Philosophy “The love of wisdom” The Father of all disciplines…

When they get more developed they leave philosophy

Age old question: what is mind, thought, consciousness, etc. AI brings new twist

Tries to understand by building working models Theories can be tested

““Certum quod factum.”Certum quod factum.” (Giambattista Vico, 1668 - 1744)

We are only certain of what we createor make up ourselves

Questions for Philosophy of AI

1. Can a machine do any intellectual task that a human can?(i.e. pass any type of Turing Test)

If it does… then…

2. Does the machine then have a mind, mental states and consciousness just like humans do? e.g. Can it feel?

3. Is the human brain essentially a computer?

René Descartes (1596 - 1650) Separated mental and physical “Cartesian Dualism” Physical body like a machine Mind/soul is not material

Does not follow laws of physics

How can one affect other? Mind body (controls) Body mind (act of passion)

Pineal Gland allows mind-body interaction

Question he asked:How can physical body be affected by non-physical mind?

Critics would say that mental phenomena are simply physical

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716)

"The only way to rectify our reasonings is to "The only way to rectify our reasonings is to

make them as tangible as those of the make them as tangible as those of the Mathematicians, Mathematicians,

so that we can find our error at a glance, so that we can find our error at a glance, and when there are disputes among and when there are disputes among

persons, persons, we can simply say: we can simply say:

Let us calculate [calculemus], Let us calculate [calculemus], without further ado, to see who is right."without further ado, to see who is right."

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716) Believed that much of human reasoning could be reduced to

mathematical calculations Believed in calculations using symbols He wanted a symbol for each fundamental concept Complex concepts would be built by combining fundamentals Thought of an “algebra of thought” Developed beginnings of logic First Computer Scientist?

Invented binary number system Mechanical calculator “Stepped Reckoner”

"It is unworthy of excellent men to lose "It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labour of hours like slaves in the labour of calculation, which could be safely relegated calculation, which could be safely relegated to anyone else if machines were used."to anyone else if machines were used."

Can a Computer Think?"The question of whether a computer can "The question of whether a computer can

think is no more interesting than the think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can question of whether a submarine can

swim.” swim.” - Edsger Dijkstra Turing proposed imitation game Advantages:

Up to subject to pick any question/topic Can test Natural Language, learning, reasoning, etc.

Criticisms Only tests similarity to human conversation – not really intelligence Aeronautical engineering doesn’t try to build machines to fool pigeons Mimicry might pass – fool people Presumes functionalist view – only behaviour matters Some people disagree

i.e. some people think it is necessary to look at the implementation

Can also strengthen test with video input, or object input Test is essentially about behaviour

Turing’s Arguments The Theological Objection

Could argue that God could put soul into computer when AI program created

The "Heads in the Sand" Objection Consequences of machine thinking are awful Some people like to believe man is superior/special Rarely expressed openly,

but lies behind a lot of arguments

The Mathematical Objection (Godel's theorem) Questions the machine can’t answer … but humans can’t answer everything either

The Argument from Consciousness Could never really feel … (not just following rules) Can apply to other people forced to solipsist view

Turing’s Arguments Arguments from Various Disabilities

Cannot fall in love, enjoy strawberries and cream etc. If shown method by which machine can do it… usually unimpressed Usually comes back to argument from consciousness

Lady Lovelace's Objection

"The Analytical Engine has no "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions to originate anything. It pretensions to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order can do whatever we know how to order it to perform“it to perform“

Turing says: do humans really originate anything Can machines surprise us? Yes Idea that machines cannot give rise to surprises:

Fallacy that people assume all consequences of a fact immediately spring to mind

Turing’s Arguments Argument from Continuity in the Nervous System

Nerve signals are continuous, not discrete Turing says: very easy to mimic behaviour of continuous machine with

probabilities for giving different responses

The Argument from Informality of Behaviour Impossible to set up rules to describe what a man should do in every

conceivable set of circumstances Turing says: there are rules, but could be extremely hard to find Even simple program, can be hard to find rules based on behaviour

The Argument from Extrasensory Perception Could test machine against a “good telepathic receiver” Turing says: machine’s random number generator could be affected

by psychokinetic powers of the interrogator

Alan Turing, 1950

““I believe that in about fifty years time it I believe that in about fifty years time it will be possible to programme computers will be possible to programme computers

with a storage capacity of about 10with a storage capacity of about 1099 to to make them play the imitation game so well make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have that an average interrogator will not have

more than 70 per cent chance of making the more than 70 per cent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of right identification after five minutes of

questioning.”questioning.”

