Page 4 - Can Computers Think?

Artificial Intelligence and Responsive Optimization: link. Check it out.

If you believe that people "think", then computers "think".

Neither "think", thinking implies a degree of intelligence. Humans, granted have a great initial program which permits them to learn, expand and adapt their program, but I don't believe they truly 'think'.

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Are we aware of our existence? Why? Because we say we are?

Here is a simple CGI Script:
http://www.wprime.net/a.cgi

It reckons that it is aware of it's existence (it even spells like somebody too used to a spell-checker). Does that mean it thought up it's response? No, it was simply programmed to say that.

Oh...after finishing reading mph... he pretty much said this...well I agree...

I remember I made a simple AI which ran on msn (answers all the basic stuff, how are you, what is your name, and had a basic system where it'll save responses to statements and reuse them later - also read through my convo histories and did the same)...

Sure its only input was text and its only output is text, so it's a little less advanced than your average human, but essentially the same.

On that note it manage to attract and ask out this girl......(damn AI gets more action than me :P)

Necro, yes I know. Do I care? Hardly.

Check out this article: The Age of Intelligent Machines: Can Computers Think? by Mitchell Waldrop.

Also this entry of the The Best of Creative Computing Volume 2 (published 1977) by David H. Ahl is very interesting. Especially considering its age the described ideas quite meaningful.

Necro? Hardly it's not close....
Computers mostly out think me...Just ask Vista, my Garman even my telephone..
Not hard I guess considering

this thread still going?

who cares if a pc or machine is self aware? what's that good for? being self aware means having emotions, the last thing i need - a pc that crashes cos its that day of the month, or a pc i have to take out for a scenic drive or to therapy cos it's depressed.

what we want is intelligence = ability to learn things, imagine things, question things, etc. it can worry about how we all feel but not itself.

being self-aware is good for kids toys like dolls or adult toys like blow-up dolls.

y the f@#k am i wasting time talking sh!t when ive got things to do - damn procrastination

i cant wait for the day when we have robots for servants. we just have to be careful not to let any of the scifi scenarios like irobot or the cylons happen

link

I don't see anything wrong in what is happening in "I robot" (except from human side)

sorry, should have clarified that; the movie I robot

To reply to the original question.
Short answer: NO.
Long answer: Not until the information processing technology gets much better. Currently the human brain (responsible for what we call "thinking") is doing billions and billions of operations every second so matching this may take a while.

You are quickly becoming the necro poster of the week my friend...

OMG I just noticed that

Ahh.. I will hopefully one day earn my PhD answering this question.

Conscious thought is, IMO a function of behavior modification based on "neural" strengthening, enforced by repeated "reward" (meaning that a previously-programmed desire has been met) for beneficial behavior, and non-reward for non-beneficial behavior. I hope one day to describe the human mind in non-dualistic terms. The human mind is simply a reactionary system that can modify its own behavior.

I also agree with phpFreeLancer though. The human brain performs massively parallel operations, whereas computer process serially. There will certainly need to be a change in the way data is processed in order for comptuers to "think". The brain does not have a central processing unit - instead, instructions can be directed and followed out in ANY portion of the brain. The neural network of the human neural system is a very large array of "standard outputs", which need not be directed as a computer standard output is defined - the output used is determined by which neural activity is taking place; and which neural activities were active in the making of the episodic or semantic memory that is represented by that neural activity. The standard error is that the particular synaptic chain being fired is weakened - whereas more beneficial synaptic chains are chemically and physically strengthened.

Non-organic thinking entities could exist, so long as there is no central processing unit, but a series of competing response systems which compete for control (or perhaps, attention) of higher level systems. It will happen eventually.

Just a couple thoughts...

Using multiple processors have been used for many years to speed up processing. The hardest part is breaking up into programs into multiple threads to take advantage of this. Also vector or array processors have been around even longer to handle tasks that require processing arrays of data.

Pattern recognition is another task that a single processor is not fast enough to numerically handle in real time. FFTs are being used to vastly speed up this task.

I don't think dual, or quad, or etc. processors will be the solution. Nor vector or multi-threaded processing. Centralized processing (of any form) does not provide for the intricacies of potentially opposing reaction processing which is required for anything other than predefined "if x then y" processing. You need different systems that decision make based on different standards (not just different algorithms - thats still not thought); different inputs competing for outputs, and modifying behavior based on the most favorable output.

Computers will never be able to truly "think" until we discover the secrets of our own sentience and consciousness.

Computers will always be machines built by humans and programmed by humans. In the coming years I have no doubt that people will create incredibly powerful, fast, and intelligent computers, able to solve ridiculous problems, and calculate enormous amounts of data. But self-awareness, and thinking?
I don't care how pessimistic of an attitude one has about life, somehow we are special. I don't think that it will ever be replicated by machine--there is a greater element to humans than just a more intelligent brain.