Artificial intelligence as an empirical question: a comment on «Computing machinery and intelligence”
Abstract
In “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, from 1950, Turing ends up affirming the possibility of automatic computational procedures that replace human thought. Searle's criticisms of this article are recognized, and they have been revisited and expanded in the context of the current discussion on the scope and limits of artificial intelligence. Particularly relevant in this regard are the latest works by Žižek and Larson, as well as Daniel Dennett’s defense of Turing’s proposals, especially in his final work.
I want to draw on this entire discussion to clarify exactly what Turing’s position is after 1950. The conclusion I reach is that Turing does not defend the idea that automatic computational procedures, as he himself defines them, replace human thought, but that it is possible that they can replace it, and that it is a question that can only be resolved empirically.
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