Artificial Intelligence

Computers are becoming more and more human. In some areas they are superhuman. Computers can calculate complex math problems in less than one millisecond, beat us at games such as chess, memorize entire books and movies in a single glance, compose entire pieces of music, and they can give people information on virtually any subject. Yet, we still don't have a machine that can do the things that computers have done in science fiction movies, such as translate everyday English into Italian, summarize texts, or make us breakfast without burning down the house. But will computers ever become as intelligent as human beings?

According to the website Science Fiction and Fantasy World, artificial intelligence (A.I.) can be defined as "the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems." (Moy, par. 2) This domain has predominantly been a field characterized by complex research in laboratory scale environments and just only recently has been becoming a part of the scene of technology in commercial applications. A.I. is about to become a real force in our technological evolution. There has been so much development and change in the last ten years that it is hard to believe how far we have come. But there is going to be another technical revolution going on, and it will be about A.I.

There is a contingent of computer scientists who are convinced that when computers become many times faster than they are now, and more complex, they will be more intelligent than human beings, and may become conscious like human beings. They may even take over the world, for better or for worse. That's what Ray Kurzweil, inventor of reading machines for the blind, music synthesizers and speech-recognition technology, p...

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...ges and have done things collectively. Cities seem to have a life of their own. Connected, the large collection of human minds around the world seems to work like an articulate, living organism. If we cannot comprehend how this works, we are not likely to make much progress. To be able to build another intelligent being, we must first examine our own minds and gain a more complete understanding of how they work.

Bibliography

Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines. New York: Penguin U.S.A., 2000

Moy, Chris. Science Fiction and Fantasy World. 15 April 2003

http://www.sffworld.com/authors/m/moy_chris/articles/futureofai1.html

Thomas, Lewis. "Computers." The Blair Reader. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner, and

Stephen R. Mandell. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. 473-475