These dolphins talk to each other. Why do we insist it isn’t language?

Re:These dolphins talk to each other. Why do we insist it is... by thaumasiotes on Thursday April 21, 2016 @07:40AM (#11541223)

> Turing describes a number of objections that people are inclined to raise to the possibility of AI. One, which he calls the "Heads in the Sand" objection, he characterises thus: "The consequences of machines thinking would be too dreadful. Let us hope and believe that they cannot do so." It is, he says, particularly prevalent among intellectual people, since they most value the power of thinking. Turing notes that this position needs no refuting: "Consolation would be more appropriate." Today the Heads in the Sand objection is alive and well.

(Sourced from https://plus.maths.org/content/computers-ltd ; the paper of Turing's can be read at http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~rosen/161/turing_paper.html )

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:These dolphins talk to each other. Why do we insist it is... by cperciva on Thursday April 21, 2016 @07:50AM (#11541290)

My favourite answer is that the question of machines thinking -- and in this context, dolphins thinking -- is about as meaningful as the question of whether submarines swim: Not the same way as we do, but if they get the same result does the mechanism really matter?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:These dolphins talk to each other. Why do we insist it is... by meric on Thursday April 21, 2016 @10:31PM (#11546704)

I think machines would have to have awareness and experience before we can say they think like us.

We are extremely aware of our computers - every pixel it emanates from the screen, every bounce on the keyboard, the temperature, it's hum. With our awareness we build a model of the computer, we can anticipate and manipulate it's future states. The computer on the other hand, senses only touches on its keyboard, the power feeding to it from the power socket, the light entering its camera, the bits coming through on it's wifi. Sure, this information are enough to build some sort of model of the world, but it does not currently do that. Our computers do not marshal all of it's sensory experience into a coherent whole, and therefore remains in unawareness, cannot anticipate and cannot manipulate the world around it informed by its own experience, it acts and thinks like the detached tail of a lizard.

Nonetheless, I do think, one day, computers will think and be aware.

[ Parent | on HN ]