Can Artificial Intelligence be a Substitute for the Human Brain

Can Artificial Intelligence be a Substitute for the Human Brain

1985 1January 11-12 Can Artificial Intelligence be a Substitute for the Human Brain (426)

The United States and Japan have been working on the plan of producing fifth generation computers. It is believed that these sets of computers will be able to see, talk and think. The U.S. defense department has immediately released 600 million dollars to the companies who are carrying out this research. The Government of Japan has followed suit.

At the moment, the latest model of computers can perform 500 million operations in one second. It is estimated that by 1986, computers will be available which will be able to perform a billion operations per second. Yet the Pentagon is not satisfied with this anticipated increase in speed. Its target is to produce computers which operate at the rate of 1000 billion per second.

The computers designed in human forms are called robots. They can move their arms up and down, they can move their bodies left and right at the command of the operator, provided the operator directs in the same language which has already been fed into the computer.

The attempts to develop mechanical observation power in computers are under way. It is hoped that they will be able to study structural designs in order to identify enemy planes and will consequently be able to strike them down.

However, the term “artificial ‘intelligence” which is used in computer science, is misleading. It is often taken to mean that artificial intelligence can serve as a substitute for natural intelligence. This is quite illusory. There is little difference between a tape recorder’s artificial speech and a computer’s artificial intelligence. Both are capable only of operating in terms of their programming. The difference is simply the degree of complexity. An expert in computer science has put this in the following words:

“It is impossible to develop an artificial intelligence as it is understood literally, it is impossible in principle. The human brain is a very sophisticated system composed of tens of billions of interconnected cells. Each cell is extremely complex in itself. A rather plausible hypothesis says that an individual cell processes the signals penetrating it like a computer. Therefore, even the most sophisticated machine we may imagine can not even be compared to the brain. (The Times of India, November 9, 1983)

No matter how sophisticated computers become, they can never oust the human brain from its central position in human affairs. At best, they can act as aids to and extensions of the human intelligence. We must bear in mind that while such machines are created by man, the human brain is the creation of God.