Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 07:37:21 08/06/02
Go up one level in this thread
On August 05, 2002 at 17:54:22, James Swafford 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. >> > > >I disagree Bob. Decision implies choice. There is no choice; it's >preprogrammed. When a computer can arbitrarily decide whether it wants >to perform an action, with some level of cognition, then I will concede >that they can make decisions. But now they are pretty stupid, despite >what Turing tests would say. > In that case I don't think humans make "decisions" either. It is one thing to say "if (a) then (b) else (c)" as that is pretty simplistic. But do you _really_ think that I took care of every possible case in the evaluation, explicitly? Or does the program sum up a large number of factors, then make a decision based on that summation? Which is _exactly_ what I do as a human when I make decisions. IE I certainly didn't program in _every_ possible chess position into Crafty. Yet it can handle any possible position you give it and make a decision about which move to play, whether it is right or wrong (of course). > >>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? :) > >Ahh.. I see where you are going now. Well, you're basically asking if we're >all preprogrammed morons that really aren't making decisions for ourselves, >but doing what we are programmed to do. So what you're really really asking >is if there is such a thing as fate, or predestiny. :) Nah. :)) > Not a convincing argument to me. :) Einstein said "nothing is random". Which means _everything_ can be computed if you just know all the variables. :) > > >> >>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... > >I don't think so. > >-- >James Then I don't believe humans make decisions when they play chess either. After all, you learned your "ideas" from someone...
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