Thinking Machines Take Two

Armando Teran Jr


English 215

9/4/10

Thinking Machines Take Two

Robert Wright’s essay discusses a debate pertaining to the issue of machines containing artificial intelligence. Wright concentrates on the issue of machines being able to think. For example he poses the question “Can machines think” (Wright 141). The author uses an example of Garry Kasparov’s chess match versus a computer. Garry stated his chess match against a computer was for the purpose of claiming that computers are not smarter than humans. It was difficult attempting to pinpoint the author’s thesis in his essay. Wright starts his essay by explaining the chess match between Garry and a computer then jumps to his main idea. Wright primarily focuses on the topic of machines containing a form of consciousness.

The article mentions a philosopher named David Chalmers and touches on his theories pertaining to artificial intelligence. Chalmers mentions a robot named Cog. Cog is being built to contain artificial intelligence. Chalmers claims that “Cog is a good model of human data processing” (Wright 143). Basically Cog is a robot that will being able to process date just like a human. Wright states an interesting idea, he states that “you don’t in principle need pain to function like a human being” (Wright 144). The author is making the claim that robots can function just like humans.

Wright’s main point of emphasizes in his essay is clear. He poses interesting facts and ideas about machines having some form of consciousness. The author provides examples from Chalmers theory about robots be able to process information just like a human. The controversy of machines being able to have a sense of consciousness is interesting. In the end machines are built for a purpose and are controlled by humans.