As there are so many movies out there like A.I. and the Terminator series, I can’t help that I’ve always been a little paranoid about advances in technology. The idea of computers thinking for themselves, or should I say drawing their own conclusions and making their own decisions frightens me a bit. Therefore, my interest was definitely sparked by our discussion of logic during our previous lesson.
As we covered in class, logic comes down to deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning deals with known concepts, drawing conclusions with logic that can be proven. An example would be (1) All men are mortal (2) Socrates is a man (3) Socrates is mortal. Inductive reasoning deals with unknown concepts, thus using specific facts to come to a general conclusion. An example of this would be, lemons are edible, sour, yellow and juicy, therefore, I must be eating a lemon.
As we also learned, computers do not do well with inductive reasoning and this makes me feel more at ease, as it requires that technology is still dependent upon us. It is my fear however, that one-day technology will have mastered this form of logic. As of now, computers look at information as either true or false, however researchers of artificial intelligence are now working with “Fuzzy Logic,”
which allows the truth of a statement to be represented as a value between 0 and 1, rather than simply True (1) or False (0), which sounds a lot to me like inductive reasoning.Let’s just say that I’m not too thrilled about this…
I also wrote about the idea of Induction and Deduction in terms of computers one day being able to do both. However where you see it as a potential downfall to mankind, (like Hollywood portrays it) I think of it differently. Computers help us solve some of the greatest problems in the world. Technology helps us predict certain outcomes. But what if technology could provide input in terms of creating ideas?
ReplyDeleteComputers are designed to deduct concepts and information. Not to mention they deduct faster than any human-being on the planet. Imagine a computer inducting faster than any human-being on the planet. Imagine man having a computer to assist in the creation of concepts and information. Pure logic, no bias affecting the thought of the machine. A breakthrough like this could lead us to new findings in all aspects of technology.
In the end it is hard to not imagine the ending that Hollywood portrays because it is all we (mankind) know. No movie has been made about A.I. benefiting the human race. The thought itself just gets me curious because of what we already use computers and machines for, which is deduction. I just want to know the real outcome of having a computer be able to do both induction and deduction through logical and unbiased thinking.
When you really think about it the idea of A.I. is a little scary. Just think about if someone told our grandparents 60 years ago that a big piece of metal, plastic, and wires could do all that computers do today? They would freak out! Although computers can do some amazing things I don't think they will ever take over the world like they have in some movies. Computers are intelligent, but humans are smarter. We will always have control.
ReplyDeleteI think I agree with Tim. we may be very dependant on computers, but I really dont think computers will take over, or atleast I hope not. I guess its something I really don't want to see happenning. cool post.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting that we now have fuzzy logic, the name contradicts itself. It is hard to be kind of true or kind of false. It is really scary to think about technology controlling people but you're right, since it hasn't mastered inductive reasoning it probably won't take over any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI think that the big black out a few years ago shows how well we do with out computers. don't get me wrong i understand the need to maintain the control over computers. I think we have gone to far to just get ride of computers. It would take something drastic to force the world to abdone computers.
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