Computers and Thoughts

Computers and Thoughts

For decades mankind has been privileged to witness its ascension to levels of civility and progress far above any thing we have yet seen. Medicine is far more advanced than any record we have of previous civilizations, and with concerted world-wide economic plans, this advancement is proliferating in as many places as possible. But not only is medicine advanced, so is the technology it employs - thinking machines, super-computers, lasers, all manner of gadgets probably not foreseen by the most eccentric of dreamers and visionaries just a few generations ago. But the rise of these advancements in technology have not quelled the queries of man’s querulous qualities, along with identity comes a corollary questioning the degree to which we impart our humanity into that which we create. Do paintings really ‘make statements’? Or do they just exhibit qualities the painter painted into it? Or works of literature, for example, can they be said to ‘inspire’ or ‘make’ its readers to question? While the answer to these questions may be obvious, paintings and literature often affect us very personally even though they may seem very far removed indeed from personhood. More specifically, have we imparted the ability to think, to the technology that we have created? Can Computers think? I do not think so, as I hope to show, but these are the issues I intend to address and hope to bring answers to at least some degree.

It is evident, that necessary to a determination of whether or not computers are capable, in principle, of