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Article 1632 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: kohout@cs.umd.edu (Robert Kohout)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Arguments against Machine Intelligence
Message-ID: <43772@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 26 Nov 91 18:21:51 GMT
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Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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After almost being drawn in to the vitrolic of the last weeks, I
temporarily stopped reading this group to save myself some aggravation.
Please excuse me if the points I wish to make have recently been
raised.

There are any number of people who have claimed that machines are
incapable of producing intellgience, and in particular that
modern computers are not up to the task. Implicit in this statement
is that there is something requisite to intellgience that is not
Turing computable. 

This is a very strong statement, and before I am convinced, I would
like to know what it is.

The quick and dirty answer is 'consciousness', whatever that is. This
is very convenient, because even if a machine were conscious, we
would not be able to prove that it was, and we will be able to debate
this issue forever. But if I am to be convinced, I'd like someone to
show me that

1) Consciousness is prerequisite to intelligence, and

2) Consciousness is not possible in a digital system.

or, alternatively,

3) Whether consciousness is involved or not, intelligence is not possible
on a digital system.

I understand that the digital nature of modern hardware makes it
impossible to model _a particular, individual mind_. However, I see
no reason why the digital representation of analogue information
is insufficient to produce intelligence.

The symbol-grouding argument is the modern day equivalent to Zeno's
paradox. Just because we find symbols defining symbols means the process
must continue infinitely, and just because we do not understand the
way such a system might converge on a representational system does
not mean it cannot be done. If this is to be taken as a serious objection,
please show me that it is computationally impossible to ground symbols on 
a digital machine.

The most frequent response to this challenge is an appeal to semantics,
which generally also implies an appeal to consciousness. These arguments
most commonly involve an intuition that 'meanings' cannot be conveyed
by formal digit flipping. Why not? and even if this is true, why are
such representations required for intelligent behavior? Once again,
since we see such representations in the brain, what properties of
brain architecture are not present in digital machines, and why aren't
discreet representations of analog information sufficient? Please don't
offer up the Chinese Room, for not only is it a flawed argument at the
most basic level, but is presumes an intelligent machine for the purposes
of demonstrating that the symbol cruncher cannot be said to 'understand'
anything. If this is the strongest objection one can raise to the
digital approach, I will sleep easily.

I confess to having great difficulties following some of the various
philosophical stances. Perhaps that's what I prefer mathematics. 
Besides, I remember what Nietzshe said of 'old Kant' - that he essentially
proved what he wanted to prove, but that his desire for the result
was prior to the proof. If such an objection can be raised for Kant,
who among all great philsophers stands out as one of the most methodical
and even ponderous in his methods, I must remain sceptical of such 'proofs'.

Bob Kohout

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When I tell people machines are my friends, they tell me that's 
dehumanizing. As if the world needed to be completely humanized.
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