Can Machines Think?
The mechanization of thought is closer than most people believe.
From the early days of antiquity, humanity has grappled with the notion of machine thought.
In early Greek myths that predate 500BCE, Talos, a giant automaton made of bronze, would patrol the shores of Europa each day. He had human qualities like emotions and judgements — and this was conceived of over two thousand years ago.
More recently, in 1843, Ada Lovelace speculated that machines:
“Might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.”
That people this far in the past could conceive of the possibilities of machines shows both the depth of their imagination and humanity’s inherent fascination with intelligence.
Since then, much of the last two thousand years of technology development has been in pursuit of mechanizing — if not outright solving — the process of thinking.
To answer the question of whether machines can think, I’m first going to take you through a laundry list of current AI capabilities. Some will amaze you, others will frighten you, and most will come as a grave shock to anyone that hasn’t kept feverously up-to-date on the latest computer advances.
