If computers could be built that were a million times better and faster than today's computer...?

Question

would they be capable of real intelligence and emotions? or would they only appear to display emotions and "think". Come to think of it, do humans have REAL intelligence and emotions or are they only apparent, due to the speed and complexity of the human mind.

As an aside, consider magic. If you slow down a magician's hands to a crawl, what appears to be real magic (or a "miracle") is actually slight of hand accelerated to such a speed that the human eye and mind can't comprehend what is really going on. Magic is not real. It's just an illusion. Are human intelligence and emotions an illusion in a similar way?

Answer 1

No.

Processor speed is not the problem.

It's not like anyone is saying 'damn we've got this great sentient intelligence software but nothing fast enough to run it on!'

I don't understand why you'd call human intelligence and emotion illusions. Just because they have physical causes and explanations doesn't mean they're less real. On the contrary, I'd argue it makes them more real. Think of the turing test which we will one day put AI through to see if it can pass for human. You might argue that even if a computer could fool a person (imagine a set up where the test subject spoke to a human being over the net and then spoke to an artificial 'intelligence' and had to figure out which was which) it was only a trick. It was only appearing to be sentient, intelligent and conscious - when in reality it was just a bunch of circuits connecting and reconnecting and I'd say 'Great. Just like a human, then.'

True AI will appear, its just a matter of time. I'd recommend reading Drexler's thoughts on the subject in his excellent book 'engines of creation' in fact I think you can read it for free online.

Answer 2

You raised at least two big unresolved questions. Trying to answer extensively is quite a task, here is my small contribution.

The idea that the intelligence is a purely computational activity, that can be run in a computer, reflects an AI paradigm (the so-called GOFAI: Good Old Fashioned Artificial Intelligence) that was superseded in the 80's. Today, the common understanding is that genuine intelligence is impossible without embodiment. That is, to build an intelligent machine, you need to implement it in a physical body capable of rich sensory experience, and put it in the real world to interact and learn. A three-years baby is more intelligent than any machine, his intelligence coming from continuous and intense interaction with the real world. Better and faster computers is not enough: you don't want another computer that plays chess, but a real robot operating in the real world. The interaction with the unbounded complexity of the real world, with all its uncertainties and unknowns is essential, and can't be simulated adequately, no matter how fast your computer is.

About your second point, whether or not we humans have real intelligence and emotions, that's more a philosophical issue. There are philosophers, like Daniel Dennett, thinking that a human is operatively indistinguishable from a "zombie" (i.e. someone that looks and operates exactly like you, but have neither consciousness nor emotions). In this view, human consciousness is a mere illusion made by evolution to help us at surviving. This position is somehow endorsed by Marvin Minsky in his "Society of the Mind", where the "I" symbol itself is also seen as an illusion to hide and simplify the parallel work of many independent agents. Although I'm not a philosopher, I like this theory of the mind as an elegant explanation of many facts in line with the most recent AI research. But to really understand how the mind works there is still a long way to go.

Answer 3

From the theist point of view this is a slam dunk, so it probably would have fit better in Philosophy rather than R&S. But as theism is not common ground for us to discuss the matter, let's put that aside for the moment.

I disagree with the speed and complexity of the human mind argument for a couple of different reasons. First of all, emotions tend to contradict rational thought. I may fall hopelessly in love with a woman who treats me badly, or I may become angry with someone unjustly.

Secondly, it seems that processing speed, for lack of a better term, has an inverse relationship to emotional reaction. People who we consider more intellectual react more logically and rationally, while people who are mentally handicapped, or just intellectually slow, react more emotionally.

So could a computer with sufficient speed and information, could it be capable of real emotion and intelligence? We would have to agree on what the criteria are. I think real emotion and intelligence is indicated by the ability to create, but how do you decide when a machine is "feeling" and when it is programmed to make a decision that appears to contradict logic but actually just meets specific criteria?

How would you know if a computer is in love? In human terms, we often define love in terms of self-sacrifice, or putting someone else's interest above our own. When a computer takes my instructions because I say so, regardless if it is beneficial to the computer, that doesn't indicate love so much as my status as SuperUser, or Administrator, or whatever the high level of access is in it's OS. The more I think about it, the more I think it isn't possible.

