Today I met an old friend of mine from jr. college days after a long time. We went to a shopping mall nearby and had fun window shopping (the kind of fun only girls can have together!). These lines would seem rather boring and worthless to write in a blog had it not been for an interesting discussion that we had.
My friend too is an engineer and as we move into our final year of engineering we both have to choose our optional subjects. She has chosen 'Neural Networks', a subject that comes under Artificial Intelligence (AI). that is what spurred our heated discussion over lunch.
One of the most famous personalities in AI is Alan Turing. His Turing Test gives the basis to determine how human a computer is. Our discussion raised many questions in my mind over this very controversial topic. Can machines really be taught to be human? If yes then is intelligence limited to speaking natural language and looking human? What about ethics and judgement?
Computers find tasks like playing chess or solving mathematics very easy. We find those difficult to do but computers cannot make a relative judgement like which colour is best for a room or which dish tastes better. So who is more intelligent? Can we quantatively define intelligence? The same problem that we face while measuring IQ is faced here. A child may be brilliant at maths and another good at painting. So which of the two is more intelligent?
The Loebner prize competition is held every year to give the prize for the program most exhibiting artificial intelligence. One year two of the judges made the mistake of judging a human as a computer. What does this signify? Will computers ever be human-like? Or will we end up being machines?
Computers are our future, they will certainly become smarter and smaller as the years pass by. But the smartest and most amazing computer is organic and it is packed in a cabinet that is approximately your height. If you dont believe me, have a look in the mirror!
No comments:
Post a Comment