Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!tank!mimsy!secd.cs.umd.edu!anderson From: anderson@secd.cs.umd.edu (Gary Anderson) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Defining Machine Intelligence. Summary: Free Will and Consciousness Out of Reach of Artificial Intelligence? Keywords: I am. I think. Therefore I think I am. Message-ID: <14949@mimsy.UUCP> Date: 12 Dec 88 01:54:12 GMT References: <484@soleil.UUCP> <4216@homxc.UUCP> <401@uwslh.UUCP> <1111@dukeac.UUCP> <404@uwslh.UUCP> <713@quintus.UUCP> <405@uwslh.UUCP> <622@htsa.uucp> <42361@linus.UUCP> <408@uwslh.UUCP> <42835@linus.UUCP> Sender: nobody@mimsy.UUCP Reply-To: anderson@secd.cs.umd.edu (Gary Anderson) Organization: UMIACS, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 Lines: 109 >In article <408@uwslh.UUCP> lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Christopher Lishka) writes: > > > I think [an intelligent machine] > > could be considered "aware" if it was able to realize it was a > > distinct object in the environment and that it was different from > > other objects (including other machines just like itself). ... I > In article <42835@linus.UUCP> bwk@mbunix (Barry Kort) writes: >I would be convinced if, upon acquiring language skills, the intelligent >machine unexpectedly uttered the assertion, "I am." > INTRODUCTORY JOKE: How would we know it wasn't a bug in the code, or a virus?:-) MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE => NO SINGLE DEFINITION: I think that there are many different types of intelligence and, consequently, many different metrics for intelligence in humans and machines. I think intelligence is a matter of degree, not an all or nothing concept. I would tie a definition of intelligence in any given context to effectiveness in achieving specific goals. Whether the goals are man made or machine generated, I think they provide a useful point of departure for measuring the intelligence of a given entity (man or machine) in that context. Since human kind often have different goals even within the same context, I would not expect all humans to agree on whether or not a particular entity was behaving intelligently enough to be called "intelligent" in any particular context. Given my perspective, you can see why I I don't think one can write down a general definition of intelligence which would be acceptable to all reasonable persons. WHAT IF SELF AWARENESS IS IN YOUR DEFINITION: But if ones definition of intelligence requires consciousness, self awareness, and free will, I wonder if such an intelligence, even if observed in a lab would still be called artificial. Suppose my granddaughter's science project pipes up and says "I am". My first reaction will be, "Come on stop pulling the old man's leg". If my granddaughter convinces me that she had not explicitly programmed the computer to behave that way, I will suspect that she unwittingly included code which led to the behavior, and I can set out to discover which directives led to the behavior. If I find them, my granddaughter has unintentionally programmed the behavior, and I am again secure, perhaps without any real justification, that the machine will not now attempt to carry out a nuclear first strike. If I don't find them, I think that it is just a natural part of the aging process, and ask my daughter to find them. She would of course be free to ask others for help if she needs it. If no one can find code which led to the behavior, then perhaps we have found a machine with self awareness, and perhaps free will, but I don't see how I can call this behavior artificial, any more than I can call my granddaughter artificial. I expect my granddaughter to have consciousness, free will, and self awareness even if I have no real way to verify this. Yet, even though I am taking no small part in her creation and development, I feel awkward taking credit for her free will and self awareness. MY QUESTION: In what sense can a researcher take credit for (claim as artificial) any consciousness which he were able to observe in whatever artifact he should create? CONCLUDING JOKE: If the goal of artificial intelligence is to create entities with consciousness, free will, and self awareness, there is an alternative method which is a lot easier to master than LISP or Prolog. -- Gary S. Anderson | Macondo was already a fearful | whirlwind of dust and rubble ... +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | when Aureliano ... began to email: anderson@secd.cs.umd.edu | decipher the instant that he U.S. Snail: University of Maryland | was living ... Before reaching Department of Economics | the final line [of the Room 3147c Tydings Hall | parchments], he understood College Park, MD 20742 | that ... . Everything Voice: (301)-454-6356 | written on them was unrepeatable ----------------------------------------------since time immemorial and forever more because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth. (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)