Alan Turing is one of the most renowned people in modern history for his
work in breaking the Enigma Code during World War II. He was also an
extremely intelligent mathematician, and his theories about artificial
intelligence are still discussed today, as we have seen in this module. Turing
had an interesting approach to artificial intelligence, but I think it provides a
solid foundation to build upon. If we had succeeded in creating an "intelligent"
computer that could hold a conversation through all of the twists and turns that
exist in normal, human conversation, I believe that, on some level, it would be
considered an intelligent computer. However, the technology that we have
now and the research that guides it does not adequately hold conversations as
two humans would. Although we have similar processes for memory,
computers and the human brain "think" very differently. Humans process
information with a variety of influences, such as emotion and the environment
in which one lives. Computers are designed to accurately store and file away
information for later use. Because of this, I am not sure it will ever be possible
to have AI that is effective in being believably human. The human brain is still
something we know very little about, and even if we could directly map the
brain and fully understand all of its intricacies, being able to translate that into
data for a computer to process and adapt to would be a huge feat of scientific
engineering, one that just may not be possible. Not only that, but how would
we translate the emotion that comes with being human into a computer? That
being said, I think it would be interesting to see how it would affect an ethical
approach. Would it be ethically appropriate to give life to something, only to
control it and give it only one purpose and meaning? Would there be an issue
for the rights of AI? There are many possibilities that would come from a
successful AI program, and I am not sure all of them would be just and right
for everyone, and evereything, involved.
