Turin, who is he?

In view of all I have been blogging about science ever the past couple of days, I think a few words on the subject of computer intelligence might be in order.


I called computers stupid, and justified that by pointing out that they cannot deal with their own crashes while people can. The fundamental distinction between computers and people is breadth. Computers are single-minded, specialists of the highest order. That is no good in the . In order to have a life and live in the real world, and enjoy living, one needs a vaste range of abilities, and human development is largely a case of developing new abilities, as well as the ongoing process of just getting better at everything with every experience --- which reminds me that, another fundmental characteristic of people is that they just keep on getting better in an unlimited way. So far, computers are only as good as they are programmed to be. I know there have been attempts to get them to learn, but how successful those have been I cannot say ... but, certainly, the idea of ongoing, all-round improvement going hand in hand with the ongoing development of new abilities is way beyond the sort of learning that computer people have in mind to get computers to do.


So, the logical conclusion of what I have said above, if you have not spotted it yet, is that, even if there are some things that computers can do better than people now, it is only now. People develop in a balanced way ... that is necessary for living beings .... we will, in due course, way outstrip computers at everything.


I might add here, since I drew the comparison of computers with specialists, that the same goes for specialists (concert pianists, or mathematicians for example) as goes for computers: those of us who choose to develop in a natural, balanced way will develop comparable abilities, and better, in due course. (I am a little hesitant here, because many of those 'experts' are not all they seem: there is many a concert pianist operating on a phenomenal memory and little musical appreciation!)