Philosophy Flashcards
What are some philosophical questions about AI?
- Can machines be intelligent?
- How do minds work?
- How can we determine if an entity is intelligent or has a mind?
- What does it mean for society to have AI?
They relate to the nature of intelligence and consciousness in machines.
What are some indicators that may suggest a machine is intelligent?
- Performs tasks that require intelligence
- Behaves + Communicates + Looks like a human
What is the Turing Test?
It was proposed by Alan Turing as a way to evaluate (a machine’s ability to show) intelligent behaviour.
What is the basic idea behind the Turing Test?
Intelligence can be assessed by a machine’s ability to imitate human conversation.
By comparing machines to undeniably intelligent beings (humans), it avoids a long list of prerequisites for intelligence
What is the Loebner Competition?
- A competition where humans and humans converse about a specific topic
- Judges rank them from ‘most likely to be human’ to ‘least likely to be human’
A modern version of the Turing Test, aims to evaluate conversational AI.
What does CAPTCHA stand for?
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
What is Weak AI?
It builds agents that act rationally and can accomplish specific tasks (e.g., chess), but are not universally intelligent
What is the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesis?
A hypothesis stating that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action
Foundational in discussions about Strong AI (able to perform any intellectual task a human can)
What is a Grandmother Cell?
A hypothetical neuron that fires every time you see your grandmother (specific neurons are responsible for recognising objects)
What are the two types of representation in the context of the Grandmother Cell?
- Sparse representation (one or few neurons responsible for recognition)
- Distributed representation (activation pattern of a large number of neurons)
This distinction is important in neuroscience and AI discussions.
What was the significance of the 2005 study published in ‘Nature’ regarding Pamela Anderson Cells?
Supported the idea of specific neurons being linked to the recognition of particular objects or individuals.
A specific neuron responded to various representations of Pamela Anderson (picture, written name)
List the first two objections to Strong AI formulated by Turing.
- Theological objection (thinking is part of humans’ souls)
- Head-in-the-sand objection (terrible consequences of thinking machines)
Turing addressed these objections to argue for the potential of intelligent machines.
What is the Mathematical Objection in the context of Strong AI?
Machines, as formal systems, can’t prove certain truths that a human mind can (s. Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem)
What is the Consciousness Objection?
If it can’t create art from genuine emotions & thought, a machine can’t be considered equivalent to a brain.
What is the primary claim of the objections from various disabilities?
Machines will never be able to perform tasks that require human-like qualities.
e.g., love, be kind, be self-aware
What is Turing’s response to the objections from various disabilities?
These problems need to be investigated thoroughly, and there is no particular reason why they could not be solved.
What did Lady Lovelace argue about machines?
Machines can only do what they are programmed to do.
What is Turing’s counterargument to Lady Lovelace’s objection?
Machines can surprise us, especially when the consequences of different facts are not immediately recognizable.
What is the argument regarding the continuity of the nervous system?
It isn’t a discrete-state machine, so it can’t be modeled by a computer.
How does Turing respond to the argument about the nervous system?
It can be approximated well enough, although this is still heavily debated.
What is the argument from informality of behavior?
It posits that human behavior is too complex and informal to be captured by a set of rules or programs.
If people had a definite set of rules for conduct, they would be no better than machines.
What is Turing’s rebuttal to the informality of behavior argument?
Determinism possibly lies deeper, at least we follow the laws of physics.
What does Turing suggest about extra-sensory perception in AI?
He suggests a telepathy-proof room to prevent judges from distinguishing based on ESP.
What was Herbert Simon’s prediction regarding AI (1958)?
Within ten years, a digital computer will be the world’s chess champion.
What was Hubert Dreyfus’s stance on AI in 1972?
Human intelligence is more than manipulation of symbols.
What does John Searle’s ‘Chinese Room’ thought experiment aim to demonstrate?
It argues that machines can’t truly understand language, thereby defeating the idea of Strong AI.
What does the Chinese Room demonstrate about the Turing Test?
That passing the Turing Test does not equate to true understanding or intelligence.
What is Searle’s term for the difference between true intelligence and simulated intelligence?
Intentionality.
What is the purpose of the Chinese Room argument?
To show that the Turing test is inadequate to test for intelligence and to debunk claims of Strong AI.
What is the Systems reply to Searle’s argument?
The entire system, including the room, understands Chinese.
What is Searle’s response to the Systems reply?
The human could memorize the rules and still not understand Chinese.
What is the Robot reply to Searle’s argument?
Adding sensory inputs would relate symbols to objects in the real world (symbol grounding).
What is Searle’s critique of the robot reply?
There are still no intentional states; the robot does not have understanding.
What does the Brain Simulator reply propose?
Simulating the neuron firings of a native Chinese speaker.
What is Searle’s response to the brain simulator reply?
That it concedes that Strong AI is not possible (neither operator nor simulation understand Chinese).
What does the Mind-Body Problem address?
The relationship between mental states and brain states.
What is dualism in philosophy?
Mind and matter are two different things, and mental phenomena are non-physical.
What is materialism (or monism)?
Mental states are brain states.
What is the Brain-in-a-Vat argument?
A thought experiment questioning whether a brain can still function and be conscious if removed from a body.
What does the Brain-Prosthesis Experiment illustrate?
It questions whether someone can still be self-conscious after having their brain replaced with circuitry.
What did Garry Kasparov say about AI after his match with Deep Blue?
He sensed a new kind of intelligence in the computer.
What was Kasparov’s perspective after losing to Deep Blue?
He felt the machine’s win didn’t prove anything significant.
What did Alan Turing believe about the question of whether machines can think?
He believed it was too meaningless to deserve discussion but anticipated that society would eventually accept machines thinking.
Fill in the blank: Turing’s original question was ‘Can machines _______?’
think.
True or False: Searle believes that machines can have understanding.
True.
- for biological machines like human brains
What did Turing want to demonstrate with his test?
Whether a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human, i.e. human-like intelligence
What is the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesis?
A physical symbol system has the necessary means for intelligent action.
This suggests that intelligence can be achieved through symbol manipulation.
What is the Chinese Room Argument?
John Searle’s thought experiment stating that a programmed machine can’t understand language or meaning, despite appearing to do so
This argument challenges the notion of ‘understanding’ in AI.
How does the Chinese Room Argument relate to the Turing test?
It highlights the gap between behavior and comprehension (passing the test != true understanding)
What is commonly perceived as the difference between ‘Weak’ and ‘Strong’ AI?
‘Weak AI’ refers to systems designed to perform specific tasks, while ‘Strong AI’ refers to systems that possess genuine intelligence & consciousness
How does the Mind-Body Problem relate to AI?
The Mind-Body Problem questions the relationship of mental and physical states, relevant to discussions on whether machines can have minds
This philosophical issue impacts theories of consciousness in AI.
Do you find the Mind-Body Problem convincing?
Subjective opinion
Responses may vary based on individual perspectives on consciousness and AI.
What is the goal of Strong AI?
To create universally intelligent agents that encompass the full range of human cognitive abilities
What is a Physical Symbol System (PSS)?
A concept introduced by Allen Newell and Herbert Simon that describes a class of systems capable of manipulating symbols and exhibiting intelligent behavior.
They manipulate symbols and structures using operators and control mechanisms
What does the Physical Symbol System (PSS) Hypothesis state?
A PSS has the necessary and sufficient means for general intelligent action, suggesting that properly organized physical symbol systems can exhibit human-like intelligence.
How is the Turing test conducted?
A test where a human judge interacts with a computer and a human.
if the judge cannot reliably distinguish between them, the computer is considered intelligent.
