The Plausibility of Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Science Scientifi

The Plausibility of Artificial Intelligence Can mankind create intelligence? Can the dream of artificial intelligence ever be realized? Is it possible to formulate intelligence out of inorganic matter? In this paper, I intend to show that artificial intelligence is indeed attainable, that it is within the capacity of human intelligence to fashion intelligence out of non-living materials. Let me begin with one of the major theories concerning the philosophy of artificial intelligence: The Church-Turing thesis. The Church-Turing thesis is the brainchild of Alan Turing and Alonzo Church. It concerns the concepts of â€Å"effective† and â€Å"mechanical† in logic and mathematics. Both Turing and Church reached the hypothesis independently and in different forms. But both forms confront similar issues and the general form is known as the ‘Church-Turing thesis’. In general, the thesis asserts that a machine can execute all processes that are ‘mechanical’[1]. Clearly, there is some ambiguity in this statement. What is meant by mechanical? What is meant by machine? ‘Mechanical’ (or ‘effective’ as Turing sometimes uses) is used in a very strict sense. A process that is mechanical must satisfy the following four properties. First, it must be set out in terms of a finite number of exact instructions. Each instruction must in turn contain a finite number of symbols. Second, if carried out properly, it must produce the desired result in a finite number of steps (a finite amount of time). Third, in practice or in principle, it must be able to be carried out by a human being unaided by any machinery (except paper, pencil, etc.). And finally, it must not demand any insight or ingenuity on the part of the human bei... ...l> (visited 06 Dec. 2002) [4] P. Millican and A. Clark, ed. The Legacy of Alan Turing [5] Herken, Rolf, ed. The Universal Turing Machine: a half-century survey [6] P. Millican and A. Clark, ed. The Legacy of Alan Turing [7] Hofstadter, Douglas. Godel, Escher, Bach: and eternal golden braid. (pg 561) [8] see Hofstadter (pg. 18, 438, 561, 738-739) [9] Hofstadter (pg. 561) [10] Garson, James. â€Å"Connectionism† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 19 Aug. 2002. < http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/connectionism/> (visited 06 Dec. 2002) [11] Garson, James. â€Å"Connectionism† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [12] Srinivasa Rao, K. Srinivasa Ramanujan : a mathematical (East West Books, c1998) [13] Miller, Leon K., Musical savants : exceptional skill in the mentally retarded. (Hillsdale, N.J : L. Erlbaum, 1989.)