Author: Louis Fagliano
Date: 09:05:56 08/05/02
Go up one level in this thread
On August 05, 2002 at 11:45:28, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On August 05, 2002 at 11:10:55, Terry McCracken wrote: > >>Do computers make decisions? >>If so, what is your definition of a "computer decision" and how it relates and >>differs from human decisions? >> >>Please cite examples. This can be from chess to any area of so-called "machine >>intelligence", please give _your_ answers, as well as information that can be >>obtained on the net. >> >>Your help with these answers will be greatly appreciated! >> >>Thanks in Advance. >> >>Regards, >> Terry McCracken > > >A couple of points. > >First, _yes_ a computer makes decisions. For example, you can use an >external A/D converter to measure two temperatures in a steam plant and make >a decision as to which burner should be turned up or down based on those >measurements. > >Second, does a computer make decisions like _we_ do? Impossible to say. IE >can you _prove_ that the human mind doesn't rely on anything other than pure >binary values? Nobody has to date, so that is an open question. Wouldn't it >be funny if we one day find out that at the elementary level, everything we do >is on/off? :) I'd have to question that because brains of living biological creatures do not operate digitally but rather holistically. Early on in the evolution of life it was a clear advantage if a bacterium reacted appropriately to an external stimulus and the way to do that was by pattern recogintion (holoistically) rather than digitally on/off. Pattern recognition is very hard to achieve if done digitally. > >Perhaps one of the best examples of "making a decision" is in computer chess, >where the computer has to choose between N moves and pick just one. That is >_clearly_ a decision...
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