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March 27, 1998
Is That Machine After Your Job?
To the Editor:
Astro Teller's explanation of why people fear artificial intelligence (OP-Ed, March 21) misses an obvious solution: just stop calling it intelligence, because it isn't.
Intelligence is a characteristic of living beings. If a computer in 1760 could have been programmed to write music based on the work of Bach and Haydn, would it ever have composed a Stravinsky ballet or a Sibelius symphony? If a computer in 1520 had been programmed to paint pictures, starting with the work of Raphael, would it ever have created paintings like those of Picasso or Pollack?
Computer scientists and engineers have given us wonderful aids to our research and problem solving that sometimes outdo humans, but they aren't intelligent; they're just impressive robots.
LEO GOLDMAN
New York, March 22, 1998To the Editor:
Robert J. White reassures us (letter, March 26) that artificial human minds will never be made because "artificial intelligence investigation is based on advanced solid-state physics, whereas the humble human brain is a viable, semiliquid system!" That is no more reassuring than the suggestion that automobiles could never replace horses because they are made of metal, while the humble horse is is a viable, organic system with legs of flesh and bone.
MICHEAL D. ROHR
Newark, March 26, 1998The writer is an associate professor of philosophy at Rutgers University.