Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 12:09:12 08/05/02
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On August 05, 2002 at 13:22:22, Terry McCracken wrote: >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? :) >> >>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... > >Thanks for your input Robert! If you could go into more detail, and i.e. where >you could answer definitively, about computer decision ability. > >Also how far removed it is from the human brain, although much of this area is >mostly unknown and not so simple to answer IMO. Both theory and fact; If this >is not too much to ask? > >Sometimes, I don't put the questions correctly, or as well as I should. >Thank You for; (choose between N moves)as this is one point that seems valid >and is well taken. > >Terry That is a _tough_ question to answer. For example, in my AI class, I get to a point where I start asking questions like "name the flowers that rhyme with nose" then "name the colors that rhyme with tack" and so forth. Then I ask students "How do you suppose we can do that?" Someone always suggests a classic linked list in our head, which is ridiculous on the surface as we would have zillions of links and very little real data. But then I show them how a computer can "emulate" this perfectly. Just a serial search thru a phoenetic dictionary. And it can do it _faster_ than a person even though it uses a totally different approach. Is the human "thinking"? If so, is the computer "thinking?" Is it "emulating thinking"? Etc. For me, it is a bottom-line issue... Can the computer do what I do, and do it better, regardless of whether it does it the same way I do or not? The answer (for chess anyway) is clearly "yes"... But until we really understand the human mind, thoughts of emulating such are simply too far removed from reality to count...
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