The Emperor's New Mind Chapter Summary

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# Essay 3 In chapter one of *The Emperor's New Mind,* professor Roger Penrose introduces the idea of *strong Artificial Intelligence.* He writes: > According to strong AI, not only would the devices just referred to indeed be intelligent and have minds, etc., but mental qualities of a sort can be attributed to the logical functioning of *any* computational device, even the very simplest mechanical ones, such as a thermostat. The idea is that mental activity is simply the carrying out of some well-defined sequence of operations, frequently referred to as an *algorithm.* (21-2) > [An algorithm being] a *systematic, calculational procedure* where the procedure itself applies quite generally... But in any specific case the procedure will eventually terminate and a definite answer will be obtained in a *finite* number of steps. At each step it is perfectly clear-cut what the operation is that has to be performed, and the decision as to the moment at which the whole process has terminated is also perfectly clear-cut. Moreover, the description of the whole procedure can be presented in finite terms. (41-2) Penrose's distaste for strong AI is bluntly apparent when he writes, "in fact I do *not* regard the idea as intrinsically an absurd one--mainly just wrong!" (29) However, strong AI …show more content…

How would the book 'know' the difference? Perhaps the book would not need to be opened, its information being retrieved by means of X-ray tomography, or some other technological wizardry. Would Einstein's awareness be enacted only when the book is being so examined? Would he be aware twice over if two people chose to ask the book the same question at two completely different times? Or would that entail two separate and temporally distinct instances of the *same* state of Einstein's awareness? Perhaps his awareness would be enacted only if the book is *changed*?

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