The Morality and Utility of Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Technolog

The Morality and Utility of Artificial Intelligence Douglas R. Hofstadter, in his work Gà ¶del, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, remarks that one may contend that Artificial Intelligence is born of a machine’s ability to perform any task that had been previously confined to the domain of humans (601). However, a few sentences later, the author explains Tessler’s â€Å"Theorem† of progress in AI: â€Å"once some mental function is programmed, people soon cease to consider it as an essential ingredient of ‘real thinking.’ The ineluctable core of intelligence is always in that next thing which hasn’t yet been programmed† (601). There are various arguments as to what actually constitutes intelligence; however, it seems established that the possession of knowledge alone does not make a being or machine intelligent. While it is easy to see that AI research has progressed since the first vision of Artificial Intelligence, it remains difficult to define clearly the goal toward which t hey are working. Each philosopher has his or her own belief concerning what an AI program should be able to do. Without a consensus as to what constitutes intelligence, it is impossible to determine with universal agreement whether or not AI has succeeded, is achievable, or is an unreachable dream. In considering the definitions and implications of Artificial Intelligence, many philosophers have reached extremely different conclusions. Alan Turing, author of the Turing Test, believed that an intelligent machine would be able to imitate perfectly a human. Margaret Boden, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Sussex, contends that a machine is intelligent if it possesses and displays certain human values. Moving away from the pure... ...d Over Machine Book Review.† Psychology Today. July 1986. v20 p73. Searle, John R. â€Å"Minds, Brains, and Programs.† The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Margaret A. Boden, ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. 67-88. Sharkey, N. E. and R. Pfeifer. â€Å"Uncomfortable Bedfellows: Cognitive Psychology and AI.† Artificial Intelligence: Human Effects. M. Yazdani and A. Narayanan, eds. Chirchester: Ellis Horwood Limited, 1984. 163-172. Strohmeyer, Robert. â€Å"Total Autonomy—The next generation of thinking machines.† Ziff Davis Smart Business for the New Economy. 1 August 2000. 50 Turing, Alan. â€Å"Computing Machinery and Intelligence.† The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Margaret A. Boden, ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. 40-66. Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1976.

Do We Depend Too Much on Computers Essay

As civilization advances we depend more and more upon our invention. There is technology that saved many lives, as well as the one that have destroyed whole cities. Good morning members of the jury, parents, teachers and students. My name is Hugo Mendoza and I will talk about dependency on computers. I choose it because I think people must know all the benefits it brings to our daily life. So, do we depend too much in computers? The answer is that yes, all days we use computers in the business, public services, education, and the most of all entertainment. Even if we don’t note it our life is affected by technology and computers behind all. I will focus about technology in general. After all these years, technology has been evolving constantly; it has facilitated our life in all aspects. First of all, medicine, medicine has improved a lot by the use of technology in hospitals and labs, improving the health of the sick and in bringing up a new medicine for a no before-seen disease quicker than before. There are healing machines that can cure people faster than would take by human hand. Then, there are vehicles such as cars that use the GPS or the monitor to show how much gas is left select music and more. There are even airplanes that can be monitored by computers, and trains that are controlled by computers to prevent a collision. Children play videogames like PS3 or Xbox, with these videogame consoles they will have better experience in computers and will be able to understand better the technology when they grow up. Computers like PC’s and Mac are used by us every day for school, work, and assignments. Students can get into the internet and find any information they want, we can communicate by long distances, and even get an online tutor for any class. By the other hand, technology has been used to create destruction by fabricating guns, war machines and devices like nuclear bombs. This is the other face of technology, and has been used in wars such as World War II. If we continue to make guns, war machine and bombs with the improvement of technology maybe in the future there will be a bomb huge enough to destroy a country or a continent. It would be the end of the world if it’s like that. Scientists fear that in next generations, machines replace completely work done by humans and we doing nothing; they fear that we will not do sport and depend completely on computers. If it’s like that, what would happen if the systems fail to work? There would be complete chaos. Or worse, what would happen if all the systems refuse to listen to people’s orders and do what they want? Nobody knows, and we don’t want to know. We have to do something about this. In my opinion, technology and computers have to do a lot in the world we lived today and we can’t live anymore without them, as we got used too much on them. However, technology is a double-edge sword and we should find the way to make this dependency less dangerous and safer for future generations. There most only be new inventions when we really need they are really important, useful and helpful for humans.

K. Kris Hirst - ThoughtCo