Computer Intellect Essay Research Paper A new

Computer Intellect Essay, Research Paper

A new issue has come about since the building of computers. But the idea behind

it is not such a new issue, for as long ago as Plato and Aristotle, the idea of

a mind was pondered about. With the up-and-coming technology, the idea of

artificial intelligence has exploded. It is one that many fiction writers have

prospered on. But how far away are they from the truth. Take the story of The

Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov, written in 1976, when most of the population

didn.t know what a computer was capable of. The idea of the unknown scared us,

a robot that appeared to be just like us, but it was also intriguing, as

demonstrated by the story.s success. What was it that attracted the population

to this story. The reasonable answer lies within the question this paper will

attempt to answer. That is, Can a computer have a mind. The answer to this

question is an obvious one, but we will examine it anyway, as it needs to be

addressed because of all of the popular science-fiction writings. A computer can

have a mind, and as you read further into this, you will see that computers are

made of the same things we are, they transfer information using the same

techniques we do, they are complex enough, and they are aware. This is enough to

give them the possibility to posses a mind. Starting with the first part of the

definition of mind, one might conceive of a computer that can posses a mind. The

Biologist might make an argument against me, stating that only living things can

have mind, that it is only those things that are biological, consisting of

organic compounds, that may have the potential to posses mind. But I say to the

Biologist, what is it that makes up these organic compounds. What is it about

these molecules that makes them construct themselves into a biological being.

The answer is a simple one to any Chemist, for he knows that organic molecules

are made up of elements and these elements are indeed atoms. The Physicist will

most definitely agree that these atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and

electrons. These protons, neutrons, and electrons are what make up every atom in

the universe; the same three particles come together and form all the materials

known to man. The biological systems that produce mind are made up of the same

particles as the inorganic computers. Therefore organic and inorganic are just

ways of explaining the same thing. Think of a cat, either white or black. But it

is still a cat, the same way that organic or inorganic explain matter. So it is

not the fact that computers and humans are made of different things, but in

reality, that they are made of the same things that gives the possibility of a

computer to have a mind. Examine for a moment if you will, just what is it that

causes an image of your first love to appear in a field of wildflowers. We will

revisit this image again, but first we will examine the aspects of the brain

relating to the physical attributes that some insist make a human mind different

and therefore unattainable by a computer. Anything that occurs in the brain

requires a firing of synapses. This can be understood by thinking that as you

read this, there are millions of neurons firing. But I ask you this, what is a

neuron firing. And one will very easily respond back that it is the transferring

of electrical impulses, which can also be defined as a motion of electrons from

one nerve to another. Electrical impulses, such as the ones of this computer,

allow the letters as I have typed them to appear on the screen and then finally

be transferred to the paper you are reading. They are of the same particles,

that of the biological body as well as in the mechanical body, and they transfer

information in the same manner. You see, it is beyond the level of organic

chemistry, even deeper than just the elements themselves, but those things that

make up the elements, they are what hold the key in comparison and answering

this difficult question. These electrons, those things we have in common, could

be a basis for giving a computer a mind. Returning to the topic of biology in

just a moment, let.s examine John Searle.s argument for believing that

computers cannot posses a mind. He claims that the mind is an emerging property

from the biological functions of the brain (which we have already proven to not

be limited to biological functions), and that the complexity of the brain has

lead to the production of a mind. He uses the image of water and wetness, saying

that one molecule of water doesn.t feel wet but many water molecules together

become more complex and have this property of wetness or the feeling of wetness

(DesAutels lecture 6-14-00). From his point of view in verifying that only

biological systems can be complex enough to have mind, this is true. Back to the

Biologist, first we must assume that you, th

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