Programming And Machine example essay topic

Is AI possible? Man has often thought of creating "thinking" machines. Machines that could think for themselves and act like humans. If we look at humans as programs, we can see that we can interact with external things, as well as think for ourselves. This is because we can "make our own programming". Humans are self-aware and as a result acknowledge their own existence as well as others'.

Machines on the other hand, cannot "make their own programming" and therefore, must rely on predefined algorithms. With today's technology, we are only able to create sentient programs, programs that follow their instructions and only their instructions. For example, any given decision has predefined outcomes; the actions a program can take can be predicted. A human however, may act on impulse. Machines are not self-aware, they do not acknowledge themselves as a separate thinking entity.

And thus, with today's current technology, there is no chance of us making a true AI system. What we call AI in today's society are semi-sentient programs, they are complex programs, with many decisions that are designed to "adapt" to what is required. However, they cannot actually do something outside of the programming. This is evident when trying to converse with a "chat-bot", all of its responses are pre-scripted, if we ask the same question again, we will get the exact same response. Also, if we word things differently, or change synonyms, the software may not recognise each statement. The movie "Bicentennial Man" displayed a cognisant robot that could think for itself.

In reality, this would not be possible as thinking requires some sort of random-ness and creativity, both of which, require free-will and a mind. Machines do not posses any of these qualities and therefore cannot be considered as cognisant beings or alive. However, when we think about the future, we think of something similar to Star-Trek. Inside this television show, we have an android which can think for itself and adapt to its changing environment.

If is possible in the future, but only if we evolve the way we compute. Currently, programming is limited to a plane where everything must be pre-scripted. In the future, given that a programming language that allows "thought" is created, it will be possible to create a "thinking" machine. However, it will still have its limitations, as a machine must follow its programming. Machines do not have emotions, emotions often affect the way a human comes to a conclusion. Emotions create spontaneity and given rise to different thoughts.

Due to the lack of these, machines can never become fully self-aware and "alive". The only forms of "AI" available today are based upon predictive intelligence. This works by predicting what is going to happen and reacting to it. This is achieved by using many decisions combined with the input that is given.

For example, a "chat-bot" will work with words such as 'love' but will not work with words that aren't inside its "dictionary". In order to create propagating beings, we must create something to think for itself, and to do that, we need to understand the workings of a human mind. What separates humans from machines is that it adapts to its environment in its own way. Humans form their own meaning and sentimental values for certain objects.

From childbirth, a human has to learn things in order to survive in the world. A machine on the other hand, is pre-programmed with the required information and cannot actively adapt to its environment. This is evidenced by Darwin's' Theory of evolution, "an organism is shaped by the environment in which it lives in". For example, two twins who are genetically the same and have grown up in the same environment are still different to each other. This can be attributed to their separate experiences in life, their level of self-awareness and their ability to think for themselves. Machines posses none of these qualities and therefore, cannot reach the same level of awareness as a human.

The current state of a humans mind is determined by its past experiences. A man makes a decision based upon the information available and its past experiences. For example, a man may abstain from swimming because in his past, he had a traumatic experience. A machine will simply make decisions based only upon the information available. This sort of decision making is still sentient, as it is pre-scripted and is not affected by things external to its environment (except for external inputs). The insect's "consciousness" is applied to the actual wiring of its brain.

That of man is applied to a "locus of similar meaning" which constitutes a "concept". [sic] web The meaning of this statement is that insects (or robots) will only follow what its "brain" says and cannot acknowledge itself as a "self". Both insects and machines only do what they are told / programmed to. This in its very essence is sentient thoughts. Man and other animals, have at least some level of the awareness of its "self".

Thus, the human or animal will start thinking for itself. (Hypothetically) If one was to create a machine with emulations of simple human synapses, the machine would think for itself, however, the thoughts of this "alive" device would be a lot lower than those of a human and would be closer to the semi-cognisant thoughts of an animal. Also, this method of AI would involve lots of labour and large amounts of input. The other way to emulate intelligence is to create many combinations of answers to a problem and go through them one by one.

This is the way that Cray and Deep Blue (chess playing) machines were created. Although these machines have strong "thinking" skills, all of its "thoughts are pre-scripted" to such an extent that it is less than an insect in terms of intelligence. However, part of this approach is required to create a 100% aware machine, a machine must have a goal on which to base its actions upon. If a machine has a goal, it can then start making its own instructions in order to achieve that goal.

An artificially intelligent entity must acknowledge itself as a being otherwise it will lack the logic involved in survival. It must also have goals, on which to base its thoughts. Every living organism has basic goals, include single cell organisms. Humans however, have other goals, ones that are dreams and aspirations. Animals, cellular organisms and insects do not. Even if man created a programming language which allowed machines to 'think' for themselves, would the programming and machine be able to cope with the dilemma's that humans encounter in their lives?

For example, an "android's" goals may to be protect its master and to obey all of their commands. However, what will happen if the master orders the android to kill themself? Will the robot be able to resolve this conflict? Or will it sit there and crash. In order to create true artificial intelligence, we must first understand how the brain works, then create a programming language that allows the machine to make decisions for itself as well as create emotions. Emotions are important, as these are what help humans solve their dilemma's.

Overall, assuming man can solve all of the problems behind creating AI, it can be possible to make AI. However, can an artificially intelligent machine replace a human?