Technological advances

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Machines are made to calculate, capture and store images. Machines are also made to help make individual's lives easier and more efficient. For instance, we are able to keep records of our financial transactions through computers. Also, we are now able to communicate to other individuals from different countries because of technology. As technology advances, some individuals are considering machines to have qualities like human beings, such as a conscious and the structure of the human body. However, can machines really have a conscious like humans? Similarly, Alan Turing and John Searle both debated whether machines have a conscious or not. This discussion will be based upon the explanation of Turing and Searle and why I believe machines cannot have a conscious.

In "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" by Turing, he uses the imitation game as an example of how machines can think. The imitation game is when a man and a woman is separated in different rooms and another individual who asks both man and woman questions. However, the man answers the questions as if he is a woman. Therefore, the man has to have knowledge about women in order to answer the questions. Similarly, if the man was replaced by a machine, then the machine would have to have knowledge about humans. In addition, Turing critiques the new problem by explaining the probability of the imitation game is heavily weighed against the machine because the machine is mechanically accurate and quickly at finding the answers. For example, if a man and a machine solved an arithmetic problem, then the machine would win because of the speed and accuracy of the machine. Turing believes that machines might have the capability to think but in a different way from humans because...

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...r a machine to be conscious, but it has to obtain the proper physical structure. Additionally, I believe machines cannot have a conscious because they cannot genuinely have emotions, morals, or opinions. I believe that in order to have emotions, morals and opinions, the machine needs to have a soul. Also, machines does not have the freedom to make positive or negative decisions because they are programmed to behave a certain way. Therefore, machines cannot have a conscious nor replicate human characteristics.

Works Cited

Turing, Alan. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Mind. 1950. 11. March. 14.> http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf

Searle, John. "Minds, Brains, and Programs." Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1980. 11 March. 14.

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