The computer and artificial intelligence - Essay Example

The computer and artificial intelligenceThe authors of the chapter offer a very interesting topic to discuss. He wants to make us think about what would happen, if computers could think. Moreover, the authors assume that this can really happen in some decades. “With the rapid increase in computing power (doubling every two years) we find computers ever more entwined in our lives: translating speech into text and multiple language, following trends in the financial markets” (Behrens, Laurence and Rosen 203).

Since the age of technology donned, humans have been very concerned with regards to the prospect of artificial intelligence. At the current rate of development and the manner through which technology continues to evolve, it is not exceptional to envision a world in which computers will not only be able to think that will be able to react and learn. Moreover, reaching back into history, it can clearly be seen that human technology has almost always been used as a means of developing an advantage over another individual, markets, people group, or entire society.

As such, the fear that technological advance could create a situation in which thinking computers dominated the decision-making structure, is a very relevant and concerning issue that the authors engage. This fear is understandable. This is partly due to the fact that because humans are distinguished among other creatures by the ability to think, the line of speration between human and machine could effectively be blurred by a machine that is able to both think and react. What has thus far been described, and what is partially described by the authors in question, is a level of discomfort and anxiety that humans are beginning to feel with respect to the ability that machines will soon have to replace them.

If a person has a business and uses the results of the work of others he/she anyway does huge intellectual work in order to keep competitive advantage, keep good workers, work out new plans and so on. However, if machines start to think it would be the real catastrophe as people will become lazy, because machines will do everything instead of them (Behrens et al. 203). The fear is understandable, but it is only the assumption and we should hope that artificial intelligence will not overcome human’s abilities, not matter how perfect it can be.

The authors state: “Such questions invite real, no longer speculative answers” (Behrens, Laurence and Rosen 204). It means that we should not assume anything, but look at the real facts. We know pretty well that computer can’t think like humans. For example, the translation into other languages is far from perfect and needs to be corrected by professional translators - humans. This testifies that the abilities of artificial intelligence are limited and humans can’t be replaced by machines.

From the information that is thus far been discussed, it can definitively be noted that the fundamental fear that has been represented within the text in question is ultimately relates to the fundamental insecurity that humanity possesses. Consciousness, and interpretation of reality, and ability to learn, and an ability to react are all components of what humanity understands as uniquely human. In such a manner, the ability of the machine to operate in a similar fashion and engage with similar processes is unsettling and disturbing to an interpretation of what humanity has become and how it will continue to exist in the future.

Regardless of the interpretation that can be gleaned from this particular work, it should be more that technological increases that it taken place over the past several decades are only likely to increase with time; rendering a situation in the very near future in which machines will ultimately replace humans in many forms of work. Work CitedBehrens, Laurence and Rosen, Leonard J. Writing and reading across the curriculum. HarperCollinsCollegePublishers, 1996