预计阅读本页时间：-
NO MACHINE THINKS ABOUT THE ETERNAL QUESTIONS
Neurobiologist; vice president for research, George Washington University
广告：个人专属 VPN，独立 IP，无限流量，多机房切换，还可以屏蔽广告和恶意软件，每月最低仅 5 美元
Recent demonstrations of the prowess of high-performance computers are remarkable but unsurprising. With proper programming, machines are far superior to humans in storing and assessing vast quantities of data and making virtually instantaneous decisions. These are machines that think, because similar processes are involved in much of human thought.
But in a broader sense, the term thinking machine is a misnomer. No machine has ever thought about the eternal questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Machines don’t think about their future, their ultimate demise, or their legacy. To ponder such questions requires consciousness and a sense of self. Thinking machines don’t have these attributes, and given the current state of our knowledge they’re unlikely to attain them in the foreseeable future.
The only viable approach to constructing a machine that has the attributes of the human brain is to copy the neuronal circuits underlying thinking. Indeed, research programs now ongoing at UC Berkeley, MIT, and several other universities are focused on achieving this objective, striving to build computers that function like the cerebral cortex. Recent advances in our understanding of cortical microcircuitry have propelled this work, and it’s likely that the recent White House BRAIN Initiative will provide a wealth of valuable additional information. In the coming decades, we’ll know how the billions of neurons in each of the six layers of the cerebral cortex are interconnected, as well as the types of functional circuits these connections form.
This is a much-needed first step in designing machines capable of thinking in a manner equivalent to the human brain. But understanding the cortical microcircuitry isn’t sufficient to construct a machine that thinks. What’s required is an understanding of the neuronal activity underlying the thinking process. Imaging studies have revealed much new information about the brain regions involved in such functions as vision, hearing, touch, fear, pleasure, and others.
But as yet we don’t have even a preliminary understanding of what takes place when we are in thought. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is our inability to isolate the thinking process from other bodily states. Moreover, different brain circuits may well be engaged in different modes of thinking. Thinking about an upcoming lecture would be expected to activate the brain differently from thinking about unpaid bills.
In the near term, we can expect computers to do more and more things better than humans. But we need a far greater understanding of the workings of the human brain to create a machine that thinks in a way equivalent to human thought. For now, we don’t need to be concerned with civil or any other rights of machines that think; nor do we need to be concerned at the prospect of thinking machines taking over society. If things should get out of hand, just pull the plug.
