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From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Philosophy and other amusements.
Message-ID: <975@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 1-Jul-84 21:00:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: eosp1.975
Posted: Sun Jul  1 21:00:08 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 2-Jul-84 03:33:54 EDT
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
Lines: 28

References:

If we can fairly divide AI researchers into those who find discussions
of philosphy relevant and those who don't, then I have a mild warning
for those who don't -- ignoring philosophical and religious questions
that may arise in the context of AI is analogous to an idea expressed
in Tom Lehrer's "Werner von Braun":

	"Once the Rockets go up, who cares where they come down?
	That's not my department..."  (approximate quote)

Once the rockets, in the form of astoundingly successful AI programs,
go  up, they will land in the laps of non-AI people who will try to
make sense of them.
These non-AI people will worry about souls and human aspects of good AI
programs, in terms that will seem laughable within the field.
What will happen as you try to communicate with these laypersons?

To illustrate, here's a new spiffy form of Robison's challenge,
"quoting" a layperson  commenting on an AI program whose uncanny
ability to imitate human behavior suprasses his or her comprehension:

	That computer is amazing!  Only a human being could behave
	like that.  God must have bestowed a soul on that computer.

					- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
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