Day 21: Review Descartes, & Introduce Turing

•      Return and Discuss Test 2

•      Review Descartes on Mind and Body

•      Thinking Machines and AI

•      Can Machines Think?

–   The Kinds of Machines at Issue

–   Imitation Game

–   Evaluation of the Turing Test

•      Finish reading Computing Machinery… (sections 6 & 7)

Review of Descartes on Mind and Body

•      According to Descartes, what is body?

•      According to Descartes, what is mind?

•      According to Descartes, what sorts of things can we construct mathematical models of?

•      What would Descartes say about the possibility of a thinking machine?

Thinking Machines and AI

•      Some history regarding “thinking” machines

•      What is AI?

The Kinds of Machines at Issue

•      When Turing asks whether machines can think, what kinds of machines does he have in mind?

•      What methods of design is he willing to permit?

The Kinds of Machines at Issue

•      Some features of digital computers:

–   Store

–   Executive unit

–   Control

•      Does the type of hardware matter with respect to the issue of weather a system is a digital computer?

Imitation Game

•      Turing wants to replace the question, “Can machines think?” with another question.  What is that other question?

•      What is his motivation for replacing his original question with his new question?

Evaluation of the Turing Test

•      If a machine can think, then it can pass Turing test.  Is that true?  Is passing the Turing test necessary for a machine being able to think?  Does Turing think it is necessary?

•      If a machine can pass the Turing test, then it can think.  Is that true?  Is passing the Turing test sufficient for a machine being able to think?  Does Turing think it is sufficient?