Class Discussion

Marvin Minsky is a founding father of the Artificial Intelligence or AI. A director at of the AI Laboratory, Minsky set out to create computer software that would mimic the characteristics of a human. It is his belief that machines could be built with a conscious. “Consciousness is being aware of what is happening in the world and in one’s mind.” (Minsky) With this definition of the human conscious, Minsky goes on to explain that machines will surpass the human brain. He states “The human brain has only very limited records of what it has been doing recently.” (Minsky) Therefore a machine of any sort would be far more conscious than a human because we as humans “didn’t evolve for that.” (Minsky) A computer on the other hand has the potential to “be programmed to keep a record of all its internal states and then to trace back through these.” A human lacks this capability thus making Minsky’s point.
Marvin Minsky clearly states in this article that he does not see an advanced computer as being smarter than the mind of a human being. He admits that a computer could be designed to have a high level of consciousness and yet still be unfamiliar with what to do with it. This is where the concept of common sense becomes a challenge to Minsky’s goals. But in regards to which or what is smarter, Minsky is well aware that there are still multiple things that the most sophisticated machine is incapable of doing.
Although I enjoyed reading this particular article I do not agree with Marvin Minsky’s ideas nor do I agree with his definition of consciousness. The human brain is extremely complex and unexplored. Despite our scientific notions on what goes on for the most part there are things science simply can’t explain. A person’s conscious, thought, idea or feelings are these types of unexplainable things as well as biological features that cannot be placed in a machine. In regards to the idea of a computer having more consciousness than a person, I have to agree with John Searle, “Consciousness, he argues, “is a natural biological phenomenon.” With this being said how can a computer achieve the mind of a person? Furthermore, a person’s conscious is a far more in depth concept than Minsky describes. It is not as simple as being aware of what is happening. It involves feelings, thoughts and ideas of human being.