A.I.?
Happy Friday everyone. During the podcast, we promised more activity on the site but because of my laziness and being so close to automatic brain shutdown for the week.(T-minus 15 minutes) I post a question which requires comment and feedback.
Evan and I had a conversation today about A.I. The inspiration for this question.
What is artificial intelligence? What makes it artificial, and what makes intelligent?
posted by iLiam @ 5:03 PM
1 Comments:
While definitions vary depending on who you talk to, the generalized definition of artificial intelligence refers to a mechanical system which can act autonomously, react to outside stimuli and input, generate its own unique responses to those stimuli and learn from its experiences. When prompted with such a question, humans generally think of self-aware supercomputers or humanoid robots.
The term "artificial" is fairly straight forward despite certain philosophical disagreements between humans. Put simply, an "artificial" intelligence is a human-made machine which is capable of autonomous thought. Much like Christian propaganda would have us believe we were created by some magical, all-powerful God, humans would be the creator of said machine race, effectively donning the God crown.
The essence of "intelligence" and "thought" have been subjects of major philosophical controversy for millennia, so the question isn't anything new, but is rather being applied to a new technology. The answer to what makes a machine intelligent varies. To monists (people who believe that human thought is simply a series of chemical reactions and electrical impulses in the brain....and nothing more), a machine that transfers electrical impulses into some form of perceivable action is, in fact, thinking and intelligent. To others such as myself, thought and intelligence aren't so easily defined. If an entity is truly intelligent, it must first be sentient. It must be aware of itself and that it is free to make decisions, to grapple with uncertainty and ambiguity. It must be able to see past the true/false, on/off, binary logical system. An intelligent machine must also be able to analyze its experiences and learn, grow, evolve, etc. Whether we can understand the drives and desires of a machine is irrelevant. Every living being has some form of drive which compels it to do what it does, whether that drive be instinct, intellect, raw desire, or programming code.
So, what is AI? It's a man-made machine capable of autonomous thought and action in pursuit of whatever ends said machine decides to pursue.
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