Turing Vs. Descarte on Thinking Machines - An Essay

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kruddler

Registered Member
I am writing an essay as part of my philosophy course on thinking machines. The essay is geared towards Descarte and Turing's ideas on the matter. I would appreciate any ideas on what the main arguments are and what I have to refute etc.

Also I would appreciate any solid information on advancements in AI recently. It's very hard to get a clear picture on the net of exactly how far AI has come. No one has so far been able to give a definitive answer to this question.
 
Read "GoodBye, Descartes" by Keith Devlin, Wiley, 1997.
Actually, Devlin is the only Phylosopher that gets close to understanding the brain as machine.

Good essay topic.
 
GoodBye, Descartes

I would like to read it but I don't really have time. I have to finish the essay soon and I live in Japan so I probably wouldn't even be able to get my hands on it here. I'm just looking for the main arguments on Descartes' side and the main arguments on Turing's side.
 
Kruddler:
I'm just looking for the main arguments on Descartes' side and the main arguments on Turing's side.
Click to expand...

While not an expert in anything by any means, I'll give you what I know.
Descartes was greatly influenced by the idea of hyperbolic doubt, meaning that everything was open to his doubting but the only thing not was that he existed- the "cogito" of his famous saying.
Basically put, he dichotomized himself and the animal by saying that the only thing qualifying him as human was a "soul".
And so the only means by which a man is a man is spirituallity.

Turing however proposed his famous test for artificial intelligence in that he imagined putting a computer behind a screen and if either you or I could interact with this machine and be fooled, then the apparatus is truly intelligent. No need for a soul.

Its a classic spiritual vs. material debate that's been going on for ages and no one wants to shut up about it. But anyway....this will help with your essay:

http://ai-depot.com/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top