PHIL 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Turing Machine, Turing Test, Human Computer
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Paper due 2 weeks from Wednesday (November 10)
Can machines think?
I propose to consider the question, "can machines think?" This should
begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms "machine" and "think"
-
Instead of attempting such a definition, I shall replace the question by
another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively
unambiguous terms
-
Have to decide what thinking is, before we can decide the criteria to see if
machines think
-
The imitation game
Turing's test
A person
○
A Turing machine
○
An interrogator
○
-
Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the imitation
game?
Interrogator has to choose which is the person and which is the machine
-
Turing's claim is that passing this test would show the machine is
intelligent and is capable of thought
-
Test ignores the physical capacities of human beings and is testing the
linguistic abilities of the machine
What machine is this? What counts as the machine? (Turing
machine)
○
No biological machine should be included and only include digital
computers (suitably programmed to carried out any operations that
could be carried out by a "human computer"
○
-
Turing machine: a digital computer, suitably programmed to carry out any
operations which could be done by a "human computer
-
Digital: a discrete machine; at any time the machine is in one of a finite
number of internal states
-
Computer: operates, or computers by manipulating symbols of a finite
processing language
Digital computers consist of three primary components:
Store
§
Executive unite
§
Control
§
○
-
Necessary vs. sufficient condition
Is passing Turing's test a necessary condition for intelligence, according to
Turing?
No. Failing the test doesn’t not show a lack of intelligence or lack of
capacity for thought
○
-
Is passing Turing's test a sufficient condition for intelligence, according to
Turing?
Yes. Passing the test would be sufficient evidence to show one's
capacity for thought
○
-
Objections to Turing's test
Reject the possibility of such a machine: no machine could ever pass the
Turing test.
Supposed to show that the machine cannot do
○
Claim to give reasons why it would not be possible
○
-
Reject's Turing's test as sufficient evidence for the capacity for thought:
even if a machine could pass Turing's test, passing the test would not be
enough evidence (sufficient) to say that the machine is intelligent or
capable of thought.
Nothing inconsistent in the idea so it is logically and maybe
physically possible, but would not be enough evidence to show that
the machine could think or is intelligent
○
Challenges the claim the question: can machines think poses
○
Some nature of thought that is not captured by the test
○
Don't question machine could mimic linguistic abilities of humans,
passing the test is irrelevant
○
-
Arguments from disabilities
Machines can't…be kind, resourceful, beautiful, friendly, have initiative,
have a sense of humour, tell right from wrong, make mistakes, fall in love,
enjoy strawberries and cream, make someone fall in love with it, learn
from experiences, use words properly, be the subject of its own thought,
have as diversity of behaviour as a man, do something really new
No evidence that machines can't do these things
○
People hold these views based on their past experience with limited
views - no computers so far can do these limited things, therefore
no machine ever can do these specific things
This is unjustified because machines have been evolving so
past experiences with machines may not be relivent
§
○
Objection is a way to force us to reflect about what is necessary to
thinking
○
Originality/creativity is linked with natural intelligence
We program the machines so it can't do anything original
§
○
-
There is no clear definition of originality and creativity that tracks the
difference between machines and humans
-
Argument from consciousness
Jefferson: no mechanism could feel pleasure at its successes, grief when
its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be angry or depressed when it
cannot get what it wants
-
Nagel: an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there's
something it's like to be that organism
There is nothing that it is like for the Turing machine to be that
machine
May have successes, but does not feel pleasure when that
happens
§
Something that a machine is lacking that it ought to have
§
May pass the Turing test even though its not conscious
therefore it isn't the right test
§
○
-
Consciousness is necessary for thought so the Turing test isn't sufficient
-
Turing isn't interested in physical constitution of the machine, it is an
abstract concept
-
The only way to be sure a machine thinks is to be the machine and to be
able to think
-
Lecture 11 -Turing (artificial intelligence)
Monday, October 16, 2017
12:33 PM
