Logic

Logic seems to be something computers are very good at and humans very poor at. A wonder, then, that humans invented the computer. One would think that a species capable of designing the computer might be able to take some of the logical structures it used to that end and apply them to their own lives. And yet, we as a species seem to act unreasonably more often then not. For an example of this, I would point quickly to war, poverty, crime, racism, environmental degradation, and a host of societal ills that plague us due largely to a lack of logical thinking.

Still, it does seem that some of man's (or woman's) greatest value creation comes from things that on their face seem illogical. Art, particularly abstract art, can appear completely illogical, although many times it is merely the application of a curious FORM of logic that yields abstract art. The artist's life in general, often fraught with poverty, societal pressure to conform, etc. seems also to be an illogically painful pursuit. But many an artist would make the claim that they feel compelled to pursue this end. I suppose my thoughts on logic perhaps need broadening. Particularly when thinking about the application of logic to various human pursuits. Logical attempts at desired results can only be judged through the lens OF the intended result.

Herein lies the reason computers still seem so far away from achieving what many refer to as Artificial Intelligence: desire. Computers are logical insofar as they can distill truth from existing data, as long as the data is factual. But computers cannot want. They cannot be driven to create art by some unknown combination of synapses firing in one of a seemingly limitless number of possible patterns. Will computers, with their architecture hardwired for logic ever reach man's ability to pursue (sometimes seemingly irrationally) the creation of art, music, literature for its own sake? It seems unlikely, but I would never say never based on what we've seen so far.