We have talked a lot about artificial intelligence, about what it is and what constitutes an organism's ability to think. We discussed sentience, which refers to self awareness, and compared machines to spiders, one of which was aware of its existence and the other which isn't.
On top of that, there was a clue on last week's crossword puzzle asking about the father of artificial intelligence, and from class discussion it appeared there was some question as to who that actually was. The correct answer is Alan Turing, a pioneer in not just AI but computing in general, mathematics, and other related fields. For all his contributions he lived a short, tragic life and it wasn't until years after his death that he was issued a formal apology by the British government for the way he was treated.
Now, serendipitously (which isn't a word), there is an article from the BBC titled 'Will Machines Ever Be Able to Think?' It discusses the current state of artificial intelligence, which is right where we left it when we discussed it in class, but it also talks about the history of computing and the people who contributed in significant ways, including Turing, as well as Ada Lovelace who is noted for being a female pioneer in what was and is a male-dominated industry, and Charles Babbage, a friend of Lovelace who created the almost-but-not-quite completed Analytical Engine, a rebuilt version of which can be seen at the Computer History Museum today.
It's a fascinating read and sets a solid groundwork for discussing where we are now in terms of intelligent machines, But we all know where we are in terms of that - right here.
Ada Lovelace....She is the first female computer engineer if I am not mistaken. Interesting to know that it was a woman who planted the seed that grew into the future. About the BBC article of thinking, computers can calculate and cut down to the very best prediction but the real question is can they dream. If they did, imagine/dream of what they would do next.
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