Searle’s Chinese Room Imagine a computer in the future

Takes Chinese characters as input Produces Chinese characters as output Passes the Turing Test (for Chinese speaker)

Now: Computationalist says: Computer really is a mind, Understands and has other cognitive states

Imagine Searle is in a room Receives Chinese characters Consults a book containing English version of the computer program Processes the Chinese characters according to book instructions Produces answer in Chinese

But he doesn’t understand (Turing’s “Argument from Consciousness”) Mindless manipulators of symbols

Penrose’s Quantum Gravity Human consciousness cannot be explained by

algorithms alone …Because of halting problem and Gödel's theorem

Proposes human consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in microtubules

(mathematical argument, but possibly theological argument also)

Penrose’s Quantum PhysicsStephen Hawking’s view…

““his argument seemed to be that his argument seemed to be that consciousness is a mystery and consciousness is a mystery and quantum gravity is another quantum gravity is another mystery so they must be related.mystery so they must be related.

Personally I get uneasy when people, Personally I get uneasy when people, especially theoretical physicists, talk especially theoretical physicists, talk about consciousness. Consciousness is about consciousness. Consciousness is not a quality that we can measure from not a quality that we can measure from the outside. ... the outside. ... I prefer to talk about intelligence which I prefer to talk about intelligence which is a quality that can be measured form is a quality that can be measured form the outside.”the outside.”

Hubert Dreyfus's criticism of AI AI says cognition is manipulation of internal symbols by rules Possible to find the 'internal' rules of the human mind,

in the same way the laws of physics Dreyfus argues that we cannot know these rules Human intelligence lies in unconscious instincts

(not conscious symbol manipulation) These unconscious skills can never be captured in rules

Idea of trying to capture unconscious rather than rules could be seen as similar to Rodney Brooks

Recall Turing’s “Argument from Informality of Behaviour” Rules may be hard to find …but doesn’t mean there are no rules

History: Alan Turing Born 1912 London Upper-middle-class Father entered the Indian Civil Service Parents stayed in India, Turing and older brother fostered in

homes in England Showed early interest in science Public School was not impressed…

Alan Turing at Public School English: Bottom of the class.

"I can forgive his writing, though it is the worst "I can forgive his writing, though it is the worst I have ever seen, and I try to view tolerantly I have ever seen, and I try to view tolerantly his unswerving inexactitude and slipshod, his unswerving inexactitude and slipshod,

dirty, work, inconsistent though such dirty, work, inconsistent though such inexactitude is in a utilitarian; but I cannot inexactitude is in a utilitarian; but I cannot forgive the stupidity of his attitude towards forgive the stupidity of his attitude towards

sane discussion on the New Testament."sane discussion on the New Testament." Latin, only second from bottom:

"He ought not to be in this form of course as "He ought not to be in this form of course as far as form subjects go. He is ludicrously far as form subjects go. He is ludicrously

behind."behind."

Maths and science better but…

““His work is dirty”His work is dirty”

Alan Turing at Public School

Headmaster wrote to his parents:

““If he is to stay at public school, he must If he is to stay at public school, he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be aim at becoming educated. If he is to be

solely a Scientific Specialist, solely a Scientific Specialist, he is wasting his time at a Public School.”he is wasting his time at a Public School.”

Alan Turing: School Days Read about theory of relativity

His notes showed he fully understood

1928 Made friends with Christopher Morcom at school Morcom died suddenly in 1930

from complications of bovine tuberculosis

Crisis for Turing Began to think how the human mind

was embodied in matter could it be released from matter by death?

Alan Turing at Cambridge Unwillingness to work on classical studies

(only science and mathematics) Failed to win a scholarship to Trinity College

1931 undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge (2nd choice)

Won a Prize in 1936 for work on probability theory Became interested in Hilbert’s Entscheidungsproblem

(decision problem) of 1928 1936, Turing came up with proof of impossibility

…but Alonzo Church published independent paper also showing that it is impossible

1937 Turing’s "On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem“ published

Entscheidungsproblem Interesting the way Turing proved it

Universal Turing Machine – accepts code as input – any operation Abstract idea:

Code and data are the same Both just information Therefore can make a programmable machine One machine to do anything

Machine maybe more practically useful idea…Even though his original goal was simply to prove theorem

To capture idea of definite method Bridge between maths and physics (operations of mind)

Considered Founder of Computer Science At this stage he was not clear about mind being a machine

Maybe intuitive steps were uncomputable?

Alan Turing During War 1938 returned to Cambridge Began secret work for British cryptanalytic department With declaration of war (Sept. 1939)

worked full-time at Bletchley Park Made Bombe machine – needed portion of correct plaintext 1940 Turing-Welchman Bombe reading Luftwaffe signals … but German Naval communications were generally regarded as

unbreakable Turing had cracked system, but needed more material to be

captured Regular decryption began in mid-1941 February 1942 Germans added extra step Eventually cracked (1943) while Turing in USA Worked on Collosus computers at Bletchley Park Note: first time computer machines became really important

military technology, governments put money in, saved lives