I read Searle's Minds brains and logic before the commercial world wide web in a philosophy of the mind course. While the main thrust of his argument certainly made an impression, the most intellectually interesting part was the tidbit about thermostats. A few years later during a phase in my life where I was buying philosophy books, I picked up a copy...maybe in part because the bit about thermostats has utility in internet arguments if for no reason other than offering a sneak attack from behind and in part because it is a Humeian stance on the limits of human knowledge and I admire Hume.

One day, within the last decade and probably about six years ago, I realized that the source of the thermostat tidbit is McCarthy. Which smells a bit relevant here given the claim to define what is and isn't 'true AI'.

Machines as simple as thermostats can be said to have beliefs, and having beliefs seems to be a characteristic of most machines capable of problem solving performance. However, the machines mankind has so far found it useful to construct rarely have beliefs about beliefs, although such beliefs will be needed by computer programs that reason about what knowledge they lack and where to get it. Mental qualities peculiar to human-like motivational structures , such as love and hate, will not be required for intelligent behavior, but we could probably program computers to exhibit them if we wanted to, because our common sense notions about them translate readily into certain program and data structures. Still other mental qualities, e.g. humor and appreciation of beauty, seem much harder to model.

Yesterday morning it was hot here in my office and so I turned on the ceiling fan: it was not so hot as to close up the house and fire up the AC. My human reasoning was exactly like that of a thermostat. One of the things about Humeian rigor is that one does not get to pick and choose the comfortable path when thinking deeply. The other thing about Humeian rigor is it's still OK to head down to the pub for a pint at the end of the day.

Anyway, 'true AI' is always over the horizon. Once we see how the parts are attached the technology is no longer so sophisticated as to be indistinguishable from magic.