Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!cornell!oravax!daryl
From: daryl@oravax.UUCP (Steven Daryl McCullough)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Can Machines Think?
Summary: Having correct information is not (in my opinion) a necessary
	 part of intelligence.
Keywords: Chinese Room, Searle,
Message-ID: <1339@oravax.UUCP>
Date: 14 Feb 90 00:01:20 GMT
References: <898D02hl87rd01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Organization: Odyssey Research Associates, Ithaca NY
Lines: 40

<6573@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <2dSM02LL88qx01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>

In article <2dSM02LL88qx01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, kp@uts.amdahl.com (Ken
Presting) writes:
> >I don't think the fact that these claims are false should in any way
> >be held against the computer program; it could very well have the
> >*mind* of a human being with stomach aches, etc., and so could be
> >answering truthfully as far as it knows. A human being can be
> >similarly mistaken about the state of his or her own body; for
> >example, the "phantom limb" experience of amputees, or the "phantom
> >odors" experienced when one's brain is stimulated by an electrode.
> 
> The problem is not that the computer lies.  There is only a problem if
> the computer does not know the truth.  To put it better, there is a big
> problem if the program does not know *any* of the truth.
> 
> Ken Presting

I'm not sure if we are in disagreement or not. I don't usually
consider it to be part of intelligence to *know* what is true and what
is not.  Knowing what is true (insofar as this is possible) depends on
the sophistication and reliability of one's information-gathering
equipment, which for a nonhandicapped human being includes eyes, ears,
etc. In my opinion, the only criterion intelligence is the ability to
correctly reach conclusions based on the information one has. The fact
that a person or computer program has no access to a watch or a calendar
to determine the time of day does not indicate a lack of intelligence,
in my opinion.

Let me call a computer program "virtually intelligent" if it can
converse perfectly intelligently about information that it receives
through conversation alone, but has no other source of new information
(that is, it may have memories, but it has no way of learning what
time it is, or whether it is raining, or any other fact about the real
world unless that fact is revealed through conversation). It seems to
me that it would be a relatively small task to modify a "virtually
intelligent" program to make it "truly intelligent"; it would only
require hooking up timers and TV cameras, etc. Do you agree?

Daryl McCullough