Re: Granny Objections to Computers' Having Minds

From: Bollons Nicholas (NSB195@psy.soton.ac.uk)
Date: Mon Apr 22 1996 - 18:07:19 BST


Couple of questions that are rolling around in my brain, that I
wonder if any body has the answers to ?

Q If we are so similar to computers in respect to the fact that we both
incorporate some sort of programming (computers in computer language
and ours in our D.N.A)? Then we created computers, did some one then
create us ? And if 'they' did, did they produce the same outcome that
we have done with computers? That is : computers can do some things
allot more competently than us humans. Are we better than 'him
upstairs' ?

Q If we are products of the 'blind watchman' of evolution. Are
computers going to also become touched by this 'mutant manipulator' ?
Are computers going to start adapting themselves to the
environment ? Do they even have an environment other than the one to
which we have created them for ? In that case, are we the 'blind
watchmaker' ? And if we are, hadn't we better watch out what we produce.

Q The creativity of Einstein is predominately logical and
computational. This can of course be compared to computers and their
computational abilities. And no, there have not been that many
generally computationally 'creative' people in human history.

But what of art ? There is an awful lot of artistically creative people
in history - Michealangelo, Monet, Shakespeare - the list is endless.
Computers can no way do anything that these chaps could do, for they
created whole new individual artistic trends/pieces, unseen before..

Can computers do this artistic creativity, can they produce new unseen
individual artistic pieces ?
(No use of Fractal generated imagery examples here, because they use
input to output system, and i think that there is no way that the whole
of the Sisteen (spelling ?)
Chapel could have been 'outputted' by Michealangelo due to the 'input'
he received from the 14th century).

Granny is a little confused, and is going to make a cup of tea and have
a nice lie down. NIK



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