Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ncar!tank!uxc!ksuvax1!cseg!cdc
From: cdc@cseg.uucp (C. David Covington)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Intelligence / Consciousness Test for Machines (Neural-Nets)???
Summary: Can machines be conscious?
Message-ID: <828@cseg.uucp>
Date: 6 Oct 88 15:06:55 GMT
References: <1141@usfvax2.EDU>
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Lines: 40

In article <1141@usfvax2.EDU>, mician@usfvax2.EDU (Rudy Mician) writes:
> 
> I have a question that I know has been addressed in the past (and undoubtedly
> continues to be addressed):  
> 
> When can a machine be considered a conscious entity?  
> 
 . . .
>
> I suspect that the Turing Test is no longer an adequate means of judging
> whether or not a machine is intelligent. 
> 

     Regarding intelligent machines, to the naive it's totally magic, to the
wizard it's clever programming and a masterful illusion at best.  To ascribe
consciousness to a machine is a personal matter.  If I cannot tell the 
difference between a 'conscious' human and a skillful emulation of the same,
then I am perfectly justified in *modeling* the machine as human.  It's not
so much a question of what *is* as a question of what *appears* to be.

     The same machine might be rightfully deemed conscious by one but not
by another.  I must expose my world view as predominantly Christian at this
point.  My belief in a Supreme Being places my view of man above all other
animals and therefore above any emulation of man by machine.  I say this not
so much to convert the masses to my point of view but to clarify that there
are people that think this way and this allows no place for conscious
machines.  

     So to readdress the original question, the Turing test is certainly
still valid from my understanding that it is a matter of how accurately
you can mimic human behaviors.  Between the lines you are making the
assumption that man and machine are the same in essence.  To this I object 
by faith.  The question cannot be properly addressed without first dealing
with world views on man.

                                                David Covington
                                                Assistant Professor
                                                Electrical Engineering
                                                University of Arkansas
                                                (501)575-6583