Do You Think a Machine Can Think?

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This essay explores whether or not computers can think. Robert Wright goes into several examples and opinions when he tries to determine whether or not computers can think. The thesis of Robert Wright’s essay is from what a machine can do, does that mean it can think. Throughout his essay he gives good arguments for both sides, there is no clear cut answer as to whether computers can indeed think or not. He really leaves it up to the reader to make up their own mind.
The first example he goes into is Garry Kasparov and the difficulty he had when he played a computer named Deep Blue. All this example really answers is whether or not the computer is good at playing chess. Its ability to play chess came from its ability to make calculations quickly. Would a computer be able to play a game where there aren’t no calculations that can help them win? The article then tells how it’s been questioned for a while whether machines conscious or not. This question came up after Wright noted that Kasparov didn’t look happy after he lost the first game, Wright questioned whether Deep Blue would have felt a similar way.
Wright goes on to explain why maybe machines don’t have feelings. He uses the opinion of someone named Chalmers. Chalmers believes that most of consciousness is still unknown. Daniel Dennett is on the other side of fence of consciousness; he believes that most of all that was misunderstood about consciousness is now known. What started this debate is a man named Gilbert Ryle’s work titled “The Concept of Mind”. This described a person as a machine and how it is soulless. Wright is in the middle of this debate, he doesn’t see the difference between the two arguments. Dennett states in his book that he believe that one day we will all be machines. Chalmers and a man named McGinn are among a group of philosophers who are called the New Mysterians. This new group thinks that scientific research and artificial intelligence just give more reasons to go back to the old questions that they had about consciousness and not just disregard them. Chalmers goes on to describe Cog, a robot in the works at M.I.T. This robot will one day have skin that can feel when it is touched. It’s possible that Cog does indeed have a conscious, nether Dennett nor Chalmers disagreed. Wright then brings up the fact that there may actually be a need for consciousness. Chalmers wrote a book on this titled “Consciousness Explained”. Dennett prefers a model called pandemonium. In this model our brains creates several theories about the world. Those theories who become the favored become conscious. This model is well developed and it can be shown on computers. Chalmers questions this by asking how does information turn into an individual experience.
In his book Chalmers puts out a theory. He suggests that consciousness isn’t actually physical. He suggests that maybe information is a special kind of matter. Chalmers thinks that eventually new consciousness will come about. Wright concludes with the idea that souls could be created with machines, and this may not be what was intended by whatever created us. This was rebutted with the argument that it is essentially the same things as having babies.