Great question, though. Star for you!

Answer 4

People asked the same question about computers in the 1970's. The performance of a modern desktop is at least as good as that of super-computers of that era, and our modern supercomputers are much faster than that.

Still, artificial intelligence is is still artificial. Turning off a switch ends the program. Computers can display what appears to be emotion, but it is still a program; unreal, a fabrication. It is a set of instructions operating electronic components within a machine.

Magic is illusion, and it is not intended to appear to be anything but stagecraft. While people have been tricked by these acts, there are people who are able to do things that cannot be reproduced; there are things that are not merely illusion, things that cannot be explained by science. Is this magic, miracle, magick or what?

Two separate questions ... two separate answers.

Answer 5

Eventually they will be a million times faster (Moore's law and all that, it'll actually only take a few decades).

Intelligence though is much more than just raw processing power (you do need a lot of that for any kind of intelligence) but it actually just a result of the structure of the brain. For a computer any intelligence would be the result of software (and we have a long way to go before we get something human level or even close to it written).

Processing power just determines how complicated the intelligence can be and how fast it runs (of course more RAM and a faster processor will allow for smarter beings to be made and there is a lower bound somewhere that you need).

Answer 6

One enormous difficulty in comparing the P-fifty one and P-38 is the wrong view that the P-fifty one with drop tanks had an prolonged variety than the P-38 with a drop tank. Charles Lindbergh, at the same time as operating as an aviation representative, counseled the P-38 pilots to regulate their gasoline blend and propeller settings to get longer variety. at the same time as they extra a unmarried 310 gallon gasoline tank, the P-38s could fly missions lasting 9 hours. They eu P-38 squadrons by no skill were given the memo, and reporters in many situations stated that the P-fifty one changed into our longest variety fighter able to flying six hour missions. quite, there is not any logical rationalization why the P-38 could not have finished a similar component in Europe, in spite of the modifications in climate. in reality, the Air stress determined the P-fifty one changed into their wonderful plane and they did not provide the P-38 with suitable drop tanks. note also that P-38s flew contained in the Mediterranean theater the position the elements changed into not multiple from that of the South Pacific, so those arguments at the prompt are not making a lot experience. undergo in techniques too, that the P-38 challenge that shot down Yamamoto changed into flown at about 50 feet off the water both to and from Bougainville, a challenge that lasted longer than any P-fifty one challenge in Europe. The P-38 finally shot down more desirable enemy plane in the course of the warfare than the different allied plane. some human beings poopoo this, declaring the eastern planes were no journey for the P-38s, yet that changed into not actual early contained in the warfare. As advancements were made, the P-38s could even turn with the Zeros.

Answer 7

No consciousness is actually all that is real about any of this. All the rest is apparently just sleight of hand.


This is more easily understandable if one considers the actual scale of the components of an atom. If one takes into account the fact that the neutrons, protons and electrons of an atom actually have huge spaces between them it becomes clear that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are made up of 99+ percent empty space.

This alone does not seem too important till you add the idea that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are more of a loose conglomeration that share a similar attraction but never really touch each other.

At first glance this does not really seem relevant, but closer analysis reveals that this adds a tremendous amount of empty space to solid objects that are already made up of atoms that are 99 percent space. When so-called solid objects are seen in this light it becomes apparent that they can in no way be the seemingly solid objects they appear to be.

We ourselves are not exceptions to this phenomenon.

These seemingly solid objects are more like ghostly images that we interpret as solid objects based on our perceptual conclusions.

From this we must conclude that Perception is some sort of a trick that helps us to take these ghostly images and turn them into a world we can associate and interact with. This clever device seems to be a creation of our intellect that enables us to interact with each other in what appears to be a three dimensional reality.

I hope that helps to answered your question.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 8

i believe so...

just a matter of time before computers do "think" and feel, rather than just calculate...

this is the basis for alot of sci-fi movies, i don't know that it will be the apocalypse that they portray, but all out mind really is is a biological computer

Answer 9

If you get down to the nitty gritty, you are just a slow chemical computer.

Answer 10

it called the brain fastest computer in the world luv dad