information and reality are not so clear
\ncut; it may be possible to develop living, even intelligent patterns in
\nsome other medium.
\nHuman intelligence probably has subtle dependencies on the biochemical
\nnature of the brain and the organism. Tom Ray makes this point
\nbeautifully<\/a>. But it does not follow that the only possible kind of
\nintelligence requires a body; it certainly does not follow that theonly
\nkind of intelligence requires this sort of body.
\nIt may be theoretically possible for intelligence to develop in some
\nother medium. But despite Kurzweil’s optimism, there is little evidence
\nthat we have any idea how to do this. Searle is right that just because
\nwe can program computers to play chess does not mean we are anywhere
\nnear creating computers with conscious minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Ed Nixon for a link to an interesting article by philosopher John Searle, arguing against Ray Kurzweil’s contention that computers will soon be smarter than people. The strong part of Searle’s article is the argument that “syntax is not semantics” — a computer that can calculate chess moves based on pre-defined algorithms does … Continue reading “Computers won’t be reading Plato any time soon, Part 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prDRq-14","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alevin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}