Artificial intelligence means making a computer do something that appears clever to humans. Fully general artificial intelligence remains an elusive and far-off goal; but many relatively 'intelligent' behaviors are now common even from consumer devices, for instance, recognizing a human face or playing a difficult game of chess.
Questions tagged [artificial-intelligence]
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Why is it impossible for a program or AI to have semantic understanding?
relatively new to philosophy.
This question is based on John Searle's Chinese Room Argument.
I find it odd that his main argument for why programs could not think was that because programs could only follow syntax rules but could not associate any…
Abraham
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Could a sentient machine suffer?
I was considering this closed question very intently, and I found that I'm not at all fluent in the idea of modern slavery. Many philosophers have spoken on slavery. On this forum, someone has already asked of Plato's ideas of slavery. It is…
davidlowryduda
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Does compatibilism imply that a chess program has free will?
I am puzzled by compatibilism and am trying to understand what it means using a test example. Given that a typical chess program generates several choices, evaluates them with a goal of winning and chooses a specific option, would this imply that it…
Harshavardhan
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How can one refute John Searle's "syntax is not semantics" argument against strong AI?
There are many refutations of John Searle's Chinese Room argument against Strong AI. But they seem to be addressing the structure of the thought experiment itself, as opposed to the underlying epistemic principle that it is trying to illustrate.…
Alexander S King
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What are the retorts to Searle's Chinese Room?
Searle's Chinese Room basically argues that a program cannot make a computer 'intelligent'.
Searle summarises the argument as
Imagine a native English speaker who knows no Chinese locked in a room full of boxes of Chinese symbols (a data base)…
dorzey
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Why do some physicalists use the Turing Machine as a model of the brain?
It has always puzzled me when people casually make comments like "Since the brain is a Turing Machine...". Just to clarify: I'm talking about generic discussions, not philosophical journals here.
What would lead someone to even speculate about that,…
David Gudeman
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I prompt an AI into generating something; who created it: me, the AI, or the AI's author?
I've been struggling with this question recently:
Question: I prompt an AI into generating something; who created it?
I can think of arguments in quite a few directions:
I created it: The AI is an advanced tool (like a computer) that allows me to…
Rebecca J. Stones
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Does the computational theory of mind explain anything?
In science, when you theorize that X reduces to Y, you propose a theory that links X and Y in some causal way. Physicists don't just say, "What you experiences as a gas is really a swarm of fast-moving molecules"; instead, they use statistical…
David Gudeman
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On the difference between "knowing" and "understanding"?
Intuitively, there is a clear difference between knowing something and understanding something. We speak of someone 'getting' or 'internalizing' a concept, of developing a 'gut feeling' for something, etc...
Some examples:
When I was an undergrad,…
Alexander S King
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Does Gödel's argument that minds are more powerful than computers have the inconsistency loophole?
In "Raatikainen, P., 2005, “On the Philosophical Relevance of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems,” , the author argues that Penrose's and others use of Gödel's theorem as an argument against mechanism (and presumably strong AI) - that minds are more…
Alexander S King
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On Wittgenstein's family resemblance and machine learning
Wittgenstein proposed in his later philosophy the concept of family resemblance to describe groups which cannot be defined by a single (or simple set) of common features but instead display (from the SEP):
There is no reason to look, as we have…
Alexander S King
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Is the simulation of emotional states equivalent to actually experiencing emotions?
According to the 'Mario Lives!' video, researchers have been able to develop an AI unit that is able to experience emotional states, such as greed, hunger, and curiosity. If the AI is currently experiencing an emotion, it will engage in certain…
Left SE On 10_6_19
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Do machine learning algorithms have knowledge (if not justified true beliefs)?
By "machine learning algorithm" I'm referring to basic, primarily statistical, machine learning algorithms; for concrete examples consider simple classifier algorithms like SVM or Bayesian classifier or decision trees. I'm stipulating that these…
Dave
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Is the Turing test a legitimate test to compare Robots to Human?
The Turing Test has been followed as a test that robots need to complete in order to be termed "Human-Like". But to what extent is this test justified? I mean, whatever the test maybe, the robot/ computer only understands machine code. If we were to…
Chandough
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What other philosophy of mind books might be recommended if I like John Searle?
What other philosophy of mind books might be recommended if I like John Searle? I am an engineer who is interested in AI and the possibility of machines become able to think and the philosophy behind this topic.
I have already enjoyed listening to a…
M.Sameer
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