Author: Russell Reagan
Date: 21:22:57 08/05/02
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On August 05, 2002 at 11:10:55, Terry McCracken wrote: >Do computers make decisions? This is all just me thinking out loud here... I just had an idea that I don't think has been discussed in this thread. Where does quantum theory come into play in this discussion? For instance, if quantum theory is correct, then when something is in an unknown state, it is in all possible states, right? If that is true, then we could determine whether or not a computer makes a decision based upon whether it branches into all possible states resulting from each possible decision. If a computer doesn't make a decision, then it's just going to remain in the one state. Maybe if we were a little more advanced we could test this? I think it would work. For example, if the decision the computer will make is unknown, then it will be all decisions, and is therefore a decision (boy that's confusing). If you know the code that will drive the decision (and can therefore know what the decision will be beforehand) then by quantum theory it wouldn't be a decision since it wouldn't branch into every possible decision. If the code is unknown, and the resulting decision cannot be known, then the computer is making a decision according to quantum theory. So, do you think it's possible, if we were more advanced and had the technology to be able to measure quantum properties of this experiment, for us to prove whether or not a computer can make a decision? I think that would be very cool. No more debating stuff based on personal beliefs. Finally we'd have some hard facts about whether or not a computer could ever be intelligent, right? Wouldn't this prove or disprove whether or not it's possible for a computer to have intelligence? If it was proven that a computer could not make a decision, and relied solely on it's creator's code, then that would mean that computers would be incapable of intelligence, right? Sounds interesting to me :) Russell
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