MadSci Network: Computer Science
Query:

Re: Can artificial intelligence bypass human intelligence?

Date: Fri Oct 1 19:08:59 1999
Posted By: Michael Freed, Research Scientist, Aerospace Human Factors, NASA Ames Research Center
Area of science: Computer Science
ID: 938072336.Cs
Message:

I assume you are interested in whether it will be possible to construct a 
machine with greater than human intelligence. 

In some ways, machines are already smarter.  For example, a basic
calculator can do math faster and more reliably than people.  There
are plenty of other examples where a computer can already surpass people 
at solving problems, making decisions, or carrying out other "thinking"
tasks.  In some cases, computers even seem more creative and adaptable
than people.

On the other hand, there are other aspects of human intelligence that 
seem to be very resistant to duplication on a computer.  These are 
generally things that people find easy.  For example, the most stubborn AI 
problem is "commonsense reasoning" -- i.e. getting a computer to know
a wide variety of basic things and apply that knowledge effectively.  

For example, if you were to see a typed form with someone's age listed as 
225, you'd probably assume that this is a typo and that their real age is 
25.  To do this, you use your commonsense knowledge about how long people 
live and what kind of typing mistakes they make.  People are versatile in 
that they could think this through even if they'd never seen someone make 
that particular kind of error before.  Giving a computer that kind of 
ability is crucial if it is to be considered generally intelligent (not a 
specialized intelligence like a calculator).

So for now, no machine is generally intelligent and no such machine is 
likely to exist in the near future.  The long term prospects for machine 
intelligence are another matter.  Few people working in AI doubt that the 
commonsense reasoning problem will eventually be solved.  The same goes 
for other problems.. getting machines to learn on their own, perceive the 
world around them quickly and effectively, control dextrous arms and 
hands, and several other tough research problems.  

If and when these problems are solved, it will become possible to build 
machines with superhuman ability.  They will have the basic cognitive 
characteristics of a person, plus specialized extra-human abilities to do 
math, remember with perfect accuracy and so on.  Of course, by this time, 
it will also be possible to fit people with prosthetics that enhance our 
abilities in exactly those ways.. e.g. a prosthetic memory with the 
capacity and stability of a good hard disk drive.  So one guess is that 
computer and human intelligences will both grow, and will evetually 
converge.



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